The Library · Workshop 05 · Practice
Trouble Is the Engine
Five steps. About 25 minutes. Up to 7 stars. The constellation you're building is called First Knot.
The Library · Workshop 05 · Practice
Five steps. About 25 minutes. Up to 7 stars. The constellation you're building is called First Knot.
A story without conflict is a description. The thing the character wants and the thing in their way — that's the engine.
Every story you've ever loved had a knot in it. Someone wants something. Something is in the way. The story is the work of getting through it — or failing to.
Conflict doesn't have to be a fight. It can be a doubt, a deadline, a missing thing, a person who keeps saying no. The kind of conflict you choose tells the reader what kind of story they're in.
By the end of this workshop you'll have designed the central conflict for a real story you might write.
That's the warm-up. When you've actually read it — not skimmed — tap below.
Pick all that fit.
Click a kind, then a story it could fit.
Pick a character (yours from the last workshop or a new one). Write what they want, what's in their way, and why they can't just give up.
Stuck? Use the character: a 12-year-old who wants to enter a chess tournament. The thing in the way: her older brother is in it too and will be embarrassed. Why she can't give up: she has been quietly better than him for a year and he doesn't know.
Be honest. If yes, why? If no, what would make it bigger?