Using Physical Boundaries To Add Conflict

Last week, we discussed blurring psychological bounaries. This week, we'll tackle utilizing physical boundaries as conflict at the scene and overall story level.

The concept of physical boundaries ties in with the thematic question of ownership. Do we ever really “own” anything? Characters draw chalk lines and erect fences, warning signs, hedges, and walls to define physical boundaries.

Characters in any genre can argue the fine points of the debate whether they are talking about a desk, a house, a country, a dog, a child, or a partner. Trusts, inheritance entailments, and wills are drawn up to ensure that the ownership of a thing passes down in the desired way. 

These often play a part in a Mystery or Thriller, but can be used in any genre.  Physical boundary conflicts escalate until a crisis point is reached. These conflicts can be resolved amicably or resolved because only one is left standing. They can result in a new division of territory or someone takes all. Such are the basis for world or interstellar wars.

Skirmishes erupt between neighbors over the borders of their yards and driveways. It can erupt between cities and counties and states and countries. Border wars make great overall story problems and thematic arguments: borders are arbitrary versus borders are necessary. No one should fence in anything versus enforcing borders keeps its residents safe. When countries redraw borders, people get displaced and that makes a terrific thematic argument to explore. Humans are willing to kill over scraps of land, even if the land lacks water, food and clean air. Is every scrap of land worth fighting for? Some would argue yes, others no.

Battles over borders could also serve as a problem at scene level if Dick needs to enter a geographic area to gain something and can’t go there. He may have to find a way in that is subversive or get someone else to go there for him.

Characters get testy when people trespass on what they believe to be theirs, whether they are accurate or not. A character might object if someone else’s children played on his lawn or swam in his pool without permission. The same character might make justifications when his children do it to someone else. Characters get really testy, even violent, over their perceived boundaries. Try trimming someone's prize rose bush and you'll know what I mean.

Arguments over physical boundaries can involve a country’s borders, a contested parking space, a room with a view, or the scope can be narrowed to a very personal boundary. Making Dick confront physical boundaries creates conflicts whether he has to jump over a railroad track or cross into Palestine from Israel.

Use physical boundaries to trip up your protagonist and make his scene goal more difficult.

For more information on these and other obstacles for your fiction, pick up a copy of Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict in print or E-book version.

Five Ways to Use Context to Add Tension

Context is the frame that defines words, actions, and people.

1. When the mind registers something out of place, it hangs onto the image and tries to reconcile it. This dilemma can eat away at your character, and the reader, until it is explained.

Dick will either deny what he saw, decide he didn't see what the thought he had, or blame it on a trick of light.

A slick detective will notice the slightest thing out of place. The image will keep churning in his brain until he figures out why it bothered him. Things presented out of context cause cognitive dissonance. Dick will pick up on things a witness says that are out of context. Poirot and Sherlock were masters of detecting conflicts of context.

If Dick sees someone walking down an urban street in a pioneer costume, he may have caught a fleeting glimpse, but his mind will hang onto the image. His rational mind won't be able to resolve it easily. Dick might see someone who looks familiar, but he is seeing them out of context so he can't quite place them.

2. Context shifts when a character is relocated or finds himself in a different world.

The frame changes when small town football star, Dick, goes off to college. He becomes a small fish in a big pond. That's why college is a great place for characters to reinvent themselves. Everyone there is out of context. Whatever your character's past, he or she can start over with a new identity or self image.

3. Shifting context can shed a different light on something said or done or cause misunderstanding. 

Advertisers, politicians and news headlines do this all the time. You see a headline and think something must really be wrong. Then you read the same words in the context of the article and realize it meant nothing. It is also a way to advance false data to support a proposition.

If Dick wants to make Jane look bad, he can take something she said out of context and distort her meaning by making her quote sound more simplistic or extreme. When asked to confirm if she made the comment, she'll have to admit to it. She may not be given the opportunity to defend herself by explaining the context. This tactic is used in courtrooms to great effect. If Jane said she wanted to "kill" Sally for being such a bitch, she may have said so as a joke or in a moment of ire. She did not intend to ever harm Sally. On the witness stand, Dick will use her words against her.

Dick can also use this tactic by quoting an authority out of context to support his argument. If an article states that cigarettes cause cancer in six out of ten smokers, Dick can state that the article said cigarettes don't cause cancer in all smokers. He is technically correct, but that was not the intent of the article's author.

