2023: Internal Conflict in Your Plot

Posted on April 30, 2023 by peggylchambers

As a writer for The Wild Rose Press, I attend their Tuesday night chats (http://chat.thewildrosepress.com/) and have learned a lot from editors and other speakers. This last Tuesday the topic was conflict in stories by Eilidh MacKenzie, a 15-year veteran editing for The Wild Rose Press. With permission, I am going to share some of what I learned last week. It made me stop and think about my latest WIP and how the conflict was working itself out in the novel.

We’re going to divide this blog up into two parts: one for internal conflict of your characters within the story and then next week, external conflict.  Both are important in story telling to keep the story fresh and vibrant.

Eilidh said the following about conflict:

Conflict is the Engine of Your Narrative Drive. Internal conflict alone is never enough. You need the external conflict as well.

INTERNAL conflict derives from the thoughts, beliefs, and emotions of the characters.

Example: I believe all vampires are evil creatures and must be exterminated.

EXTERNAL conflict comes from a NEW problem or dilemma or a danger from OUTSIDE of the character’s normal life that requires ACTION.

Example: My boss assigns me to lead a mixed team of human and vampire employees.

The CONFLICT ARC is about change, from one settled state that is disrupted by a new problem… through efforts to deal with the disruption with escalating tension… to a climax that resolves into a final new settled state different from the original state.

The internal conflict arc shows changes in the character’s thought, beliefs, or emotions.

Example: I believe all vampires are evil creatures and must be exterminated. I get to know several vampires and find some are helpful and caring. My belief changes to acknowledge that vampires are like the rest of us: good, bad, and indifferent.

When a story is based on internal conflict, there’s a lot of sitting and thinking, musing, agonizing, and introspection. The character isn’t taking action, and neither is the book. The pace is dead.

Any conflict that can be resolved with an honest conversation is not enough to support a plot.

Make sure she’s not just sittin’ and thinkin’. Give her a scene goal relevant to the main conflict or the subplot conflict. Put her in action and make her overcome obstacles to that scene goal. Or not overcome the obstacle and make the situation worse.

Then, when I finally have my coworker chained with silver and under my stake, begging to know Why Are You Doing This??? and I tell her about the vampires who slaughtered my family, she says, “Yeah, I remember reading about that. But it wasn’t vampires. It was werewolves.”…  

All I can say is “Oh. Sorry about this.” The End.

Oops! That fell flat.  Maybe we needed a little external conflict here to round things out for the reader. Stories need both internal and external conflict. Be sure to give your characters plenty of both.

Next week, we’ll talk more about external conflict and how it makes your story better. Be sure to check out the other half of conflict in stories.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Finish What You Started: Tales From the Slush Pile

Posted on April 23, 2023 by peggylchambers

How many of you have at least three manuscripts on your computer or in a desk drawer unfinished? How many have six? 10? (okay you may have a problem).

As writers we all have brilliant ideas in the middle of the night, in the shower, I have them while I’m working out. (Maybe that is because of all the extra oxygen to the brain.) And in the thrill of the moment, we often begin a story based on that idea. Then what happens? It becomes a great novel, a New York Times Best Seller, a movie, and ultimately the author becomes a millionaire. Or maybe it ends up in a slush pile.

How many of us start a new project, gather the research—write the first three chapters or first three paragraphs—and then go back to your work in progress? Leaving your new manuscript to gather dust. We all do. I started to say, wither and die, but they don’t die. They can be revived with a little breath from the dust-blowing action.

We’re going to talk about those brilliant flashes of fiction or non-fiction that are gathering dust unfinished. We’re going to discuss how to drag them out and finish them. Then we’re going to talk about what to do with them afterwards.

We all have the slush piles. I’m not talking about the publishers who have a pile of discards they delegate someone else to send a form letter of rejection to, but writers have them too.

Writers are artists. And artists have souls which need to be nourished. We need to write just like musicians need to play or sing. And so, we do. Sometimes only to hide them in the back of the closet where the world will never see them. Would you do that to an opera or your signing voice?

Sometimes I look at the stories begun on my computer and make a list with a word count attached. And that is how I decide which one to start on again. Take the highest word count story and finish it. Read it again and see how brilliant it was. You don’t put out crap! It’s great! At least to you, and who knows, maybe to someone else too.

I TRY to put out one book a year. Sometimes that happens.

