Asked and Answered Part 1: Conflict and Character Arc

By Missy Tippens

Welcome to our first Asked and Answered post! Last year, we offered a survey to find out what topics our readers would like us to address in our posts. I’m kicking off the first of our four-part series today talking about two topics brought up by multiple respondents. I admit I chose the topic of conflict because it’s something I struggle with. So, writing this post has been a nice review!

First, briefly, conflict is what drives our plot. The character wants something (her goal) for a very good reason (motivation), but then something gets in her way, making it impossible to achieve that goal (creating conflict). So the character has to react to that “disaster”, make a decision about what to do next, and then act on that decision. These actions and reactions build our scenes/sequels, and thus our story.

The book that I have used most when studying internal and external conflict is the much-loved Goal, Motivation & Conflict: The Building Blocks of Good Fiction by Debra Dixon. I found several posts in our archives and thought I would share those with you today, as I don’t think I can cover the basics of the topic any better.

[Please note! I want to provide new links since some of the links in these older posts no longer work. I’ll leave them at the end of my post.]

Here is one of my previous posts where I share my GMC chart for His Forever Love. I show how I usually combine a standard GMC chart with the Magic Conflict Chart from Carolyn Greene’s Prescription for Plotting Notebook (updated info at the end).

http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2009/02/sharing-my-gmc-chart-have-you-done.html

Here’s is another of my posts on the topic of using your GMC chart to help you plot out your scenes. This is a great way to incorporate the characters’ internal and external conflicts into scenes that move your story forward. (Please note this post contains spoilers if you haven’t read The Doctor’s Second Chance yet.) In the post, I have copied and pasted sections of my brainstorming file to show how I came up with scenes used in the book.

http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2016/03/battling-through-your-manuscript-one.html

This is a post by Tina Radcliffe where she talks about the beauty of using a GMC chart and shares an example from The Rancher’s Reunion.

http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-i-love-deb-dixons-goal-motivation.html

Here's a good basic post about conflict (what it is and what it isn't) by Janet Dean. She shares her GMC chart from The Bounty Hunter's Redemption.
http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2016/10/conflict-roadblocks-to-your-characters.html

This is a post by Cara Lynn James where she shares how important motivation is while doing your GMC chart. She uses examples from Love On a Dime.

http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2010/05/motivation-important-part-of-gmc.html

I hope that reading these posts will be a nice refresher on creating internal and external conflict for each of your characters.

In a blog post on her website (click here), author and writing mentor K.M. Weiland tells us that conflict by itself is not enough. We need for readers to have empathy, to care about one of the characters. The character must be relatable enough that the conflict matters.

I think that for us to care about a character, we need to see the character make a journey—to battle through conflict, to grow and change and earn the happy ending. So, for the rest of my post, I want to talk about character arcs. In researching the topic, I discovered K.M. Weiland’s new how-to book that I’m finding very helpful. It is Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development.

Some things that I highlighted in this book:

-- Characters resist change.

Resistance --> Conflict --> Plot.

-- We need to figure out the misconception the character has about himself or his world, or look at what he’s lacking in his life. Once we the author knows what’s wrong, we can set him off on his journey of change.

-- There is conflict between what the character wants and what he needs.

-- The external plot is all about the character's inner journey.

-- I love one way Weiland described character arc (in chapter 21): “Character arc is always the final sum of your story’s ending minus your story’s beginning.” There are different types of character arcs, but for those of us who write romance novels, there is usually what Weiland calls a Positive Change Arc. The character goes on a journey from overcoming a lie he believes in the beginning of the story to making a positive change by the end so that he’s in a better place, a place of truth.

That’s all I’ll share for now. Weiland’s book Creating Character Arcs: The Masterful Author’s Guide to Uniting Story Structure, Plot, and Character Development is packed full of information!

To finish up, I wanted to share some other blog posts about character arcs that you might find helpful.

This is a post by Ruth Logan Herne where she shares examples of taking our heroes on a journey.

http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2010/09/character-arcs-how-to-take-hot-guy-from.html

When I asked Ruthy for more on this topic, she said:

“Missy, I don't use books or charts. I use emotion. How did a hero's childhood trauma mold him? Why does he stay on the outside, looking in? Why is he dogged, determined, dedicated to being the best all day, every day? When I answer the "whys" I have my backstory.

And I do the same for the heroine.... Why does the thought of riches and money and power repel her? Why doesn't she wear super cute clothes that hug her figure? Why is she caring for 3 little kids, none of which are hers? Is she a soft touch and gullible... or is there a reason behind her sacrificial nature?

Once I know all this, writing the book becomes science and art. The science is every bit as important as the art to me: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction... and if for some reason it DOESN'T... then the story just deepened.”

Missy again...To tie together my topics of conflict and character arc, I want to share these additional resources…

Another book that I’ve found invaluable while planning my characters is Alicia Rasley’s The Story Within Plot Guide. Here is the link to a post she did for us here on our blog that is fantastic:

 http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2016/03/the-character-journey_21.html

And from Alicia’s blog:

 http://aliciarasleywritersjourney.blogspot.com/p/my-books-are-character-driven-so-i.html

I wanted to share one last article from Janet Dean that I thought would be helpful because she ties story arc to character goals and conflict:

http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2014/05/story-arc-in-nutshell.html

If you made it this far, thanks so much for hanging with me today! I know you had to do a lot of clicking to other pages, but I hope you found information to answer your biggest questions. We’ll answer more survey questions in future posts, so be sure to check back!

If you’d like to be entered in my giveaway today (two winners!), please let me know in the comments section which book you’re interested in. I’ll be giving away a print copy of The Story Within Plot Guide (one U.S. winner). And a second winner will receive a Kindle copy of K.M. Weiland’s Creating Character Arcs.

And now for those updated links I promised:

Prescription for Plotting by Carolyn Greene is temporarily out of print while she revises and prepares for a new edition release this year in e-book format. Yay! So please send Carolyn an email to let her know you’re interested. She’ll send you an email to let you know when the new edition is available for purchase. Carolyn [at] carolyngreene.com (be sure to type in correct format)

The Story Within Plot Guide by Alicia Rasley

GMC: Goal, Motivation & Conflict by Debra Dixon (this page links to different booksellers for different formats)

Missy Tippens, a pastor’s wife and mom of three from near Atlanta, Georgia, made her first sale to Harlequin Love Inspired in 2007. Her books have since been nominated for the Booksellers Best, Holt Medallion, ACFW Carol Award, Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence, Maggie Award, Beacon Contest and a 2013 RT Reviewer’s Choice Award. A House Full of Hope was a Romance Writers of America 2013 RITA^® Nominee. Her recent releases include titles from Love Inspired as well as Indie published boxed sets with fellow Seekerville bloggers. Visit Missy at www.missytippens.com, https://twitter.com/MissyTippens and http://www.facebook.com/missy.tippens.readers.