3 Tips On Writing Internal Conflict With Emotional Punch

September 20, 2018 by Lisa Hall-Wilson 5 Comments

Does your main character have a line in the sand, a personal boundary or belief they will not violate? This internal conflict is central stories written in deep point of view often. What happens if the character violates their belief or boundary? What would they sacrifice in order to avoid crossing that line? What would either action show readers about what kind of person they are?

In Mission Impossible: Fallout near the very beginning of the movie, Tom Cruise’s character Ethan Hunt draws a line in the sand that defines his actions for the rest of the movie. Benji is anxious about a deal they’re trying to make happen and Hunt turns to him and says, “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

That line in the sand isn’t just about Benji. Hunt means it for anyone he cares about or works with. If he feels responsible for you, he won’t let anything happen to you. (Nothing permanent, anyway.)

In the movie Law Abiding Citizen with Jamie Fox and Gerard Butler, the goal of Butler’s antagonist is to convince Fox’s lawyer character: I don’t make deals with criminals. That’s the line in the sand.

I’ll never be hungry again! – Scarlet O’Hara

What Does Internal Conflict Look Like?

Internal conflict is the experience of having opposing psychological beliefs, desires, impulses or feelings — when you believe one thing and act in a different way. If you want to Google it and learn more, you’ll want to search for cognitive dissonance. This internal conflict is often a battle between what we know and what we feel. Most of the time, people crave consistency, so this internal conflict is when we’re basically at war with ourselves but it’s how we justify our behavior or correct course. This can lead to irrational behavior.

People struggling with internal conflict are squeamish. They might turn pale or lose color. They might feel dizzy or lightheaded. They might tremble or even pass out. Most of these reactions are observable, so another character could comment on them. A character in deep point of view can share the feeling of being dizzy, trembling, feeling lightheaded, queasy or nauseous.

People justify their actions, often audibly. Consider the guy who finds the courage to talk to or ask a girl out and she brushes him off. He’ll have this inner conflict, knowing he hasn’t really lost anything and feeling rejected or unwanted. One way he might choose to create consistency again, regain control of his feelings, is to justify why it didn’t work out. She wasn’t as pretty up close. She’s actually a snob and I’m better off without her. Or perhaps he decides she wants him to work harder so he doubles down and creates consistency between what he believes and how he feels that way.

Another facet of the above point is ignoring what’s plain to everyone else. The woman in an abusive relationship might know her boyfriend is toxic to her wellbeing, but feels like she can’t leave. Leaving means being alone, means supporting herself, means not knowing what tomorrow might bring.

It could mean that every derogatory thing he’s ever said to her is actually true, and she’s sure she’d face any negative consequences he’s threatened. So to create consistency between what she knows and feels, she avoids acknowledging the abuse. She justifies or explains away his behavior so that she doesn’t have to do anything about it.

What Emotional Layers Could Be At Play With Internal Conflict

There are dozens of emotions possible with internal conflict based on what’s at stake, right. In Laurel K. Hamilton’s Blue Moon, the protagonist Anita Blake doesn’t believe in torture. But there’s a short scene where she’s desperate to get the truth from someone and resorts to torture. She crossed her own line in the sand. She’s disregarded what she knows and gave in to how she felt.

The fallout of that is her renewed faith in the boundary that she won’t torture, and when it comes up again in the novel where she needs information from someone and is encouraged to expedite the process with pain, she refuses and that costs her emotionally. As soon as a character questions their abilities or self-worth and sees themselves falling short in some way, we have shame.

Shame is a very powerful emotion to play with as a writer. Shame doesn’t tell us we did a bad thing, shame says we are bad. Shame is so heavy, such a burden emotionally that typically people will do anything to get out from under that weight. But shame is a secondary emotion, so work backwards and identify the primary emotions that would cause shame.

Subtext Is Needed For Internal Conflict

The only way internal conflict works as a story device for emotional arc is when the reader is aware of the conflict in the protagonist. The best way to show this to readers is to use subtext. This is a more advanced fiction writing tool, but if you can master subtext you’ll take your writing to another level. Subtext is what’s not being said, it’s the unspoken communication. I’ve written about subtext here and here and here.

Can you think of a movie or book that had really great internal conflict that ratcheted up the stakes for the protagonist?

Been told you should learn Deep Point Of View? Had an editor or critique partner tell you to “go deeper” with the emotions in your fiction? Looking for a community of writers seeking to create emotional connections with readers? Check out the Free Resource Hub and then join the Going Deeper With Emotions In Fiction Facebook group.

