How to Write NONVIOLENT Conflict (Writing Advice)

not all problems can be solved with a trial by combat So today we're going to look at how to create nonviolent conflict in your stories a number of my subscribers requested this video so here's what we're going to do today we'll discuss the different types of conflict then we'll look at how to create the nonviolent kind and I'll wrap up the video with some tips that'll Hammer everything home here's your spoiler warning the ones in red contain the heaviest spoilers now let's start off by talking about the major types of conflict I have four of them for you today the first one is character versus opponent and this is when you have a hero versus a villain an ally a total stranger anyone who directly opposes the hero you can have conflict between hero and villain conflict between hero and pretty much any other human character second type of conflict is character versus society and this can include society's institutions it can include cultural expectations it can include laws that dictate how your characters must live can even include things like technology and other worldbuilding related things third type is character versus nature and this includes things like weather terrain animals monsters and so on and then the fourth type of conflict is character versus self and this is of course internal conflict it might be the character versus Temptation or guilt or self-doubt or self-loathing or any other number of things and it's worth pointing out that all four of these types can be violent or nonviolent it's entirely up to you all right now let's talk about how to create nonviolent conflict and what's critical here is knowing your character's values the things they stand for fight for and live for do they value respect or love or success or safety or money there are tons of possibilities but you need to decide on your character's values and you need to make sure the audience understands those values and then you need to create situations where those values are challenged or threatened that's where conflict gets interesting when values come into conflict and we see how characters act and react as a result now let's go back to those four major types of conflict and look at some examples for character versus opponent we'll take an example from Game of Thrones which is of course a very violent TV show but it doesn't always involve swords and bloodshed instead you also have scenes where characters engage in verbal conflict and remember dialogue is action and action creates conflict now I want to show you a scene involving Tyrion and his father Tywin Tyrion has been disrespected as whole life so he values love and respect his father meanwhile is a man of Pride who values his reputation and family Legacy these differing values create conflict because though Tyrion wants his father's respect he doesn't get it that's because Tywin hates his son he hates him because not only did Tyrion kill tywin's wife during childbirth but Tyrion also embarrasses the Lannister family by being a dwarf and spending time in brothel now here's a dialogue exchange from season 3 Tyrion meets with his father and hopes to obtain the right to casterly rock which is Lannister property that has been passed down in the family for Generations pay attention to the dialogue here and how the two characters values come into conflict I want what is Mine by right I am your son and lawful Heir you w casty Rock It Is Mine by right and I would let myself be consumed by maggots before mocking the family name and making you heir to cast Rob you who killed your mother to come into the world you are an illade spiteful little creature but neither Gods nor men will ever compel me to let you turn casty rock into your wh house so as you can see Tyrion wants to feel like a Lannister but his father refuses to recognize him as one their values clash and the conflict tears Father and Son further apart now for the next three types of conflict I'll make them quick for character versus society a good example comes from the movie Thank You for Smoking this is about a big tobacco lobbyist who values freedom of choice and he constantly finds himself at odds with a society that wants to limit that freed freedom for character versus nature look at the movie Castaway the main character's playing crashes he gets stranded on a deserted island and survival then becomes the thing he values most nature threatens to break his spirit and he has to learn to embrace nature in order to survive finally for character versus self look at Terminator 2 now when you think Terminator movies you think action but part of what makes T2 so good is Sarah Connor and her conflicting values on one hand she hates machines because one tried to kill her in the previous movie and yet on the other hand she needs to trust the T800 in order to help her and her son survive so always remember to be aware of what your characters value and then put those values at stake over the course of the story all right now I've got four tips for writing nonviolent conflict and the first one is to build conflict around your story's theme I've talked about theme on the channel recently and it's like the glue that holds all your story elements together if you know your central theme or themes you can build strong focused conflict with or without violence one nonviolent example comes from Little Miss Sunshine in this movie a little girl qualifies for a beauty pageant and her wacky family goes on a road trip to support her now the story's Core theme deals with what defines winners and losers each character searches for their own version of success and everyone ends up losing at some point conflict arises not only when the characters fail but also when they become critical of each other's goals and shortcomings they attack each other in order to feel better about themselves and momentarily feel like winners but this of course only leads to more conflict which is great for the story tip number two use dialogue to create and build conflict the spoken word can hit as hard as any haym maker and a verbal back and forth can create conflict and raise the stakes while characters attack and defend each other's values for example take a look at the opening scene from The Godfather the movie begins with a father wanting Justice after his daughter has been beaten up by her boyfriend and his friends he values Justice and in order to get that Justice he goes to see Don Corleone and he asks the Don to do something about the men who hurt her now when the Don finally speaks he says this why did you go to the police why didn't you come to me first that's a powerful line and it signals that Don Corleone a values respect and that he's the one in charge here the father then begs the dawn to Kill The Men Who harmed his daughter but the Don is offended by the request we've known each other many years but this is the first time you ever came to me for councel for help I can't remember the last time that you invited me to your house for a cup of coffee finally the father offers to pay the dawn to have the men beaten up but money is an insult to the dawn he wants respect what have I ever done to make you treat me so disrespectfully if you'd come to me in Friendship then the scum that wounded your daughter would be suffering this very day the scene wraps up with both characters getting what they value the dawn gets respect and the father gets a promise that there will be Justice tip number three remember that the threat of violence can be more impactful than violence itself this is kind of like how in horror movies you don't want to show the monster instead you want to give the audience an idea of the monster and let them imagine the worst possible creature this same strategy works with violence and it especially works well in action heavy stories when you want to cool things down a bit while still maintaining the tension for example in season 1 of 24 Jack Bower is trying to locate the terrorists who plan to assassinate a presidential candidate at one point he captures a man with ties to the terrorists but the guy refuses to give up any info now Jack could probably break the guy's fingers one by one until he talks but instead Jack recognizes that the man is a white collar guy who isn't accustomed to physical pain Jack then decides to threaten violence rather than inflict it and he's able to intimidate the guy with a wet towel and some gruesome details you probably don't think that I could force this towel down your throat trust me I can all the way except I hold on to this one little bit at the end when your stomach starts to digest it I pull it out taking your stomach lining with it most people they take about a week to die it's very painful finally tip number four is to apply conflict from different angles one of the better strategies for building conflict involves the idea of Four Corners opposition this idea comes from John Troy's book the anatomy of story and if you want to read more about it I'll put a link to the book in the description below but basically Four Corners opposition works like this you put your main character at the upper left corner of a rectangle and you put opponents at the other three corners then you put all four sides into conflict with each other this means that not only does your hero engage in conflict with the other three but the opponents themselves also engage in conflict with each other now let me give you an example from The Graduate this movie opens with the main character Benjamin coming home after earning a college degree he's trying to figure out what kind of adult he wants to be and Society particularly his family has expectations for him those expectations put pressure on him so we'll say that Society is one of the four corners then you have the story's main opponent Mrs Robinson she's married to one of Benjamin's father's friends and she attempts to seduce Benjamin one night eventually they hook up at a hotel and Benjamin starts having an affair with her at first he enjoys it but becomes increasingly uncomfortable over time then finally you have Mrs Robinson's daughter Elaine people constantly encourage Benjamin to date Elaine until he finally does and she ends up being the final edge of the rectangle and this is where the Four Corners opposition comes into Focus Benjamin is having an affair with Mrs Robinson then Society pressures him into dating Elaine and later when both women learn the truth about their situation it causes a rift between mother and daughter add in the fact that Society frowns upon Benjamin's affair with a married woman and you have conflict firing everywhere up down across and diagonally and this is a great strategy for getting the most out of your conflict and it can help you see new possibilities violent or otherwise so I hope this helps question of the day what is your favorite nonviolent scene from a story let us know in the comments section below thank you for watching if you want to support the Channel please pick up a copy of either one of my books and be sure to leave reviews on Amazon bad parts is great if you like small town horror it's about people trading away their sick and injured body parts in order to get healthy again and then entry wounds is great if you like Thrillers and it's about a guy who picks up a Haunted Gun and he can't put it down till he kills six people with it also be sure to check out my other videos like share and subscribe maybe even hit that thanks button for me and as always remember to keep on writing

Channel: Writer Brandon McNulty

Views: 37,763

Keywords: Writing, Writing advice, Writing Tips, Fiction, Creative Writing, How to write a book, How to write a novel, novel, book, storytelling, story, Game of Thrones, The Graduate, 4 corner opposition, four corner opposition, conflict, Little Miss Sunshine, 24, The Godfather, how to write conflict, writing conflict, script, screenplay, plot, external conflict, internal conflict, characters, scenes, scene, mistakes new writers make, nonviolent, non-violent, violence, tyrion, create, dialogue, internal, help

Id: yj7-z9ABGUk

Length: 10min 39sec (639 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 22 2024