by Ray Bradbury
All Summer in a DayLESSON - Types of Conflict: Human vs Human
Human against human conflicts have a number of interesting possibilities. In a person against person conflict, the two people who are in conflict may be on opposite sides of an issue, but there may be no clear right or wrong, or both sides may believe themselves to be in the right. This can make for complex and challenging storytelling.
On the other hand, a story with an obvious and unambiguous villain can be fun to read and write. Both approaches are legitimate ways to develop a person against person conflict.
The novel The Hunger Games is a stark example of this type of conflict. Katniss must fight her fellow contestants to the death in order to survive. Many mystery novels have the person against person conflict at their core as one character tries to uncover who is responsible for the crime.
Most novels that have other types of conflicts as their main conflict may also have person versus person conflicts. People tend to complicate things wherever they go and whatever they do. In fact, if your novel feels light on narrative drive and conflict, introducing a person against person subplot may be an effective way to better develop it.
If the conflict in your novel is between many people, the conflict may instead be person against society.
In this video, there is a Human vs Human conflict between Simba and Scar.
I know, you're like, "But they are animals!"
Relax, we call that anthropomorphism which means we give animals human characteristics. It's kind of like the best of both worlds: the merging of an animal and human.
QUESTION #1
Why do you think Margot acts the way she does—why doesn’t she play with her classmates, for example? What makes her different? How does this help create a human vs human conflict?
QUESTION #2
Why do you think the other children mistreat Margot? What does this show about why people bully others?
LESSON - Setting: Time and Place
Why is setting important? The functions of time and place in fiction
Setting is more than simply a geographical location or time period that serves as a backdrop to characters’ actions. Fictional settings have many uses:
Place in Story Settings:
‘Place’ in a story has multiple purposes and effects:
- The places contribute mood and tone (a dark, eerie wood creates a very different sense of danger or mystery compared to a bright, open plain)
- Places restrict (or open) possibilities for characters’ lives and actions (a character living in a small mining town might have very different perceptions and options compared to a character who lives in a large city)
Time in Setting
It would be incomplete to answer ‘what is story setting?’ without including time. Time in a story, for example the historical period or epoch the story spans, is equally vital:
- Like place, time (for example, the social attitudes in the Victorian era) restricts or rather determines, to some extent, possibilities for your characters. The time setting of your novel impacts what types of lives your characters can lead and what choices they can make.Characters living in Victorian England will have very different choices and lifestyles available to them compared to characters living in contemporary England (women, for example, are far less pressured to marry and be homemakers)
- Time in your novel’s setting determines what kind of technology is available (historical fiction often describes old-fashioned tools; science fiction often uses tools or weapons that are futuristic)