![]() ![]() ![]() It keeps readers interested: we’re always trying to get them to ask, “And then what happened?” It moves our plots forward and forces our characters to adapt and change. An ending where everyone is happy and gets 100% of what they want? Yawn.īut what if I told you that not only could this story be made interesting, but that writers miss critical opportunities to introduce readers to non-oppressive ways of looking at the world if they ignore different conflict styles?Ĭonflict is at the core of many of our most beloved stories (here, I’m defining conflict broadly as a situation in which a character’s need or want is frustrated by an opposing force). But in a great deal of popular Western media, this type of resolution to a conflict might be seen as unsatisfying, even boring. ![]() The mother peels the orange, and gives the first child the fruit, and the second child the peel, and everyone leaves happy.Ī version of this story gets used in books on negotiation to illustrate different methods of resolving a seemingly intractable conflict. The second child wants the peel to use for an art project. She learns that the first child wants to eat the orange. Finally, the mother takes each child aside to talk. But the siblings say no: each wants the whole orange. The orange will rot if it isn’t consumed today, so the siblings’ mother offers to cut it in half. It is the only orange they have, a rare and delectable treat. Two siblings are fighting over an orange. There is a story that I wish I saw replicated more often in fiction. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |