まろ's writing classroom: Lesson 4 [Preparation homework] Creating conflict (Part 1)

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The author of this article まろ is the author of the light novel “Southern Cross”. He hopes to use his own experience to help more friends write good stories. Thank you for authorizing the “Content Hacker” website to reprint it. Thank you hereby.

In the process of pursuing desires and beliefs, the characters conflict with their surroundings, which is actually the core of the play.

Recently, netizens have been asking me about “how to write good novels”. Therefore, I organized my experience in writing light novels into 34 themes, divided into three stages: [Preparation Assignment], [Plot Process] and [Writing Management].

Whether you want to write a novel, a biography, or a business history, these articles can help. No matter what your writing level is, I will guide you through the two stages of [preparation] and [plot flow] to complete a piece of work, so start right away!

[Conflict] is the entity of [Premise]. Desire affects resonance and empathy, beliefs affect values, and paradoxes and big questions affect life.

Hey! Have you thought carefully about [premise] and [character setting]? Because we are about to take the class exam!

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Please fill in all your characters into the six boxes of “Behavior Pattern”! Please note that in addition to individual roles, groups and countries can also be roles! But if you have the following questions…

1. The recipient doesn’t know what to fill in? Remember the following magic words, then Reread [Lesson 2: Establishing Premise] and come back (click to read).

Magical Saying: Don’t care if the premise makes sense, makes sense, is legal, or is silly, just follow your desires and let the characters act!

Bizarre premises can lead to very interesting stories, so don’t give up on the weird idea and try to make it perfect. Unless you are as exaggerated as Marquis de Sade, you should still be a normal person!

2． Hostile don’t know what to fill in? Remember the following magic words, then reread [Lesson 3: Character Setting] and come back (click to read).

Magical Quotes: Let go of the role’s idol baggage. The world is not as beautiful as a flower field, there will always be people making trouble!

Growth is bound to come at a price, and it will be more touching if there are some obstacles in your character’s growth path. Unless it’s as exaggerated as Xuan Urobuchi, you should still be a normal person!

3. Some characters don’t know which grid to place? Remember the following magic words, then reread [Lesson 3: Character Setting] and come back (click to read).

Magical saying: Think carefully about the character’s position. If you really can’t think of his position, then cut it off!

Tsubaki Izumi also mentioned in “Monthly Girls Nozaki-san Official Setting Collection” that Kashima and Yuzuki were friends of Nozaki-mei in the initial setting, and were later modified. Character adjustments are common. If a character must be deleted, someone else will inherit his charm points.

4. The population is overflowing and you don’t know how to fill it? Remember the following magic words, then Reread [Lesson 2: Establishing Premise] and come back (click to read).

Magical saying: Find the opinion leader in the story and get rid of those who are beating the gongs and drums nearby. Don’t worry about the butterfly effect!

When you are first imagining a story, you will be excited about the new idea at first. When you start to materialize it, you will find that it is as messy as a ball of yarn that a cat is playing with. Find the opinion leaders for your story and start by interviewing the people who can make the difference!

This exam is very important. In order to prevent you from being blown away by the chain explosion of role relationships and psychological theories, you must first do a good job in character positioning. In addition, considering friends who have written biographies and corporate history, I will secretly give you some research questions.

[](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK6MvBDRhxGf2D9KXxYgeS mkAh84TB7ImXGYTcDWLmexAuragbwYssRqURpuxH1R63QK1oU0xR-dDHjlDXfPD0AjanouvqMitOWrH47_QJ YujpnzW7rgafXK5ih2ZWUsaS-s94Zhbjg135/s1600/%25E8%25A1%258C%25E7%2582%25BA%25E6%25A8% 25A1%25E5%25BC%258F-%25E4%25BC%2581%25E6%25A5%25AD%25E6%2595%2585%25E4%25BA%258B.png)

So you understand, you can ask the protagonist to state his views on the other five characters, and then interview these five characters. Only if you have completed the exam can you read on! Because, you will see a very bizarre example: “Southern Cross”.

