c is for conflict

Conflict is one of three necessary features of a story. As Janet Burroway* says, "Only trouble is interesting." After all, how interested would you be in a story of a vampire and a mortal who, after being turned against his will, is just thrilled to have Lestat as his new best friend (Interview with the Vampire), or a beautiful girl who marries a farmboy and lives happily ever after (The Princess Bride), or a wizard who unleashes something horrific but suffers no consequences (A Wizard of Earthsea). What readers want is a war, something worth fighting over, and the fight has to escalate until the last, final battle. Afterwards, everyone walks away (or is carried away, depending...) and the conflict ends with a "significant and permanent change - which is the definition, in fiction, of a resolution."

A Wizard of Earthsea is classic Fantasy written by a master, Ursula LeGuin - oh, to be that good...

ps tomorrow is the last first impression of the month - an action packed thriller that reminded me a little of Miami Vice. Then it's back to a-z until the end of the month.

* Burroway, Janet, Writing Fiction - A Guide to the Narrative Craft (fourth edition), Harper Collins, 1996, p. 31-39.