Pink Think: “In order to have a plot, you have to have a conflict, something bad has to happen.” – Mike Judge
Political cartoon by John Bull
My husband is a great writer’s husband. I think we’ve learned over the years for him to accomodate my weird writerly habits, and for me to be kind and gentle to him. Our best tete-a-tete moments come during our nightly walks or talks, or when he is brushing his teeth, and I say, “Okay, plot question…”
So last night was one of those times. I’m revising a story and was telling him it’s about a nice girl with a nice dad. Well, there’s more to it than that, but it pretty much starts out that way, and he wisely asked, “Where’s the conflict?”
Where’s the conflict, indeed?
I don’t like stories where the protagonist is just a smartmouth who hates the world. Gets too depressing. But when I decided to reinvent my lead girl to a girl who wants to be a warrior more than princess, and gets into loads of trouble for speaking her mind and going for what she wants, it was like “Light bulb!”
I had to cut days of work from my third draft, which was like watching a limb be cut off, but youknowwhat I think the story is better. Best of all, there’s conflict! And romance!
Which means my husband who is usually my first reader for my op-eds and “boy stories” and short stories will most likely not be my first reader (he’s allergic to mushy stories), but I hope he’ll still be curious enough to read this draft when I race to the end.
That’s the plan anyway.
It’s a good day to be a writer!
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