If Dick is caught quoting someone's inflammatory statement, Jane can turn on him and pretend the statement came from Dick himself, when in fact the remainder of Dick's comment countered the inflammatory statement. This is often done with biblical quotes. Just because a scribe in biblical times said that something was okay does not make it an acceptable, rational choice in modern society. Or the person takes a quote from a trusted text and uses it out of context intentionally (or ignorantly) to support their proposition.

Jane can state there is some evidence that a specific medical treatment was effective. She leaves out the part where the article stated that it was effective in such a small sampling as to be considered ineffective and not worth further study.

Dick could film Jane doing something and edit the film to make it look like she was doing something wrong or illegal. In a world where virtually everyone has a cell phone camera, it's easy to take a random shot or video clip of someone and use it however you like. This is a frequent tactic by paparazzi when it comes to celebrity hookups. They show two actors standing together and call them a couple when all they were doing was posing for an upcoming film promotion.

4. Seeing photographs or images out of context can make Jane view something in an entirely different light. An example would be the "this is your brain on drugs" that showed an egg frying in a skillet. Juxtaposing different verbal images can have the same effect.

Commercials sometime stream images of unrelated images together to illustrate a point. The images are all out of context but work together to change perceptions. The E-trade baby commercials where they show toddlers talking like adults or the identity theft commercials where they show teenage girl voices emitting from a middle aged man are good examples. The switch in context makes them funny. The photo of an oil rig next to an oil-soaked duckling is another example. Sometimes it is not until you see something out of context that the reality sinks in.

5. Conflicts occur when something Dick says is taken out of context or misunderstood. He can have the best intentions in the world, but if Jane is having a bad day, feeling overly sensitive or Dick's words catch her at just the wrong angle, he has conflict. This happens all the time in all facets of life. Small misunderstandings create big wounds. We all have our issues and sensitive moments. Jane can be experiencing emotion due to something else entirely and an innocent comment from Dick can set off a storm of retaliation.

Sally can reveal information she didn’t intend to under these circumstances. Characters have their hot buttons and comments can push those hot buttons. Sally might perceive someone’s comment as a blow to her pride, honor, integrity, intelligence, generosity, or belief system. A casual comment from a spouse, friend or relative, even if it was meant to be funny, could result in a massive blowout if it strikes an unintended nerve. What Jane said might have been funny if it hadn't been out of context. If Jane intentionally says something knowing she'll strike a nerve, that’s another conflict.

Characters hear things wrong, interpret things wrong, and relate information filtered through their past experiences and personal preferences. They could repeat something that was said to them. They may believe in the accuracy of what they are saying. That does not, however, make it true or accurate.

Conflicts of context can be utilized in all genres and all aspects of a story from setting and character description to dialogue.

For more information on using context and other obstacles to create conflict, pick up a copy of Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict in print or E-book version.

Characters with Blurred Lines

Boundaries can be geographical, social, psychological, or physical. 

This post will address psychological boundaries: the lines that are drawn that separate one person from another. Blur these lines and things get messy fast. No one likes having their boundaries violated. Cross them and you create conflict. 

Characters adopt behaviors, coping mechanisms, verbal warnings and body language to defend psychological boundaries. Psychological boundary violations are often very subtle and complicate relationships between protagonists and antagonists, siblings, lovers, parents, children, friends, coworkers, and teammates.

Relationships are supposed to bring people together. In healthy relationships, boundaries are flexible. We grow and adapt to allow the other person in, but keep the self intact. We give in only so much and will only go so far. We allow the other person into our personal space. We allow them to touch us. We give them access to our deepest thoughts and feelings. If someone uses that access to harm us, it is betrayal of the highest order.

Most of your characters would be hard-pressed to vocalize what their boundaries are, but feel violations all the way to their core. Boundary violations can inspire heated arguments, divorces, revenge plots, and serve as motive for murder.

1. A woman who tries to get too close too fast will unsettle Dick. He will either decide that she is up to something or that she is emotionally unstable. If he is at first flattered by the attention, he will soon realize that he should have been more wary. Such is the stuff of many a horror story. Romances thrive on love at first sight and sex with a stranger, but that is rushing intimacy. In real life this scenario typically does not end well. That level of intimacy implies connections that haven't been formed yet. It is forcing a character to trust someone they don't know with their health and welfare. It is a boundary violation that runs rampant throughout modern fiction. It's also a plot hole, especially when it happens because "the script calls for it."

