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17 January 2023

Internal and External Conflict

This week’s session of Writing for Stage and Performance began with a lively discussion about our favourite books and TV shows, with reference to how characters reveal the themes of a story.

We then did the following starter activity:

Write a conversation between two characters, A and B, in which the first line spoken is, ‘Why would you do that?’

The premises we invented included: having stolen a spaceship from your maths teacher, agreeing to plunge into an icy lake to save a child’s teddy, and an author having killed off their character.

Our next task was to:

Write 3 examples of an internal conflict (phobias, feelings) and 3 examples of an external conflict (arguments, challenges).

Here were our internal conflict ideas:

  • Want to start a sweet shop but should be a lawyer
  • Isn’t sure they love their fiance but doesn’t want to interrupt their wedding
  • Someone who’s been a Christian their whole life but is discovering science and their beliefs are challenged
  • Wants to find a boyfriend but doesn’t love herself
  • Wants to be an actor but has stage fright and has a bad memory
  • Hates bees but the family job is beekeeping
  • Dislike building but have to build their own house
  • Wants to be an archeologist but is scared of snakes

Here were our external conflict ideas:

  • Wants to go to Oxford but is being downgraded by a mean teacher
  • Conflict with family over controversial dyed hair
  • Conflict with friend about going on a dangerous adventure
  • Your best friend is hanging out with your bully
  • Doesn’t want to take over the family business – secretly wishes it would fail to avoid the responsibility

The next step was to draw two columns – in one, bullet point all the actions the character could take to overcome their conflict, and in the other, bullet point all the ways those actions could go wrong.

We finished the session by reading two script extracts, from Punk Rock by Simon Stephens, and People, Places, and Things by Duncan Macmillan.

Writing for Stage and Performance returns next week at MAST Mayflower Studios.

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