Eyes sagged in droop
when rain tapped the roof,
the sun is high up in the sky
and covered by clouds loop.
My happy mood had parted
when from the clouds rain darted,
Sun’s arms though breached as they reached
and now gray skies departed.
Dare I say walk away,
or dare to fight with fists upright,
whate’er I do one will not like,
and come to me with verbal strike,
you I do please not,
tis my sense on the spot,
but a snare you do fix,
in hopes you’ll get your kicks,
But I have sense,
I’m not that tense,
My peace is of mind,
So to you I may be kind,
and move to walk away,
but instead fight today,
A mood that is so rare,
Fight? Do I dare?
Your pen (or keyboard) is your sword, and the words are the blood that’s shed as a result of wielding your words onto the page. Words have impact. It doesn’t matter what that impact is. Whether they create horror, harshness, love, peace, or fear; they have impact. You are the person in charge of creating that impact. So what kind of thrust to you want to use to create that impact?
You can make something everyday appear abnormal, or you could choose something abnormal or bazaar to appear normal or everyday. It’s all in the words you choose. How you wield your words is up to you. It’s your story, your voice, your personality. Write the words you want to write the way YOU want to write them.
This is when the main character finds himself/herself going up against a vengeful god/being or other supernatural force. A ghost comes to mind here.
Who hasn’t read a good ghost story or seen a spooky movie? This conflict deals with man versus something other worldly. Yes, that means ghosts/spirits. The Amityville Horror Movies are great examples. Do you like ghost stories? I do. To a point. I’d rather watch one that read one though.
Book Examples with Man vs. Supernatural Conflict
1. Seven Sisters (book series) by M. L. Bullock (I highly recommend this series).
2. The Amityville Horror
3. Prodigal by Judy K. Walker
4. The Vanished Series by B. B. Griffith
5. The Ripper by Jon F. Merz
This type of conflict is between a character and their inner self. Don’t we go through this type of struggle on a regular basis?
Examples include:
1. Lack of self-confidence
2. The feeling of guilt when you do something against what you normally would do.
3. Love conflict: When you hurt someone you love.
4. The struggle of having to do something you don’t want to do but have to do. A great example of this is in Lord of the Rings when Frodo struggles with his destiny of having to destroy the ring.
Other Movie Examples of Man vs. Self
1. Buzz Lightyear in the first Toy Story movie. He’s a toy but doesn’t realize he’s a toy.
2. In the movie UP, Carl Fedricksen the grumpy old man is cynical and struggles with the cynicism that has encompassed him and the adventurous spirit he once was.
3. Tangled. Rapunzel struggles with wanting to stay in the tower or defy her mother and venture outside and leave the tower.
Sweet word candy speaks,
from which my heart now gains warmth,
laying on sand at sea.
I now embrace night,
a knife sings from a sweet sheath,
stabbing with a bite.
I went about my day,
then evening came to sit,
wait I did for night so say,
I’ll send your soul adrift.
Tomorrow, we’re promised naught,
just knowledge it could be,
so in limbo I am caught,
afloat with you and me.
At last the morn breaks through,
the sun reflects the dew,
all seems right,
with sun so bright,
then life quick ran askew.
Pants, hung low,
Gray, dusty, old hair, in a frizz,
Faded drooping, sunken blue eyes,
A frown so downward cast,
Where is my home?
I do not know,
I do not care,
I am so alone.
But do I care?
I do not know,
Here in my cardboard box
I sit in drunken moan.
My tears, stain my face,
People look at me in disgrace.
Sadness, consumes me,
Surrounds me, covers me.
Slowly, I look up,
I see the riches of allies,
The food of homeless kings,
The rot of days gone by,
Dwelling close,
The stench so wry.
What do I do?
I do not know,
I do not care,
I am so alone.
But do I care?
I do not know,
Here in my card board box
My mind, it runs to go.
Do you get stuck in places within your story/manuscript? Do you sit and wonder what went wrong during the writing of your story after everything had been going so smoothly? Why did you get stuck all of a sudden? Why the brick wall that popped up and hit you head on?
Maybe it has to do with information being in the wrong place. As you know, a novel/story is broken down into three acts with act two being broken down into two parts (the chase and the attack). What happens when you are writing and part of what you wrote should be in another act and not the one you are currently writing in? You get stuck. The story is no longer clear in your mind. The result is, you sit in front of your manuscript wondering what to write next, or you try to figure out what happened that put a stopper in your otherwise smooth writing experience. The answer could be, part of what you wrote belongs in another act. So, try to move your text in question by trying in out in another act. If it is something that belongs in act three, and you have not written act three yet, save it off to the side for later.
Another answer is that it does belong in the act you are currently writing, but it is in the wrong chapter. For example, for a couple weeks I was stuck on a couple of back to back chapters. The story was making no sense to me. The clarity was not there, and up to that point it had been. Then I realized that one of those chapters belonged in front of a chapter three chapters up, so I moved it. This particular chapter had two scenes in it. Both had the same two characters in it, but time elapsed between the first scene and the second. When I moved the chapter up three chapters, everything began to make more sense. Then, when I started reading the second scene within the moved chapter, it made no sense anymore. I sat and played around with the chapter in my head and after about five minutes, I realized that the second scene within that chapter belonged in another chapter further down, so I moved the second scene in that chapter down two chapters and put it as a second scene within its new chapter. A-HA!!! Now everything made sense.
So, next time you get stuck, before you delete and start over, move your text around.
WRITE TIME AND AGAIN 