 Drama: March 05, 2014 Issue [#6186] |
  Drama
This week: Tweaking the Central Problem Edited by: Joy  
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"Not knowing when the dawn will come, I open every door."
Emily Dickinson
"Where you stumble and fall, there you'll find gold."
Joseph Campbell
"I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts."
Anne Lamott
“No story is a straight line. The geometry of a human life is too imperfect and complex, too distorted by the laughter of time and the bewildering intricacies of fate to admit the straight line into its system of laws.”
Pat Conroy, from Beach Music
Hello, I am Joy , this week's drama editor. In this issue, we will concentrate on the central problem in a fictional story.
Your Drama Newsletter Editors: zwisis NickiD89  kittiara Joy
Thank you for reading our newsletters and for supplying the editors with feedback and encouragement.
Note: In the editorial, I refer to third person singular as he, to also mean the female gender, because I don't like to use they or he/she.
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Welcome to the Drama newsletter
Haven’t most of us writers experienced at one time or another when our story didn’t quite make it at first draft and the readers were underwhelmed without being sure why? I can’t talk for every writer, but this happens to me all the time. In such a case, I usually suspect the central problem or something akin to it.
The central problem in a story is strongly related to the main conflict. If the conflict is a king, the central problem becomes the king plus his court.
A simple example for the conflict can be two people, protagonist and antagonist, after the same prize; let’s say a young woman. The central problem here could be this conflict plus other things, such as the backgrounds of the protagonist and the antagonist, plus the wishes of the young woman.
When the central problem is weak, there are a few things we can do about it. These can be:
 Raising the stakes. For example: If the protagonist is trying to get a divorce from his shrewish wife to marry his girlfriend, we could make his career fall apart.
Adding an additional obstacle or complication. For example: If the heroine wants to find her kidnapped parents, we could give her amnesia so she wouldn’t recall the circumstances and the direction or place her parents were taken.
Boosting the antagonist’s powers. For example: Make him the boss or the expert in the protagonist’s workplace.
Making the protagonist more vulnerable emotionally. For example: She might have a hidden disease or psychological complex that arises from her backstory and disables her in the face of an adversity.
Adding a ticking clock. For example: The time to solve the puzzle is limited for the hero since a bomb will go off in 20 minutes.
If none of the above seems to help, our attention should be directed back to the core conflict, for now is the time to make the core conflict more serious. To do this, we first need to make sure that:
 The character is not ignoring a logical solution to the conflict.
The conflict can be stretched over the entire plot.
The conflict fits the character.
The subplots are connected rationally to the conflict.
The core conflict is very important for the drama in a story, no matter the length of the work. That is why the advice from the writing teachers is: Remind the reader of central conflict, in each scene, chapter, or part. This advice holds true even for the literary genre where the conflict is usually internal in the characters or the conflict is so minimized that we feel it is hidden.
Thus, when we read a noted work from a master, it is a good idea to read the piece with a discerning eye. That is, analyzing, tearing apart, scrutinizing, and finding out the secrets of the pens we so admire. This practice alone will ease some of the hardships we might face where the central problem is concerned.
Until next time, hoping all your problems are easily solved... 
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This Issue's Tip: A secret often provides a plot twist, which may lead to complications inside the central problem.
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Natechia dos Reis 
Thank you for a wonderful article. I enjoyed reading about the different genres pitfalls. I'm reviewing some of my work using the advice you give. Thank you again.
Thank you, too, for the feedback. I'm glad you found the NL useful.
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Quick-Quill 
Joy, this is a great NL with information that I need to keep. I'm having trouble with the term Drama. I consider my novel Drama as it isn't a mystery although the MC is researching what happened to his grandmother. It has a tiny bit of romance, more of MC finding meeting a helper and they fall in love. Not time travel, but both MC search and his grandmother's story coincide. Have I just crossed genre's?
Thank you!
If you did cross genres, so what? As they say, the story's the thing. Many novels cross genres deliberately, nowadays. I'd say go ahead and consider your novel a drama. Rarely any piece of writing exists without drama, anyhow.
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Indelible Ink 
Joy - That was a wonderful piece on the different pitfalls one might experience when writing in various genres. Keeping those tips in mind will also help one avoid sounding like the "same old writer" in spite of the genre switches, as the focus varies greatly. Thanks a bunch!
Jeff
You're very welcome, and I do appreciate the feedback.
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QueenOwl ~ A New Day Dawns
This newsletter is very informative and instructional. Thank you for taking the time to share your wealth of knowledge with this subject matter.
I am glad you found the NL informative. Thanks for the input.
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goldenautumn
The suggestions in your newsletter regarding pitfalls for genres are very helpful! Thank you so much!
Ann
Thank you, too, for telling me that.
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🌑 Darleen - QoD 
Thanks for posting my story, "Invalid Item" ! Love your newsletter. 
Thank you. I love Drama, too.
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BIG BAD WOLF is Howling  says,
"Life can be crazy at times."
in regard to his submitted item:"White Sheep of the Family"
Yes, crazy is the word for life, isn't it!
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