Once a year or so, after my latest book is published, I look at the slush pile, check the word count, read it again and make a list. I will work on these stories in the order of word count. I make myself finish (with the help of my critique group) one book and then go on to the next. These ideas were good once and they still are.

Give yourself deadlines when you look at your word counts.Writing 500 words per day or 2 pages, will get you 2 novels per year! 500 x 365 = 182,500 words/ 2 is 91,500 and most novels are 85,000 words. I realize that word count is a very small part of writing a novel, but without it, you have nowhere to start.

You need to set goals that are attainable to you. Don’t reinvent the wheel. Find that old story you started and make it work this time. You are already partially to your goal, and you will feel such accomplishment having finished what you started. Then as another flash of brilliance hits your brain, write that idea down so you don’t forget it. It will have its day.

I want you to make a pact with yourself today. Which one of those slush pile puppies will make it to the finished pile this year? They are all worthwhile.

Most important, remembers this: you can only finish what you start. Make them final this time and you will accomplish your goal.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Enid Author Fest

Posted on April 16, 2023 by peggylchambers

Yesterday I attended the Enid Public Library’s annual Author Fest.  I was in great company with around 40 of Oklahoma’s best authors.  I’ve done this every year since its inception but every year it just keeps getting better.  I sold a few books, talked to the public, but mostly rubbed shoulders with some incredible talent.

This year prior to the festival, the library had a reception and unveiling of the Enid Writers Club’s fourth plaque.  I’ve talked about these plaques for the last few months.  They were made by noted artist, Nancy Russell and Nancy was in attendance. Mayor George Pankonin read the City of Enid’s proclamation they gave to the club for our 100th anniversary. The Friends of the Library hosted the event with a reception and I caught up with old friends.

The headlined author in attendance was Sheldon Russell who has won the Oklahoma Book Award and was named with a life-time achievement award this year by the Oklahoma Center for the Book. Sheldon is a great author, teacher, and mentor to newer authors. 

I will help with this festival forever and have always been honored to be involved in it.  Thank you Enid Public Library and all the great authors involved once again.

Now back to my writing.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Flatiron Death Grip

Posted on April 9, 2023 by peggylchambers

I may have had more fun than is legally allowed writing Flatiron Death Grip Flatiron Death Grip: Chambers, Peggy, Saenz, Gabriella: 9781953589101: Amazon.com: Books. It is a fun urban fantasy that was born from four of my short stories and it seemed the main characters needed to meet and create a novel of their own. As writers, we are allowed to create worlds where characters can meet. It’s called lying for a living, it’s what we do.

Teasy patrolled the streets at night wearing her lime green F. U. tee shirt from Flatiron University where she wished she could have attended. Like so many people in her neighborhood she’s tired of the criminals like the Gray Wolf gang who’d taken over. Gangs had killed her family and friends and she wanted her neighborhood back. She had the tools to put an end to the criminal activity, but the air pollution in the city was getting worse by the minute. And Teasy and her new gang may have found an answer to that.

The Civil Rights Act had once more been amended, and now included all life forms: humans, werewolves, vampires, and the most hideous, zombies. And suddenly the world was full of them. But could they save the world before everyone choked to death on the pollution?

A fun romp through a world where fantasy becomes reality and the answer to the world’s problems could be sitting in an abandoned subway tunnel just waiting to be discovered.

Teasy just wanted to save her neighborhood. She never guessed; she might also save the world. What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Keystone Lake Mysteries

Posted on April 2, 2023 by peggylchambers

My Keystone Lake mystery novels revolve around a young attorney who solves mysteries in her hometown of Mannford, Oklahoma. Local fiction is just more fun!

In the first book, Blooming Justice, https://books2read.com/u/mggv9D Erin helped bring a rapist to justice on the TU campus with the help of her aunt, an attorney in Tulsa. In the second book, Blooming Greed, https://books2read.com/u/men5al the property around the lake is flooding, people are disappearing, and a friend and avid fisherman has drowned on the lake.