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Sawara said:

“I just feel like she seems like someone in my memory.” 』

Zuo Yuan said this with a guilty conscience. In fact, he was choking in his heart, “Or is this feeling like liking someone?” The supporters and enemies are all from the same group. This group of people is really doing something. And sometimes, Yizhi would prevent Sahara from giving herself happiness, so we also interviewed her.

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Yizhi said:

“I’m sorry…but am I qualified to stay by your side…?”

Crying sobs, she curled up and fell directly onto the cold floor.

Then let’s interview Yizhi’s rival Ayuha. Her idea is…as long as Sahara is happy?

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Ayuye said:

“Even so, even so. He is getting further and further away from me, right? Is it because I don’t want to cause him trouble?” Ayuye raised her head slightly and looked at the fiery red sky, stained with layers of clouds.

Finally, let’s interview the second male lead, A Guang, who sometimes goes too far with chivalry and causes trouble for himself.

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Aguang said this:

”…Because I like Amakusa Ye-san, are you satisfied with this answer?” Aguang’s voice was trembling but firm.

“And no matter who stands in front of me, I will eradicate it without hesitation. I can do anything for her, as long as it makes her feel happy.”

It turns out that “Southern Cross” is Ah Zhe and Ah Guang, both hoping to make Yizhi happy. Originally, Yizhi only had Azhe in her memory, but because of Aguang’s help, Yizhi and Azhe reunited. Ayuha, who hopes that both Atsu and Izuku will be happy, jeopardizes her own position. But in the end, Yizhi’s feelings about happiness determine everything.

OK! Now it’s your turn to interview your protagonists. Did you find something smuggled in in these pictures? That’s right, it’s the “main line and branch line”. So you also know that I will not teach you how to write branch plots, because this is something that will naturally appear after you complete the “Behavior Pattern” interview with the character.

In terms of the level of detail required by creators, the character relationship diagram is really not enough. But I’m not against character relationship diagrams. It’s very useful for readers. And if you really have a lot of basic characters, it’s also good to use character relationship diagrams as a preliminary summary!

Through this round of interviews, everyone should understand that the characters in [“Southern Cross”] (http://blog.hukaka.com/2018/06/03/ss-01-1-1/) almost all act based on their beliefs and sometimes sacrifice themselves, so they can trigger the highest level of conflict in my mind - dilemma. When you fully convey your characters’ reasons for their actions and your readers can’t think of a better way out of the trap, you’ve successfully trapped them.

Because of his own mediocrity, Tetsu Sahara did not have the courage to get closer to Ichigo or Ayuha. A Guang relied on hard work and big gambles to compete with Zuo Yuan in Yizhi’s heart. Ayuha was gradually forced back by her wish for Sahara’s happiness.

Have you noticed? This dilemma becomes even more intense because “Sahara is an ordinary person” and “Yizhi is a beautiful girl”. Therefore, the beauty of the flaws mentioned in [Lesson 3: Character Setting] (click to read) is also very important. It would be great if your beautiful girl character not only looks good, but also adds points to the plot!

To some extent, humans are really masochistic creatures. In the next article [Lesson 4: Creative Conflict (Part 2) - Character Psychological Analysis], please be prepared to let a psychologist analyze your heart.

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What we are about to face is this kind of future! Finish your homework quickly, we will start writing stories soon! Let’s see you in the next article [Lesson 4: Creating Conflict (Part 2) – Character Psychological Analysis]! (Click to read)

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Further reading

• まろ’s Writing Classroom: Lesson 3 [Preparation Homework] Character Setting (Part 2)
• まろ’s Writing Classroom: Lesson 5 [Preparation Assignment] Elements and World View (Part 1)
• まろ’s Writing Classroom: Lesson 4 [Preparation Assignment] Creating Conflict (Supplement)

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