Breaking through the brick wall

[John Dean]

I have just started work on my latest DCI Jack Harris crime novel for the good people at The Book Folks. Although I have a strong idea about the plot, there have been times when I have run up against brick walls and am not sure how to break through. It’s a situation with which most writers are familiar.

One of the methods I have always used to get myself going again is to seek out the conflict in the story. Conflict is important because stories need things to happen and that usually comes out of differences between characters – they argue, fight, feud etc. Two people having a chat in which they agree with each other can be enjoyable for the reader but a scene in which they disagree has so much more going for it. That is certainly true of crime fiction.

It is through seeing characters in conflict that we see them at their truest, when their guard is down, when they are fighting for something, when their true emotions are laid bare. As a writer you can develop a character through conflict as emotions burst to the surface. You and the reader can learn something about your characters.

Conflict also provides the writer with a story to tell. It gives the writer the framework to take the story on: a factory is closed sparking anger from the workforce, two friends fall out over money, a community is torn apart by an event. All these conflicts and a thousand more make rich hunting grounds for the writer.

And, yes, it works with the result that my latest novel is gathering momentum again.

* Picture used courtesy of https://www.pexels.com/search