2. A character who offers too much personal information too soon will make Dick suspicious. This is effective as a plot complication. However, if a character enters the story and shares way too much personal information for no reason apart from delivering information, it becomes a plot hole. Readers will be irritated by it, unless they relate to the situation because their own boundaries are fuzzy.

3. Readers sense boundary violations in your story. They won't necessarily stop reading to shout, "Their boundaries are off!" Rather, they stop reading because they don't like the characters or think the plants and payoffs aren't realistic. I have tossed several books aside because the protagonist fell on either extreme end of the unhealthy boundary spectrum. This is often true in Thrillers where the protagonist runs around shooting people in a display of badass. Protagonists without conscience don't feel particularly heroic to the reader. They may still root for him to succeed but they don't necessarily like him. It may turn readers off so that they don't read the next book in the series. We want our heroes to care. They may have to take drastic measures to save us, but we don't want them to be the monster, even if you are writing paranormal.

4. Con men often approach and get real chummy too fast. Dick takes the stranger at face value initially. Unless Dick is professionally trained to detect liars, he won't stop to think, "this man is being way too friendly." Instead his intuition will tell him that something doesn't quite add up. As you relate Dick's responses, your reader will feel that same tug of intuition. As the plot progresses, Dick will begin connecting the dots and the reader will too.

5. At the extreme end, characters lacking sufficient boundaries remain in toxic, even abusive situations, befriend serial killers, or allow other characters to walk all over them. Most characters fall somewhere in the middle or slightly off center on the fuzzy-rigid spectrum. Circumstances can force any of them to be slightly rigid or slightly fuzzy.

6. On the mild end, they enable their children, can’t say no to excessive overtime, think celebrities are actually friends, or insist on taking photos of their butts on the company copier during the Christmas party. They cling and make outrageous demands, manipulate through guilt, or spend their time trying to fix broken people. They expect to be admired for their sacrifices and outrageous efforts to please and repair.

7. Use characters with poor boundaries to complicate Dick's life. If Dick is the responsible hero type he will try to drag this person back to a healthy sense of self or convince them of the error of their ways. In the end, unless it's a biography or a down-ending tale, Dick should be willing and able to accept that he can’t and isn’t responsible for fixing them. Even if it means losing them or letting them self-destruct. He may get sidetracked or dragged down temporarily by the toxic character, but his boundaries should be healthy enough for him to know when to walk away.

The toxic character may make solving the overall story problem next to impossible. Your antagonist, if you have one, is often toxic or is surrounded by toxic types enabling his erroneous ways.

8. A fairly well-balanced Dick can be driven to some derivative of fuzzy or rigid behavior depending on the circumstances. He would have to tolerate incursions to work for a rigid character. He would have to become a bit rigid when solving a problem with a fuzzy character. Extreme circumstances can force him into extreme behaviors.

9. If Sally has a weak sense of self, she’ll find it difficult to distinguish herself from the characters she forms relationships with. She will use the other people to fill in her missing pieces or the emptiness she feels when she is alone. The problem is, no one can do that for her and no amount of trying will make it so. It could show growth if she starts off a little insecure and grows into confidence. However, characters with a truly weak sense of self make poor protagonists. I could list a few contemporary examples.

10. If Jane is rigid, she will find it difficult to adjust her boundaries to allow the other person in. She ends up in emotionally detached relationships and is incapable of intimacy. She will make a lousy friend and a difficult lover. Rigid characters make excellent antagonists and foes.

11. Put fuzzy Sally with rigid Jane and you have a neurotic, passive-aggressive relationship. Their opposing approaches will make anything they undertake unsuccessful. They will get frustrated with each other and constantly return to the arena to repeat their tug of war.

Pair a healthy Dick with a rigid Jane or fuzzy Sally and the game is on. They will disagree verbally, thematically, even physically.

12. Dick can fear hurting someone he cares about, so he gets a little fuzzy. It’s easy to kick out a terrible tenant. It’s harder to evict an aging father with a Vicodin habit.

If Dick has healthy boundaries in all other respects, he may get fuzzy when it comes to dealing with a wife who is emotionally abusive due to mental illness or a child who has violent outbreaks.

Boundary conflicts can be a thematic argument, an overall story problem, a disruptive factor at scene level or serve as a motive. It can complicate things for your protagonist in any story.

Next time, we will explore physical boundaries.

For more information on how to use boundaries and other obstacles to create conflict, pick up a copy of Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict in print or E-book version.

Communication Roadblocks Part 2

This week, we conclude the discussion of roadblocks to communication. Miscommunication can add hilarity, subtext, conflict, or motive for murder.

1.Body Language: If what Dick is saying doesn’t match his body language, Jane will know something is up. Smiling while sad and grinning while angry are sure signs that something is amiss. Jane may change tactics or attempt to understand why Dick is sad or mad. She can ignore the underlying body language or be distracted and not notice, creating an even bigger problem for herself. If she is a detective, she will know that Dick is lying about his alibi.

2. Distractions: If Dick is trying to talk to Jane, Jane may be in the middle of something, like trying to write a chapter before the inspiration fades. Jane might hear Dick without really listening. She may say things like “Yeah, whatever” or “Sure, go ahead.” Because Jane didn’t really attend to what she was agreeing to, there will be conflict. Distractions can be physical, mental, or emotional. If Dick is watching an important football play on TV, he will ignore Jane. Jane may get mad. She may get even. He may miss the fact that she just said she was leaving him for the cabana boy.

3. Jargon: Different cultures use different words to describe things. If Dick jets off to London, he might think Bobby is a person and that shag is a carpet. He might be embarrassed when someone orders “a spotted dick with cream.” All kinds of delightful (and tragic) mistakes can occur.

4. One-Up: Dick and Jane’s conversation can derail in a hurry if they are sparring, each determined to come out on top or get in the last word. A couple in a power struggle can lob, parry, and zing in an escalating war that can ruin a play or concert, a business dinner, or serve as a distraction while Sally breaks into the host’s safe. Things are often said in the heat of the moment that you can’t take back. Dick may need to grovel a while to get back into Jane’s good graces. Escalating one-up fights can illustrate the demise of a relationship gone wrong.

5. Mars/Venus: Dick and Jane have different conversational “currency.” Men tend to report and feel they are supposed to take action. Women tend to relate anecdotes and want validation. Conflict ensues if they don’t get what they want or need. If Jane gets tired of hearing Dick bitch about work because he never listens to her anecdotes about the children, her coworkers, or whatever the frustration of the moment is, she may become angry, depressed, or have an affair with someone who is willing to listen to her. Ironically, men aren’t really asking for advice when they rant either. They want their point of view reinforced. If a female injects logic, the conversation goes downhill fast. Female friendships are forged because women tend to listen and respond to each other in ways men don’t. Men are friends because they don’t bore each other with nonessential details. Dick can become jealous of Jane’s friends because she’d rather talk to them instead of him. If she tells her friend she wants a divorce but forgets to tell Dick, the game is on.

6. Repartee: In a good conversation, Sally and Jane take turns. It’s like watching a tennis match: serve and return. It can get intense, fast paced, and angry. Or it can be slow, witty, and fun. Sally can run on and on and never give Jane a chance to comment. Jane can be brusque and abrasive and cut Sally off every time she tries to say something. In real life people interrupt and talk over top of one other. Groups divide into separate conversations, which can be fun if Jane misses something she should have been listening to.

7. Too Much Information: How open people are about themselves and their lives varies with each culture. Americans stereotypically tell everyone everything about anything. They have no problem talking about how much money they have or spend. They think everyone is interested in the cute things their toddler said. Their closet doors are wide open. Other cultures are more reserved. Their closet doors are slightly ajar or firmly closed. Put opposite characters together and you have an uncomfortable dinner party, a tense diplomatic meeting or a very bad first date.

8. Witnessing: Everyone wants to feel “heard.” I would call that a basic human need. As a friend of mine put it, everyone needs a witness. If Dick feels unheard at work, it will create distress. He may become angry. He may become depressed. He may feel the need to switch jobs. If he comes home and Jane is too busy to listen to him rant about his day, he might seek out someone who will. If that someone is a psycho, you have a thriller. If that someone is a vampire, you have a paranormal fantasy. If that someone is a Martian, you have Sci-Fi.

In compelling dialogue, the course of conversation rarely flows smooth. Characters talk about things they shouldn’t, say things they don’t mean, talk at cross purposes, try to shout each other down, wheedle, plead, whine, bitch, mislead and lie.

A conversation can also serve to bring a character back down from a precipice of anger, frustration, depression or jealousy. A friend can calm and soothe and bank the fires. Use communication conflicts to illustrate your protagonist’s progress toward and away from his goal.