How To Get Inside Our Character’s Heads And Make Readers Care

July 20, 2018 by Lisa Hall-Wilson 2 Comments

Getting readers to care and have an emotional connection to our characters is the gold medal run for most novelists. If readers don’t care, if there’s no emotional pull, it gets easy to place a bookmark in a page and walk away. *womp womp*

I’m continuing in my summer series of answering reader questions. Today’s question comes from Jenette who wrote:

“I want to get better at really getting into my character’s head and making readers feel.”

Seeking the answer to this question is what led me to really begin learning about deep point of view and ultimately to writing Method Acting For Writers: Learn Deep Point of View Using Emotional Layers and begin teaching about deep point of view.

Method Acting For Writers

Actors crawl into another person’s or a character’s skin and live out that reality. A writer crawls into a character’s head. What’s common to both is what Stanislavski and Strasberg called affective or emotional memory. It’s the idea of “write what you know”.

The range of emotions available to us now is the same range available to those in any other time or place. Society or culture will dictate how acceptable the expression of various emotions are, time and place, and may even deny other emotions, but whatever your character’s going through you’ve already experienced to some degree. Share that with your readers to make them care!

“I thought the drama was when actors cried. But drama is when the audience cries.” Frank Capra

Let’s walk through a potential scene. Tina is a teenage girl who is pregnant (unplanned) and now has to tell her parents.

Tina has to confess to something she knows will disappoint her parents. Ever had to confess to something you knew would hurt someone you care about? Ever made a decision that disappointed someone you cared about?

Tina’s pregnant because she got drunk at a party and slept with her boyfriend without protection. Ever got caught up in the moment and then regretted it later? Ever had someone with more experience, someone who was older, lead you down the wrong path regardless of the harm it might cause you? (I might have once convinced my little brother a broken dog biscuit was a cookie…)

Tina’s worked really hard to earn an athletic scholarship to university in the fall and now all of that is at risk. Ever had a situation where something you’d been planning for, a dream even, just fell apart? Ever been forced to choose between bad and worse?

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The collection of emotions at this stage is likely primary emotions. Read more about primary and secondary emotions here.

The Emotional Stakes

Maybe you have more in common with Tina’s character than you thought, right. Now, let’s measure what’s at stake for Tina. We have to filter the storytelling through Tina’s worldview, so we have to know what her family’s “rules” (spoken or unspoken) are about unplanned or unwed pregnancies.

Will she walk into this situation expecting a verbal assault or support? Does admitting she’s pregnant require her to admit to other things like lying or sneaking out or underage drinking or seeing a boy her parents disapprove of? How does she feel about the pregnancy–is she excited or full of dread or indifferent? How does she feel about the father?

All of these additional stakes will help amplify the emotions in the scene.

Now Layer In The WHY.

Why is Tina facing her parents instead of running away, going to a clinic, or simply ignoring the problem for now? What is her goal in this scene? Is she looking for a confrontation or hoping for support to make a difficult decision? Is this pregnancy a way out of a future she didn’t want, a road block, or imminent disaster?

To use emotional memory, recall a situation where you experienced the same emotion. Take confessing something hurtful. What did that really feel like? Close your eyes and really let that memory well up. Swim in it for a short time. What’s happening to your body with that memory? Are you tense? Jumpy? Are you having a hard time sitting still? Now, the degree which you felt that emotion (dread, regret, shame) isn’t as important as being able to amplify it to the appropriate intensity for your character. You then layer in the stakes, your character’s own backstory, etc.

The Ultimate “Write What You Know”

The kernel for this idea came from an interview I did in 2014 with bestselling fantasy and thriller author Ted Dekker. His writing is visceral and full of emotional truth, so I asked him about that process (back when I was still a journalist. Had the chance to meet him in person a few months later – pictured below). Here’s what he said:

“I think that my writing is reflection of my own journey and I use writing to discover. It’s one thing to say that this bulb won’t break if you step on it. It’s an idea, a doctrine. In a story, you take the bulb and you have your characters step on it – you’re testing those theories those ideas in story with real characters stepping on bulbs and seeing what happens.

I write to explore what I’ve been taught or what it means to be who I am…my understanding of who I am has shifted as a result of my writing and my exploration. I’m very real with myself and my characters…I’m writing for my own journey. People who read my books are not afraid of an authentic journey…It’s a journey of transformation. Becoming aware of who we are in a whole new way. I speak out of my own experience and I speak out of some very difficult times that I’ve gone through and there’s nothing more beautiful than becoming aware of who are you.”

By using emotional memory, you can create an intimate perspective for readers that will draw them deeper into the story. In most scenarios, there are shared experiences you can draw on even if the circumstances or intensity doesn’t line up precisely.

Take a minute and sit down with your POVC. Pick a scene from your WIP and ask them a few crucial questions so you can see what you have in common (in terms of experiences). What do they want? What are they afraid of? What they hoping for? How are they afraid this will change them? How does this disappointment hurt–what emotions are touched off? Once I’ve been able to answer those questions, often I’m able to think back on some event from my past. Ahhh, this is just like that time I… and then I’m good.

