We are thrilled to welcome back David Corbett, one of the best writing teachers around, to present “Creating Compelling Stories with Three-Dimensional Characters and Four-Corner Conflict” on April 26.
He will be online. You must RSVP (below) to get the link for the meeting.
Desire drives action, action generates conflict, conflict creates suspense, and suspense keeps readers turning pages.
But desire and conflict operate on three distinct levels—external (real-world goals), internal (sense of self, meaning, purpose), and interpersonal (essential relationships). Building meaningful conflict means pitting your adversaries in struggles on all three levels—and interconnecting those three struggles to create narrative unity. And the more deliberate and focused the adversaries’ attacks on each other’s goals, relationships, and sense of self-worth, the greater the conflict and thus suspense.
Who will prevail? How? Why? Extending this to secondary characters, we can create what is known as four-corner conflict, creating additional thematic, dramatic, and moral complexity.
David Corbett is the award-winning author of the writing guides The Art of Character (“A writer’s bible,” says Elizabeth Brundage) and The Compass of Character. He has published six novels, including The Long-Lost Love Letters of Doc HollidayHe has taught at the UCLA Writer’s Program, Litreactor, and at writing conferences across North America, and is a monthly contributor to Writer Unboxed, an award-winning blog dedicated to the craft and business of fiction. More at davidcorbett.com.
RSVP
To sign up, fill out the RSVP below and we will email you the link in advance of the presentation.
The presentation is free, however, we are asking for donations, which will contribute to the honorarium for our presenter. You can donate before or after the presentation.
(In-person meetings are $5 for members and $10 for non-members.)
