In the United States, July is a symbol of freedom and peace, as it is when we celebrate the signing of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America. But that freedom came at a cost, as does most everything we do in life.
Peace after conflict is vital. As is partnering or
negotiating with those who might not agree with you, or be in the same space as
you, an important step toward unity and peace.
As in our own lives, and in our hopes and dreams for a
peaceful and functioning nation, as romance writers we also want our characters
to find peace and joy and that all important and sometimes elusive
happily-ever-after or happily-for-now.
But no person or character can find a satisfying end
without some heavy-duty work toward achieving happiness along with the angst
that is a natural part of any journey.
For me personally, the months of May and June have
been filled with work and angst and conflict.
No, it’s not what you think 😊
In the last 6 weeks, I have taken three writing
workshops on Conflict, each with a different approach. And each giving me more
writer tools to effectively “torture” my characters before they finally
conclude they cannot do without the partner I have aligned them with in my story.
I put torture in parentheses because I write mainstream contemporary
sweet and saucy romance. So, my torture of characters is only enough to make
them work for the reward of finding that special person meant just for them.
How do we build enough conflict for our characters to
learn, grow, and fall in love? In each workshop I learned many ways of making
my stories more exciting for a reader.
In a month-long workshop, where the presenter “tortured”
the writers with tons of wonderful information and assignments, I had many AHA
moments on things I already knew I must do - things I had been doing - but with
a makes-sense, step-by-step way of rooting out the core emotional wounds that make
our characters who they are. Whether that internal wound comes from something that
happened as a child or as an adult, it guides our character’s way of thinking
and therefore reacting. They are the issues that both cause conflict for our
characters and force them to overcome deep-seated stressors to find happiness.
 |
| Internal wounds of a character fighting to resolve themselves and move on. |
In another workshop, the presenter talks about the
outside forces and / or the internal wounds each character brings to the story.
Those are the pieces that generate conflict between the characters, as each
individual may react differently to the same root cause. Facing and resolving
those triggers individually and then together as the characters grow in the story,
helps the characters overcome and open themselves to the happily-ever-after
that is a prerequisite for the romance genre. Resolving the genesis of that internal
conflict leads to peace and joy for the characters.
In the third workshop, we learned how to make peace
with ourselves as a romance writer, while we “torture” our characters by throwing
conflict in their paths, when all we really want to do is get to that wonderful,
happy ending. The more conflict we throw at our characters, the more chances they
have to work hard to overcome challenges. And having to struggle and fight all
odds to find love makes it all the sweeter when our characters find love and
peace in their lives.
So, celebrate peace while knowing that finding peace may, at times, include a lot of conflict and take a ton of work to overcome struggles.
Happy July and Peace and Love Be With You!
 |
| Book Two of The Cowboys of Mineral Springs |
~ cottages to cabins
~ keep the home fires burning ~
Delsora Lowe writes small town sweet and
spicy romances and contemporary westerns from the mountains of Colorado to the
shores of Maine.
Author of the Starlight Grille series, Serenity Harbor Maine novellas, and the Cowboys of Mineral Springs series, Lowe has also authored short romances for Woman’s World magazine. Her new novella, The Love Left Behind, released in October, 2020.
Instagram: #delsoralowe / https://www.instagram.com/delsoralowe/
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10 comments:
Great post, dear girl!! I love conflict because it always leads to some sort of "making up!" Hee hee
Those workshops sound great!
Excellent post, Deb! I really liked how you broadened the scope from conflict in writing to conflict in life -- SO apt! Thank you for sharing.
Elizabeth - thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it. I figured since we take real life and put it in our books...or read books to get away from real life...it all fits :-)
Great insights, Deb. Thanks for sharing.
Anna - thanks! So glad you could stop by and say hello!
Jennifer - they were all good and touched on different aspects of conflict. It was fun having all 3 right in a row. Made them all jell together in a great way.
Peggy - I left a comment for you this morning and somehow it didn't stick. I do LOVE the making up part of any story :-)
Interesting post - taking 3 classes on conflict is, in and of itself, tortuous IMHO. Glad you found them interesting, informative and thus useful in your own writing life.
This is a great post. Thank you!!
Great post and I'm happy you got so much out of those workshops. Challenging characters and making them emotionally vulnerable and work hard is critical to any story. Back in the days when I was doing some story editing for others, I often saw stories (particularly romance stories) where everything was rosy all the time and conflicts were the equivalent of tripping over a crack int he sidewalk but never falling. Whenever I suggested to the author that they needed more, that nothing significant had happened or the characters got off to easily, the response was usually. "I don't want them to suffer. Love should be easy, natural. When you find the right person everything goes well."
Then we would get into a conversation around how easy finding true love was for them. That is the key. It seems that the rougher finding true love is for some writers, the more they want to write the idealized never-have-a-problem romantic journey. Even people who have been happily married for decades have many stories of conflict and the journey to resolution. Honoring that journey and the difficulties is, in my opinion, what makes a story great. It enables the reader to identify with characters and root for them to overcome all those obstacles--to grow and change and become a better person in the end.
You were already a good writer Delsora. I suspect after all these workshops you will be an even better storyteller now.
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