Erin Shipley grew up on Keystone Lake before moving to Tulsa and becoming an associate attorney. Now, she’s back, representing a client who is concerned about the flooding and property values around the lake. Properties underwater are being bought and sold for pennies on the dollar by someone called T & H Realty. When her friend’s uncle, Jeff, dies mysteriously on the lake, Erin wonders if it has anything to do with the real estate scam and launches an investigation. The dam is old and zebra mussels are clogging it, not allowing enough water to flow out. If the dam breaks, it will flood downtown Tulsa and areas around it. But that’s not the only danger…whoever killed Jeff isn’t finished with their diabolical plan, and Erin and those she loves are at risk from more than just a dam break.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Spring Blooms

Posted on March 26, 2023 by peggylchambers

Spring has sprung. These pictures came from tiny grape hyacinths and forsythia in my yard. As I was taking the picture of the hyacinths, a bee buzzed me. I was unable to capture his likeness for posterity but it made me feel good that he felt welcome in my garden. The air has turned warms, some days, and sadly tornadoes filled the sky overnight east of our state. Oklahoma is used to being a target and we understand how you feel. I pray for those who were hit.

But the renewal of spring after a long cold winter is always welcome. As I sit and write in the living room, I watch a robin hopping around the yard, probably looking for a nice juicy worm. The thought is so enticing, his little beak waters. The worm doesn’t feel as excited.

I saw the four o’clocks peeking through the soil pushing the old dead leaves aside. I long to take a leisurely walk and see what else blooms in my neighborhood. There are still some Bradford Pear trees looking like a cloud. They will soon leaf out and turn green—and many things will follow.

My husband has already mowed the fescue once this year and it needs it again. With lawns come work. But thankfully, I have a little patch of green.

As the atmosphere warms and the breeze smells sweet, what are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Visting Canton Lake

Posted on March 19, 2023 by peggylchambers

My husband has a new truck and it needed some highway miles, or maybe we did. Yesterday we made a trip to Canton Lake in northwest Oklahoma. It is an area still near and dear to my heart. I grew up there on weekends. My family had a boat and my parents loved to fish. The kids just loved to eat the final product. The original mobile home was one bedroom for five people. Mom and Dad got the bedroom and my sisters and I slept on the couch, cots, or the floor. We were young and didn’t mind. It was an adventure.

Yesterday, the water level was low, due to the current drought conditions in that part of the state. Sandy Beach, where we played a children, had buoys laying on the sand. They were supposed to keep the boats and swimmers separate, but I didn’t see a boat on the water. And it was too cold to swim. It would be nice if California could send us some water since they have an overabundance. But Mother Nature has a plan—I guess.  

The place in the Canadian Recreational area, where my family had a trailer years ago, has been abandoned. I don’t know what the Corp of Engineers has in mind for this area now, but the neighborhood is gone. There is weekend camping across the road near the water.

One reason for traveling to Canton Lake was to see it again. I am writing a novel set at that location and things have changed. The way I had it in my mind I could sit on our deck and see the ruins of the old Fort Cantonment. That too has been razed and abandoned. The cove we fished and played in is full of weeds, but you can still use the boat ramp.

But it doesn’t matter that Canton has changed in the last 50 years. What matters is the story and the feelings it evokes for me. I love the area even though it is windy and cold one day and muggy and hot the next. My family was drawn closer together on those weekends. My dad did his best to rid the lake of fish, and we ate them. Friends were made and relationships bloomed. Canton made me feel like a part of nature. It was good for all of us to join together with a like goal. Dad could unwind from the week’s work, and maybe some sibling rivalries could be settled. Mom didn’t cook as much since most of that took place outdoors. We all relaxed.

Those were good days. You can’t go back but you can remember what once was. What did your family do when you were young that made a big impression on you?

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Passing Down Family Memories and Love

Posted on March 12, 2023 by peggylchambers

In 1947 John Steinbeck wrote a very famous novel titled The Pearl that didn’t end well for the people who found a pearl.  Our family had such a find too, but we fared better with it than the people in the Steinbeck novel.

Grandad, Herbert Coats, fished and hunted the Black River near his home in Walnut Ridge, Arkansas in the first half of the 1900s, probably before Steinbeck wrote his novel. Grandad often came home with a stringer of catfish to feed his large family.  I’m sure he often sat in the sun idly waiting for the bobber to go under so he could pull in the fish.  On the banks of the river washed up mollusks or mussel shells and I imagine him prying one open with a pocketknife now and then.  I don’t know what he did with the shells or the meat inside, but at least twice he found freshwater pearls in those mussels.  He took them home and gave them to my grandmother.  She kept them in a tiny Ex-Lax box wrapped in tissue paper in her dresser drawer.  As kids we often begged to see them. When she died, my mom, took the box home with her.  She had the pearls set in a ring and wore it most of her life.  When my mom became ill with Cancer, she gave the ring to me and told me the story though I had heard it many times. I wear that ring often and it will go to my daughter, at my death.  The ring and the story will live on.