For more information on creating conflict, obstacles, and responses, pick up a copy of Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict in print or E-book version.

Communication Roadblocks Part 1

Speech is how we communicate our thoughts, feelings, ideas, and opinions.

Every species communicates. So far, other than talking birds, humans are the only ones who can speak and write languages. 

Languages are diverse. There are thousands of languages disappearing all over the globe every year. Speaking is our single most important tool, the one thing in addition to opposable thumbs that gives us an evolutionary advantage. 

We don’t always use it wisely, which is really good news for fiction writers. There are many different barriers to communication that your characters can face.

1. Word Choice: If Dick chooses the wrong words to communicate what he needs or thinks, he may spark a battle with sensitive Sally. Blunt Jane may intervene and try to explain what each person meant and make the situation worse. The topic can be anything. “You always” and “You never” are fighting words. Start off a sentence with either and the game is on.

2. Physical Limitations: Dick may not be able to talk because he has laryngitis or has been cursed by a witch and can only croak. He may speak, but Jane can’t hear because of their surroundings, distance, or she is hearing impaired. Let’s say Sally needs to communicate something to solve the story problem or scene goal. Jane can’t hear/understand her because they are too far apart, the phone has static, or they are muffled by burkas. Sally will have to work harder to achieve her goal. Dick can be forced to keep silent because he is afraid to speak or because he is legally or physically gagged.

3. Experience: Dick and Jane may not be able to communicate their needs or wants sufficiently because they have completely different backgrounds. Dick may try to tell her how something was or why he wants to do something. Jane won’t get it because she never had that experience and can’t relate to or imagine it.

4. Perception: Perception is 9/10 of reality. Dick may perceive a situation in a certain light. Jane might perceive it to be the opposite. If Dick is wrong in his assumptions, he will go after the wrong suspect or accuse Jane of something she didn’t do. If Jane perceives Sally to be a superficial slag, she is unlikely to help Sally or will discount the threat that Sally the vampire truly is. Dick and Jane can be talking about different things, but think they are talking about the same thing. They can be talking about the same thing but think they are talking about different things. Cross purpose dialogue can be fun or tense.

5. Emotions: If Dick is furious and Jane is depressed, neither one of them will be able to “hear” what the other person is saying. Discordant emotional states can effectively shut down a necessary conversation. Dick can tell Jane, “I can’t listen to you right now, I’m too pissed off.” Jane can tell Dick she doesn’t really care who did what at work because she’s exhausted, and irritated, and just doesn't give a hoot at the moment. A character who is uncomfortable with an interrogation will try to change the subject. They might keep talking about fly fishing instead of answering questions about a murder.

6. Culture: We all use cultural shorthand in our conversations. If Dick tries to explain something to Jane, she might not understand the references. Her way of looking at the world may be in total opposition to Dick’s viewpoint. Trying to clarify these differences can be fun, tragic, or tense.

7. Religion: If Dick is Christian and Jane is Muslim, it is possible they will negate anything the other says based on prejudice about each other’s belief systems. If Sally believes in God and tries to convince atheist Dick to do something because God would want him to, she will fail. Dick will not accept that a being he doesn’t believe in is asking him to do something. The carrot of eternal life or the stick of hell won’t be selling points to her thematic argument.

8. Language: If Dick is forced to deal with people who don’t speak his language, he’ll have to resort to the basics: hand gestures, facial expressions and sharing one word at a time. Misunderstandings are inevitable. Differing languages can be a conflict at any story level. Debates about accommodating different languages can be a theme or the premise for a Literary or Science Fiction / dystopian tale. It can be a scene goal problem if Dick is trying to explain his situation to a foreigner or trying to gain information from someone who can’t understand him.

Next week, we'll continue our exploration of communication roadblocks.

For more information about conflict, obstacles, and responses check out Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict in E-book and print versions.

Stirring the Plot: Fish Tales and Whoppers

Fish tales are stories a character relates that have a basis in reality but have been embellished to make the tale more entertaining, to make the teller sound better, or to make the object of the tale sound worse, than they really were.

Everyone tells a fish tale at some point, consciously or subconsciously: not to deliberately mislead or harm, but because it is human nature to flesh out stories. A story told often enough becomes a memory, even if it never happened or didn’t happen in quite the way it is related.

