Thursday, July 31, 2014

Conflict, Conflict, Conflict II

In fiction, play, and screenplay, there are sub-story, sub-plot, and sub-genre. For conflict, there is sub-conflict. Sub-conflict can be very trivial. For example, Character A asks Character B to go out for a cup of coffee at Starbucks; however, Character B wants to have it at a cafe. It seems mundane stuff, but once we provide the reason why Character B refuses to go to Starbucks, it will not only create conflict between the two characters but also spices up the scene a little bit.

A scene with some sort of sub-conflict is much more interesting than a scene with no conflict at all. Look at the following scene I write as an example:

A
Time for a second cup of coffee. Let's go to Starbucks.

B
Okay, let's go.

A scene like this should be cut.