Will you try this out? Let me know how it goes!

3 Reasons Deep Point Of View Might Not Be Working For Your Story

April 19, 2018 by Lisa Hall-Wilson Leave a Comment

When writing in deep point of view, even though this writing technique is visceral and delivers an emotional punch — sometimes it just doesn’t seem to be working. There’s no depth. Readers aren’t connecting with your characters. Assuming the story is well constructed and the characters well-conceived, does that mean Deep Point of View isn’t the right decision for your story?

Perhaps.

Maybe it means you have one of the problems below instead and just a simple tweak can turn a good story into a great story that readers tell all their friends about.

Voice

Deep Point of View is a great tool that almost by necessity forces you to create unique voices for your characters. However, if your characters all sound the same, or they just sound like you, that’s a problem. Often, the cause for this is that you either don’t know your character as well as you think you do, or you’re trying to artificially force a character into a plot event. Deep point of view works best for stories that are character driven, not plot driven.

As an exercise, pick a scene with high tension/emotion. Dig down into what I call the why. Why is your character behaving this way? What are they trying to accomplish by behaving this way? List three other ways your character could react to that exact situation and in point form explain the thinking/rationale that character would use to justify each of those actions. The actions don’t have to be rational, but they do need to make sense to that character. What does each of those reactions show readers about that character’s traits, motivations, goals, backstory, etc. Now, pick the action/reaction that is surprising, that forces the character into a situation or emotional state that leaves them uncomfortable.

Now that you know why your character is behaving the way they are and what they’re trying to accomplish in that scene, now write the scene as the character moves through the scene.

Filter

Every detail of the story that the reader knows about has to come to them through a point of view character, and that character has to have opinions, feelings, attitudes, prejudices, history, etc. that influence how they see the world and see themselves in the world. This filter is applied to every word you choose, every metaphor, all of it.

Sometimes this points to a confidence problem in the writer – either they don’t trust themselves or their reader. Sometimes it’s laziness because we don’t want to do the hard work of figuring out these kinds of details. Don’t take that personally. Every writer is guilty of lazy writing at least now and then.

So, going back to the exercise above, you’ve rewritten the scene as though your character is telling the story. Do your word choices reflect how your character feels about what’s going on? Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games describes her sister’s cat as the ugliest cat in the world and says it’s the color of rotting squash. It’s not an orange cat, or a marmalade-colored cat, it’s not the color of a Halloween pumpkin – it’s the color of rotting squash. How do you think Katniss feels about that cat? You find out that Katniss’ sister named the cat Buttercup. What do those two small pieces of information tell you about Katniss and her sister? About how they each see the world. That’s filter.

Change (Emotional Arc)

Does your character change over the course of the story? This might be why the deep point of view technique isn’t working. There is such a thing as a static character, a character who begins the story with all the tools/skills/knowledge they need to accomplish their goals. Usually, we see this in characters who are professional detectives, lawyers, etc. Lee Child’s Jack Reacher is perhaps one of my favorite static characters. Indiana Jones could arguably be considered a static character. However, most of the time your character will have to grow, change, learn, acquire new skills or thinking in order for them to have success by the end of the story. Will your readers see that change through the way your character experiences or tells the story? In the words they use, what they notice that they might’ve skipped or skimmed over before?

The emotional arc applies even to static characters. They have to care about something in order to put themselves at risk to accomplish the seemingly-impossible story goal. Emotional arcs are critical in deep point of view because the reader isn’t just inside your character’s head, they’re inside the character’s heart too. This journey then should include some emotional challenge to overcome. Is their pride getting in the way? Is it their prejudices or attitudes or assumptions tripping them up? These emotional obstacles need to be overcome. Remember, to build in this emotional journey for your character and readers too.

I LOVE getting emails from readers and I LOVE hearing how these posts are helping you create better stories. What topic(s) would you like to see covered here? Leave a comment or send me an email!

Editing In Layers Part 1: Goals

December 12, 2017 by Lisa Hall-Wilson 9 Comments

Editing and revising is a necessary part of writing fiction because no one NO ONE writes a perfect first draft. Everyone’s work is improved with the help of a good editor and the first editor who should go over your work is YOU. That said, especially if you’re a pantser like me, the first draft can be fugly.

Pantser or planner, it’s time to get off the crazy train and work smarter.

Fast drafting and first drafts aren’t supposed to be pretty. They’re a skeleton outline of your story. For me, the first draft is how I get to know my characters. What their motivations and dreams are, their goals, and struggles. This is where I identify the three main goals of the story.