Dick might relate a conversation that didn’t actually take place the way he says it did. Characters tend to think of the funny or wounding line they should have said after the conversation is over, or the threat they should have made, or the punch they should have thrown in a heated situation. If a fish tale is told and embellished often enough, the embellishments replace the truth.

A fish tale starts out simply enough. Dick relates the tale of going fishing and turns his three-inch carp catch into a seven-foot catfish. The other diners will laugh. Jane might point out that seven-foot catfish don’t actually live in the pond in question. Sally might point out that a seven-foot catfish is too big for Dick to pull out alone. Ted might just call him on his crap and say he never caught a fish in his life. 

Dick might laughingly admit that he was exaggerating, but it was a catfish and it was big. The gentle ribbing may wick Dick into fury and the evening could turn ugly. If Dick is trying to warn them that giant radioactive catfish are living in the local lake, his friends will regret that they didn’t listen to him. If he is a serial killer, he will choose his next victim from amongst the dinner guests making fun of him. The ribbing can turn into fish tales of their own. Fish tales can make your character uncomfortable at a dinner party or create massive problems for all involved.

Let’s send Dick and Jane to a dinner with friends or family. Dick relates an innocent tale of something rather mundane that happened at home that morning. It can be something Jane did by accident (maybe she dropped a skillet full of food) or something she said about a situation or a person. If Dick embellishes the tale, he can unintentionally (or intentionally) humiliate Jane by exaggerating the outcome of the event or the content of the conversation. If he puts words in Jane’s mouth that come across as insults or puts a negative spin on her actions, he could get her in trouble or place her in danger. Dick was just trying to be funny but in Jane’s mind he made her look bad. The ride home will not be pleasant. Jane may sit and stew and plot a payback. Jane may start a tirade about all the stupid, hurtful things Dick has done. If Dick counter-attacks, the argument can escalate and lead to the demise of their marriage or to a really frosty winter of discontent.

If Dick embellishes a story about his skills or experience, he may be asked to do a harder task at work than he is prepared for. He may be asked to utilize his talents to solve a mystery or stop a crime. Dick’s fish tale can land him in waters way over his head.

The embellishments of Dick’s fish tale could be lethal if they mirror something that actually occurred. His comments may make someone at the dinner party squirm and change the subject. His exaggerations could turn lethal if they get too close to a crime that has been committed or imply that he has seen or heard something he didn’t and should not have.

Siblings sitting around a dinner table listening to a family member relate a story from their past might not remember the situation in quite the same way. This can spark friendly, or not so friendly, arguments. It could spark a mystery that needs to be solved. The same is true at a business lunch or a social get together among friends. When the false story is perceived as truth, you have unlimited potential for conflict.

As a tale gets repeated, and the embellishments become “facts”, the story takes on a life of its own. It becomes an “urban legend.” The time Dick went into the woods and got lost for five seconds becomes the time Dick went into the woods, was missing for a week and found his way home after seeing Big Foot. Family urban legends can reveal a lot about your characters. They can reveal what others think Dick is capable of, guilty of, or ashamed of. The arguments about what did and didn’t happen can be funny or extremely tense and very revealing. If the family urban legends hint at a darker truth (they’re all vampires) in front of a guest, the evening can end abruptly. If Dick takes his new girlfriend to dinner with friends or family and they use the urban legends to embarrass him in front of her, there will be plenty of conflict.

Conversely, fish tales could be used to make Dick look like a true hero. He saved a baby from a burning building when all he really did was put out a small blaze caused by a candle falling over. If Dick is a superhero and really did save a baby from a burning building, that’s an entirely different tale. He may squirm and worry about his family blowing his cover.

You can use the concept of fish tales and urban legends in any genre to develop plot, to reveal character, or to complicate the scene.

For more on how to motivate your characters based on personality type, check out:

Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict in paperback and E-book.

Story Building Blocks: Build A Cast Workbook in paperback and E-book.

Stirring the Plot: P!nk goes into a bar

I have to thank P!nk (aka Alecia Moore) for inspiring this post with her song, "You and Ur Hand." Superficially, it's a feel good, girl power, bar anthem with a good beat. I imagine it gets frequent club play.

I like P!nk, not so much her punk girl persona, rather the woman who sings with her heart in her teeth, whose words and voice give me chills, in a good way. Glitter in the Air and Run Away are a couple of P!nk songs on my frequent play list.

