Good Conflict

I’ve never been a big sports fan.  When I was younger, I walked in on my family and some friends watching a hockey game, and I spent half of the time wondering why the Colorado team had an A on their shirts instead of an R for Rockies.  I still can’t remember the difference between the World Cup and the World Series, and my husband watches soccer nonstop.  Ask me which sport has periods, versus halftimes, versus quarters, and I couldn’t tell you.

My mom loves college football.  She made my dad take her to watch the Rose Bowl for their 21^st wedding anniversary.  Growing up, we always watched her university’s football and volleyball games, and when they were important games against well-known rivals, she would invite all of our friends over. 

Of course, since I don’t know much about sports, and I never really felt any special affiliation with my mom’s teams, I had the tendency to cheer for the other team.  Just because no one else was.  It made the games more tolerable for me.  I enjoyed riling up the others whenever the ‘other’ team scored.  (Made a touchdown?  I’m still not sure).

Now that I’m married, I watch a lot more of the other football – soccer.  My Bolivian husband watches little else.  When I was living in Madrid, I accidently bought my brother a Barcelona jersey, and my in-laws couldn’t believe that I could do anything so terrible.  One of his uncles gave us a Real Madrid pillow when we got married, to remind us to remain loyal to the best team.  For the first few years, I cheered for Madrid, but I soon got bored.  What was the use?  We were both cheering for the same team, and we were both happy when they won and sad when they lost.

What fun is it to watch a game where everyone’s on the same team?  Aren’t the best games when the two rivals are equally strong and where any outcome can occur?  

That’s when I started to cheer for the Barcelona team.  I even got a Messi jersey for whenever my husband wore his Ronaldo one.  But whenever I watched games with friends who were Barcelona fans, I’d switch to cheer for Madrid.

Viva Barcelona!

Why?

I like the conflict.  I enjoy the ‘trash talk,’ when one player makes a good play and the others get mad.  And I enjoy receiving it when my team deserves it.  A 90 minute soccer game can fly by when there’s the interaction and conflict between those watching.

Conflict is the spice of life.  We always need something to block us to make us push forward.  And that’s what our characters need as well.  Every chapter, every scene should have conflict to push the characters forward toward their goals and whatever ending they’re racing toward.  

Picture taken by me

Maybe it’s not a physical conflict.  It could be an emotional one.  

I have a character who seems like the ‘bad’ guy because he’s having a hard time keeping up with the young kids and isn’t dealing with it well.  It’s not very obvious, but it’s there, in every scene and in every interaction he has with the kids.  So even a normal conversation sounds like a confrontation.  

Like we learn in school, there’s many, many different types of conflicts, but each one can almost be broken down into three or four different types.  Man v Man.  Man v Environment.  Man v Self.  Can you think of any others?

Put yourself and your characters in conflict and watch them blossom.  Without conflict, we could very quickly get bored.

Setting the Mood

I’ve always been a Little Mermaid fan. In fact, growing up, our bathroom had Little Mermaid décor hanging on the walls.  One of my favorite parts of the movie is the song “Kiss the Girl.”

Recently, I’ve realized how Sebastian creates the mood, starting with the environment, and THEN the words come.

Picture taken by me!

I’m the same way.  I have to be in the right environment so that the words can come when I write.  Especially at home.  There’s too many distractions that I’ve had to learn to ignore.  And to do that, I’ve conditioned myself to want to write in a certain environment.

It’s like Pavlov’s dog.  He was fed every time a bell was run, and after time, he salivated when he heard the bell – even when there wasn’t any food.  I did the same thing to myself.  A specific environment can make me want/need to write, even when I’m not in the mood.  

I start with the music.  I’m not saying that I listen to the same music every time.  My tastes have differed over the years, and right now over the past few weeks, I’ve been listening to the Josh Groban channel on Pandora.  I love the creative feeling that that kind of classical music creates.  There are also the days when I need a different kind of emotion, especially when writing fight scenes.  Music can set that mood for me.

Years ago, when I was in school, I had a hard time concentrating on my studying.  I found an article online that talked about the importance of smells.  I went to the dollar store and I bought the cheap liquid potpourri.  I used vanilla when I studied and black cherry when I wrote.  And after time, I was just like pavlov’s dog.  I smell black cherry and I have the burning urge to write.  My creative juices start flowing and I can’t turn them off.

And now, I have the creative space to write!  I bought a desk years ago, but now, I have an office.  Complete with a bookshelf, liquid potpourri and music.  I’m pretty excited to use it now.  I just need a day off of work to be able to use it fully.

My new writing space

How do you set the mood?  What do you do to get the creative juices flowing?

On Jalapeños and Hot Sauce

My husband and I come from two very different cultures.  We listened to different music, ate different food and spoke different languages growing up.  We met in a 3^rd culture (a different country for both of us) and those differences didn’t really seem to matter.  In an essence, we were both “strangers in a strange land.”

After we got married, we moved back to the US – my culture – and that’s when I realized how different we really are.  Once I was back home, and able to buy the foods that I liked, we began to have some problems.

At first, he thought everything I made for meals was weird.  And after a while, he bought jalapeños and hot sauces to help him enjoy my cooking more.

For me, it was hard to believe him when he told me that he really enjoyed the food – after he added jalapeños, hot sauces and salt to it.  I didn’t think he could taste anything I cooked – especially with his new flavoring to it!

Husband's Jalapeños

But after I thought about it, I realized that it’s not only our backgrounds that make us enjoy different things.  It’s our personalities as well.

He likes action while I like romances.  He’s into sports and I’m into music.  

Everyone has different tastes and preferences.  Even if they like the same thing, their take can be immensely different.

So why do I bring this up?

This week, as I’ve been editing, I’m going through comments and critiques from various readers.  Some think the romance is too obvious while others want more.  Some say my description needs work, while others say it’s perfect.  Every reader wants something different. 

My red WIP is a fantasy, but it also includes romance, a strong relationship between father and son, numerous children and an unintentional commentary of government.  I even had one reader who wanted more out of the animals in the story. 

It’s always important for me, as a writer, to remember that everyone’s tastes are different.  They may very well prefer to have the literary jalapeños and hot sauces along with what I’ve written.  And ultimately, it is my story is mine.

All critiques and comments are suggestions.  Most of them are fantastic advice that makes my writing so much more effective.  But I also have to remember that I don’t have to take every suggestion.  If I did, my story would no longer be mine.  Even with every change I make, I still have to be true to MY story.  I can’t force something that doesn’t feel natural.  The readers will notice.  And if it’s no longer my story, then why should I tell it?

So although I love betas, and I always value their opinions, I take each suggestion with a grain of salt.  Or perhaps with some jalapeños and hot sauce.  

Multiple hot sauces for any occasion