Yesterday, I gave my daughter her great-grandmother’s bedroom suite.  Yes, the same dresser that held the ring when I was a child.  It is beautiful furniture built in the 1920s or 1930s.  My mother and father bought it used when they were first married and then gave it to my grandparents when they bought something else. They slept on it for many years.  My mother then took it home at my grandmother’s death.  I inherited it, now my daughter has it. 

My cousins and I published a memoir of our grandmother’s recipes, and memories of our time spent at her house.  It was a great way for us to keep those memories alive, like the  ring and the bedroom suite.  My grandparents had little money, but they had love for their friends and family. By passing down rings and furniture we can keep their memory and maybe their love for their fellow man alive.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Conference Time!

Posted on March 5, 2023 by peggylchambers

It’s beginning to get busy. If you are a writer, conference and contest time is here!  I’ve been busy with entries in the OWFI Conference Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. (OWFI) here in Oklahoma and also my local contest with the Enid Writers Club Enid Writers Club (wordpress.com).  My local club also had a scholarship contest for high school seniors in Garfield County and I’ve been involved in that.

This week my local club hung another plaque at Northwestern Oklahoma State University Enid | Northwestern Oklahoma State University (nwosu.edu), here in Enid and celebrated with a reception.  NWOSU has been kind enough to let us meet there for several years. I know you are tired of hearing me say this, but my club is 100 years old this year!

Oklahoma Writers’ Federation, Inc. (OWFI) will have their annual conference the first weekend of May and of course I’ll be in attendance. I’ve met all my publishers at this conference, and I will always be a member.

Several conferences will be upcoming, WriterCon Home – WriterCon 2023 will be having their conference the first of September in Oklahoma City and I’ve heard of some smaller groups with conferences this spring and summer.  I can’t make all of them, but I will make as many as I can.

I hope you enter contests to see how much your craft has improved, where your weak points are and what could be better.  It is always thrilling to attend and meet with like minds. And the contests will give you feedback about your writing.  And as Fat Albert used to say, “You just might learn something if you aren’t careful.”

What are you reading/writing this week?

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2023: Flatiron Death Grip – Graphic Novel

Posted on February 26, 2023 by peggylchambers

I have something beautiful to show you! When I published my pulp fiction novel, Flatiron Death Grip, Flatiron Death Grip: Chambers, Peggy, Saenz, Gabriella: 9781953589101: Amazon.com: Books the publisher, Airship 27 Productions, paired me with two artists: one for the cover, and one for the inside illustrations. Ted Hammond beautifully painted the cover and Gabriella Saenz

Gabs Saenz (@brushstroke80) • Instagram photos and videos illustrated the inside. The book was released and a year later, the inside artist contacted me. She wanted to convert the book to a graphic novel! I was so excited. Gabs is young and so talented. What’s more, she loved my characters. I was honored. And I had a lot to do to convert the novel to a graphic novel script! I worked hard and sent her the draft. She recently sent me her illustration drafts of the characters I wrote.

Being a writer, I have no idea what all goes into creating the likeness of a character they read about. And I can’t tell you how honored I am to have an artist want to spend this much time with my characters. But her illustrations are wonderful, and she gave me permission to show you what she has done so far.

Teasy patrolled the streets at night wearing her lime green F. U. tee shirt from Flatiron University, a school she wished she could have attended. Like so many people in her neighborhood she’s tired of the criminals like the Gray Wolf gang who have taken over. Gangs  killed her family and friends, and she wanted her neighborhood back. She had the tools to put an end to the criminal activity, but the air pollution in the city was getting worse by the minute. And Teasy and her new gang may have found an answer to that.

The Civil Rights Act had once more been amended, and now included all life forms: humans, werewolves, vampires, and the most hideous, zombies. And suddenly the world was full of them. But could they save the world before everyone choked to death on the pollution?

A fun romp through a world where fantasy becomes reality and the answer to the world’s problems could be sitting in an abandoned subway tunnel just waiting to be discovered.

Pick up a copy of Flatiron Death Grip and enjoy the story. Soon you will be able to see it in a graphic novel form.

What are you reading/writing this week?

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