Her song "You and UR Hand" is a perfect example of hidden motivation. The premise of the song is: a woman, let's call her Jane, dresses up and goes to a bar or club with her friend, let's call her Sally. Jane asserts that she just wants to drink and dance and be left alone. "We didn't get all dressed up just for you to see..." Which sounds good ... on the surface.

The expressed motivation is that Jane and Sally want to go to the bar to dance and drink and be largely ignored by the male population. This is a justification. There's no need for Jane and Sally to dress up in provocative outfits and go to a bar if they don't want to be bothered. They can drink, dressed in softy sweats, and bitch about men at home on the comfy couch. They could dance to music in the living room without being molested, and the alcohol is a whole lot cheaper if you buy it at the grocery store.

Subliminally, these girls want to go out and see and be seen. Jane is probably an extrovert. If Sally is an introvert, she will likely hate going to the bar with Jane. That will be the first conflict. Maybe Sally is the voice of reason and tries to talk Jane into staying home.

They don't. Jane and Sally go to the trouble of dressing up and doing their hair and drive to a club: "Looking tight, Feeling nice, It's a cockfight, I can tell, I just know, That it's going down, Tonight..."

This is another justification. Jane could wear softy sweats to the bar and leave her hair oily if she really wanted to repulse men. The second important clue from this line is that Jane goes into the bar with a chip on her shoulder. In fact, she is spoiling for a fight. Why? Maybe she just broke up with her boyfriend. Does she expect him to be there? Maybe her self esteem is at an all time low and she wants guys to hit on her to make her feel desirable. Maybe she hates men at the moment and wants to entice then reject them to make herself feel better, not a very healthy thing to do. Maybe Jane wants to release her aggressive urges by picking an actual fist fight with someone, an even worse thing to do. Jane could end up in jail for drunk and disorderly conduct.

"At the bar six shots just beginning, ... Midnight, I'm drunk, I don't give a f—" Getting plowed is a self-destructive way to deal with grief or anger. It usually turns Jane into her worst self. So Jane is primed for conflict walking in the door then fuels her rage with excessive alcohol.

Uh oh.

Let's say hapless Dick goes to the bar too. Maybe Dick wants to get drunk either as a response to a momentary, situational trigger or he's an alcoholic. It's highly unlikely that he wants to dance by himself.

Maybe Dick is there to make a love or lust connection or simply to meet up with friends to discuss football. If he runs into Jane and Sally, poor Dick won't know what hit him. He'll take the bait. He'll see a scantily clad Jane and assume that she is equally on the prowl. That's where the conflict starts.

"Don't touch, Back up, I'm not the one, Buh bye, Listen up it's just not happening, You can say what you want to your boyfriends, Just let me have my fun tonight, Aiight. I'm not here for your entertainment, You don't really want to mess with me tonight."

Dick won't understand Jane's incendiary reaction to his innocent, or wolfish, flirting. He may be a gentleman and simply shrug and move on and think, "Wow, what a ...." (fill in the descriptive term). He may get angry in return. He may offer insults to salve his wounded pride. If Dick is also drunk and decides to get verbally abusive, the night will not end well.

There's an even darker undertone of contempt to the song:"Just stop and take a second, I was fine before you walked into my life, Cause you know it's over, Before it begins, Keep your drink just give me the money, It's just you and your hand tonight."

It's one thing to tell Dick to keep his drink. A deeper motivation is revealed when Jane says, "just give me the money." For what? What has she done to earn money? Maybe Dick is her ex-boyfriend and he has been leeching off her for a while and she thinks he owes her money. Maybe Dick isn't her ex but, since she's had scummy boyfriends in the past, Jane thinks all men owe her money. Either way, those are fighting words. The word prostitute might get thrown into the conversation. The dialogue is likely to get ugly fast.

The evening could end in a verbal brawl. It could end with an arrest. It could end with Jane and Dick making up to go home and repeat the dysfunctional cycle all over again the following weekend.

In summary, something as simple as song lyrics can inspire your story conflict, especially when the lyrics reveal faulty thinking, dysfunction, and hidden motivation. You can "show" the hidden motivation by attitude, dialogue, and action instead of "telling" your reader the psychological motivations.

And if you hit a writing slump, just turn on your favorite playlists. I'm sure something will inspire you!

For more on how to motivate your characters based on personality type, check out:

Story Building Blocks II: Crafting Believable Conflict in paperback and E-book.

Story Building Blocks: Build A Cast Workbook in paperback and E-book.