Plop Your Character Smack into a Conflict Scene

You are ready to begin writing your story for www.kidswrite4kids.com. The best way I know to jump right into the action on this first rough draft is—with a Conflict Scene.

What’s that?

Well, the Conflict is the first part, the beginning, of the story. It’s when the reader first meets the main character and his or her problem.

Okay, what’s a Scene?

That’s a part of the story where we hear dialogue (conversation) and see the actions characters are doing. It’s the slow motion part.

“Good grief, Jacque! When did you learn to do that?” yelled Bob as he hung his coat in the hall closet. He stood on tiptoe to reach his tuba on the top shelf. “This is great! We can play music together now!”

Jacque shook his kitty head back and forth and kept pounding on the tom-tom. “No way,” he mewed. “Tubas are for suckers! Learn to play the harmonica and we’ll talk.”

Bob’s face fell. He loved playing the tuba, and where could he learn to play the harmonica, anyway?

So what do you need for your Conflict Scene?

1) For now, please pick one small place where your character has the problem you wrote down.

For example, maybe your character has trouble (as I did long, long ago) with math. One place he might have that problem is in the classroom when he is asked a math question. Another is on the school bus, where the other kids tease him. Still another is at the kitchen table at home while he’s trying to do his math homework.

Remember, choose one small place. Don’t write “school.” Write where at school—the gym, the classroom, in the media center, or by the lockers in the hallway. Don’t write “at home.” Say what room at home.

2) It will also help your storytelling to have other characters in that place while your character is having that problem. Soooooooo—who else is there?

3) How does your character feel when he or she is having the problem you wrote down? Please just write one (1) feeling word: angry, embarrassed, sad, alone, frustrated, but—please, pretty please—not happy!

I never have felt happy to have a problem. At least, I don’t think so.

Your Challenge--
Try not to use that feeling word. That would be telling. Show it instead. If you need to, go back to the lesson on showing and not telling to refresh your memory. Then see if you can write the scene without telling the word.

Oh, one more thing: Make the problem worse by the end of your scene. This is the beginning of your story.

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