Writing Tutorial 3

Making things interesting.

Okay, so far we have talked about the “technical” side of writing.  How to follow writing protocols so that you don't loose your reader or make them angry.  But now I want to shift gears, and talk about something else that is almost equally important to all that other stuff, but is far less easy to describe.

How to make stuff interesting.

Now, to some extent, what a reader likes to read will determine how much they are interested in your story.  So, for example, if you do not like science fiction, then you are probably not going to be very interested in reading a sci-fi novel.

However, a good writer, a REALLY good writer can overcome that by making their works engaging.  They keep your attention, they keep the action up, make you think, and have good, written out character development.  In other words, they are interesting.

Now, the first and foremost rule, and perhaps the only solid rule about “making things interesting” is that “coolness” does not automatically equate to “interesting.”  In fact, quite often, it does not.  I know that may not make a whole lot of sense right now, but bare with me.

The thing that makes most stories interesting is conflict.  Now, I know some of you think 'fighting' when I say conflict, but that is not strictly true.  Conflict is when two forces are actively opposing each other.  It COULD be two men fighting, or it could be two men debating, or it could be a man vs. “the system” or even man vs. nature (or heck, you could write a story about a bunny vs. nature.)

Alright, you may not think that makes a whole lot of sense, so it is example time.  Let's take two superheroes, Batman and Superman.  Superman decides to stop a bank robber.  The robber fires on Supes.  This is very low conflict, because Superman is bulletproof, and faster than a bullet.  He almost certainly WILL win against the robber, because he is stronger, faster, and invincible.  There is very little conflict here.  Thus, even if Superman is still 'cool' it is not very interesting.

Okay, so, same robber fires his gun at Batman.  Now, Bats is human, he can be hurt by the bullet.  This presents more conflict, because he CAN get hurt.  So Batman may not have all the cool superpowers, but he is more interesting in this case, because there is greater conflict.  

In other words, what is the point of reading a story about a god?  No, I am not talking about the stories INVOLVING a god, I am saying what would be the point of reading a story ABOUT god.  It would be boring, it would be VERY boring.  Gods are omnipotent, they can do anything.  There would be absolutely no conflict.  A god has a problem, they snap their fingers and POOF, problem fixed.

So, how do you have a lot of conflict?  Quite simply, you test the limits of your character, without breaking suspension of disbelief.  What does that mean?  It's quite simple.

Put your character to their limit to create maximum conflict, but do not have them triumph in an impossible way.  In the above example, Batman's super-finely honed senses could just barely let him see the gun coming and dodge out of the way, but he is only human, so he cannot dodge the bullet after it leaves the barrel of the gun.  

Now, the tricky part to all this conflict stuff is that it does NOT matter who your character is.  Superman pushing the moon out of orbit, Batman using his smarts to just barely outsmart the Riddler, or the little old lady down the street who uses all her smarts and political savvy to stop the evil businessman from tearing down her building.  All of these are characters pushed to their extremes, and they can all be equally as interesting.

Okay, so now that we got the theory out of the way, let's put it into practice.  Here are two scenes, tell me which one has greater CONFLICT.


Frank's highly trained martial arts skills were put to the test against the two thugs.  Suddenly, on thug lurched forward, crowbar in hand, and made a nasty swing for Frank's melon.  In one deft motion, Frank grabbed the man's arm and moved out of the way, bringing the would-be attacker's arm down on his knee with a sickening crunch.  He then plucked the crowbar out of the air and turned to the other thug, weapon in hand.

Frank nervously backed up as his single assailant drew closer.  Then, he felt it all over as his back butted up against the wall of the alley.  It was over, Frank had no chance against a professional thug.  His self-defense classes at the Y, a distant memory.  The thug's arm pulled back to swing, and Frank knew he was doomed.  He closed his eyes, dropped to his knees, and shielded his head. With his arms, just as he heard a loud CLANK.  He opened his eyes and looked up to see the thug holding his hand in pain, the crowbar reverberating against the brick wall.  Thinking quickly, Frank gave a desperate shove to the distracted thug and took off running.


Now, the Frank in the first story is a martial arts genius who easily is able to beat two attackers, but the second Frank is only able to beat one, and just barely.  And it holds your attention more, as there is a greater sense of danger and a greater sense of desperation.  

Now, like I said, not all stories have to involve fighting.  Psychological conflict, or social, or political, or even against nature, are all perfectly valid conflicts to explore, and each can offer a good bit of character development and can be great things to write about.

So, in a nutshell, what is this tutorial about?  Yes, just because something would make a great cutscene in a videogame, does not make it good writing.  Don't be afraid to 'downgrade' your 'coolness factor' so that your stories have more conflict.