C is for CONFLICT - ABCDEs of Writing (Part 3 of 5)

If you’re writing an article, there’s a different way of technically putting this in. But, you still have to think of conflict as you begin to write. Remember that the reason why you should be writing that article (other than the fact that you personally would like to share it), is that someone out there may need it. And, that need came out of a conflict. A personal longing for something new, something else, or something better.

It’s basically the same concept that goes with writing poems, essays, or stories. But, with these, instead of providing direct and practical answers to your readers’ conflicts (through the article), you “act out” a personal conflict (be it your own, or someone you know or think of in either real or fictional terms).

If there’s no “conflict”, there’s no story. Think of how boring a piece would be without any sort of problem or difficulty.

Conflicts may be “stated” or “acted out” at the beginning of the piece or at a later time. If you choose the latter, you must learn the art of foreshadowing (or being able to show “clues” to the problem or conflict right from the start).

More Creative Writing Projects So as you go back to your piece in focus (yep, the project you chose to work on), you must carefully articulate the main conflict. Why? As we said, no conflict, no story. This is the heartbeat of your work. Depending on your type of work, answer the following: * For Stories/Novels: 1) Who is your main character? 2) What does your character want/need? 3) Is there anyone who will help and/or detract your character from getting what he/she wants/needs? 4) How would your character get what he/she wants/ needs? * For Articles: 1) Who is your target reader and what is your article all about? 2) Why does your reader need to read your article? 3) What is your reader going to get out of reading your article? 4) What are your main points? * For Essays/Poetry: 1) What does your narrator/persona want/need to share? 2) What is your piece all about? 3) What is the resolution you intend to find by the end of the piece? Once you’re able to deal with the questions accordingly, you’d be able to articulate the conflict of your piece in your own terms. Decide then on what you want to do about it.

And then we go to our next point -