Today’s Prompt• Write a memory that tells a story

OR• Write a poem that is a journey

OR• Write a dialogue that is contains a power struggle

The Basics of StoryConflict & Plot

Story as Journey• “There are only two stories:

someone went on a journey and a stranger came to town.” – John Gardner

• Dynamic characters are capable of change… The process by which this change occurs involves conflict.

• Change occurs because a character will confront a situation that will challenge her/his assumptions and shake up easy beliefs

• Altered state could be from• Alive to Dead• Ugly to Beautiful• Ignorant to Wise• Callous to Compassionate• Certain to Uuncertain• etc

Story as a Journey (cont.)• Usually character will have

his or her scope enlarged (but not always)

• Usually story will result in greater wisdom, compassion or understanding (though it can end in diminishment or narrowing)

• However, readers will always have our capacity for empathy enlarged by having seen the character’s point of view

• Every story is in this important human sense a “love story”

Important Questions• Where does the protagonist

want to go?• What does he/she desire?

• What are the obstacles encountered?• What discoveries are made?• What conflicts arise?

• What does she/he do to overcome these obstacles?• What decisions are made?

• Is the goal reached?• Is it as expected?

NOTE: Sometimes journey ends with fulfillment, sometimes not. Sometimes the goal is reached and proves not worth the trip; sometimes a detour leads to paradise.

Story as Power Struggle• Most common way of looking

at story structure• Conflict• Crisis• Resolution

• This means only trouble is interesting• Repeated in every story on

smaller/larger scale

• Power struggle between two (nearly) equal forces• Protagonist- central character• Antagonist- represents

obstacles to the protagonist’s desires• May be human or some other

force- God, nature, the self, and so forth.

Story as Connection and Disconnection

• Pattern of disconnection/connection between human beings is the source of meaning and significance the story

• Conflict is sterile unless it is given human dimension through the connections/disconnections of the characters

• Boy meets girls, boy loses girl, boy gets girl (connection, disconnection, connection)

Today’s Reading

• Half a Day by Naguib Mahfouz

Today’s Assignment

• Take the character and setting you created over the last few classes. Now, put them in a conflict. You may choose a story that is a journey or power struggle or something that deals with connection vs. disconnection.