Once I have those down, I can approach the editing phase with a bit more objectivity. <- This, objectivity, is the first thing you need to learn. Write with the door closed and rewrite with the door open as Stephen King says. The first draft is for you. No one should influence how you tell the story or what kind of story you want to tell. The subsequent edits clean up the mess. Some objectivity goes a long way at this stage.

I got real tired of editing for months and months because I was approaching the novel chapter by chapter. Every chapter had to be perfect before I moved on, but a small edit in the middle could have ripple effects that forced me back to the beginning. I was getting nowhere.

So, I have created (for myself) a 6 step process of editing in layers. This process boiled down the revision stage to 5 passes through a manuscript to get it in shape for beta readers. Now, how long you spend on each layer is variable.

Prep Work: Goals (you are here)
Layer 1: Plot
Layer 2: Scenes and Sequels
Layer 3: (Weakness) Plus Characterization
Layer 4: Emotions
Layer 5: Consistency

Let’s get started. As I publish a post about each layer, I’ll add a link to the steps above.

Step 1: Goals

There’s some ground work you should do before you even write your first draft. If you’ve already written a first draft you need to this before you begin on the 5 layers of editing. I can’t stress how important this is. Without a road map for your plot, emotional arc, and characters you’ll end up on the crazy revision train that only goes in circles without a final destination.

There are three goals your story needs: Story Goal, Character Goal, Emotional Arc

Story Goal

With a first draft complete, you should have a good idea of what the theme of your story is. Maybe you don’t have a story theme, but know what readers are looking for from your brand. Is there something unique about your author voice you want to retain or convey?

Did I lose you? This is hard to define. I have been able to look back over my fiction work and identified a couple of recurring themes. Regardless of time, specific conflict, or cast of characters, I have unconsciously written stories about women struggling for an egalitarian role. They’re not feminists, they don’t want strict equality but they want people to have the same access to opportunity, etc. This is an overall general theme I want to preserve book to book. I don’t write graphic sex or profanity either.

Think about your favorite author. What is it about their work you’ve come to count on with every book? Patricia Briggs is one of my favorite authors. She writes shifter fantasy. I have no idea whether this is intentional or not, though I suspect it is, but I like that there’s no graphic sex in her novels or profanity. I like that her female protagonists are strong but deeply flawed.

Character Goals

Your protagonists and antagonist should have a specific story goal. What is it they want? They begin the story with a problem forced on them (the inciting incident) and this forces them to act to solve this problem. The solution to their problem has to be a specific, concrete goal. World peace is not a viable character goal. Getting mom and dad back together is a specific goal. You need to map this out. The goal needs to be logical to the character, it needs to be a goal they believe will fix their main story problem. There needs to be an inciting incident, and then at the 25%, 50%, 75% and the end there needs to be major obstacles they proactively overcome.

So, let’s look at The Lord of The Rings. Frodo’s story problem is he’s given a ring that turns out to have the power to destroy his world, and if he doesn’t leave home the enemy seeking the ring will kill him. The logical solution to this problem is to leave home and then get rid of the ring.

Plot happens with all of the obstacles placed in his way to prevent him from achieving his story goal, obstacles that force him to act in a way that changes the direction of the story (he’s proactive). Each success is only a partial win. Each of the characters in the fellowship have unique character goals and unique-to-them ideas on how to overcome the obstacles they face.

And now, this last part is crucial. In the end, Frodo achieves his goal–he leaves home and gives up the ring, but it’s a partial win because he learns it’s not just his home that’s threatened but their whole world. He’s the only one who can carry the ring. The ring must be destroyed. He succeeds in this second goal, but the journey has left him broken and scarred and he has to leave Middle Earth. He isn’t able to live in the world he saved. There’s both a win and a loss here for each story problem.

Each of your main protagonists needs a story goal that ends with a partial win and a loss.

Emotional Arc

The best stories, the ones we revisit and want to learn from, are those where we’re invested in emotionally. Your protagonist needs to change emotionally in order to succeed. It’s the emotional journey, resilience, brokenness, and all-or-nothingness that pulls readers in. Your character should go from observing the world to taking responsibility for it. Needing safety transforms into needing freedom. Self-awareness transforms into self-confidence. (examples taken from Donald Maass’ The Emotional Craft of Fiction)

Does your protagonist change? Map this out. You need to know where this character is at emotionally at the beginning, at the 25%, 50%, 75%, and ending. These percentage marks in your word count should roughly correspond to a large conflict point in the story that has forced the character to change emotionally. They must be challenged, grow and change, and be a stronger person at the end. Even a character who has all the tools they need to succeed at the beginning of a story (a static character)–think Jack Reacher, Indiana Jones, James Bond, they need an emotional arc. How do they change and grow emotionally from beginning to end?