I am working on my third novel - still to be titled - and after plotting out the main thread of the story today (for the third time) and deciding on sticking to a theme for the sub-plot I was left feeling a bit flat.
Even though it was improving - because I was only including events essential to demonstrating exactly what I wanted to say (this skill has taken me 4 years to develop...and I think today was a break through because I cut out something that only diluted the story) - it still wasn't exciting enough.
So I thought of the television series I've watched recently that I thought were brilliant - Breaking Bad and True Blood - and decided to analyse the sub-plots in one of these.
I drew a spider diagram of the main sub-plots in Breaking Bad and discovered something that I thought I already knew. With each subplot/character or group of character's Walt faces conflict - not just minor-differences-of-opinion-conflict (which is what my protagonist was facing) but true heart-pounding, sweaty-palms, watery-mouth conflict! Just reading over the diagram I felt it!
I now have a better understanding of 'true conflict' and this is what I now know I need to include in my novel.
I will keep you posted! ;)
No comments:
Post a Comment