Conflict--why is it so hard??

Spent this past weekend with the Olympia RWA Chapter at Manresa Castle in Port Townsend with some of the most fabulous people on the planet.  Had a wonderful time, and took up the current MFH (manuscript from hell) to work on.  Writing it has just turned into such a struggle.  And I discovered with their help that the reason is. . . . there's no conflict.  The hero and heroine both wanted, basically, the same thing. 

This makes for a very short book.

In my head, they had opposite goals, but once people with a clearer vision looked at my plot (or lack thereof), they said, "Hey! There's no conflict here, and no place for your characters to grow."

On the flip side, I think I helped a couple of people with the same problem with their manuscripts. 

So why is it so easy to see these ginormous plot holes in other peoples' books and not in our own?  Is it because we're too close to the characters?  Is it because we don't spend enough time before sitting down to write to get this figured out?  Or do we not go deep enough?  I mean, this is something like book #7.  I should have this figured out by now.  And I **thought** they were at odds.  But they're really not. 

I have a whole notebook full of 'deep insights' into this book that clearly meant squat.  I'm going to start fresh because I still like the characters, but I was heading them in the completely wrong direction. 

So today's question is, How do you ensure you have enough conflict?  How do you recognize when there's not enough?  And where do you draw the line between revising what you've got, and throwing it out and starting all over? 

Adrianne Lee told me that you need Goal, and Opposition to that goal.  And that both of those should either be heroic, or someone doing something unheroic, but for a very good reason, a heroic reason.  Part of my problem was that my heroine wanted freedom and/or self-determination, which is heroic, but the OPPOSITE of that, which would have to be the hero's goal, would be to deny her her freedom.  Bad juju there, at least for a hero.  One of the many reasons the book wasn't working. 

In my bullfighter book, the heroine wants to kill the story's villain.  Now, murder is generally not considered heroic, BUT she's going to avenge the murder of her family by the villain years earlier.  And of course, the villain does die in the end, but not at her hand, so she's still left being heroine-like.  Heroic.  Whatever. 

Thoughts?  How do we test our conflicts to ensure they'll be sustainable for an entire book?

What Jane Austen Saw

Research ain't everything.  It certainly helps, and I've read books with outstanding research, so-so research, and no research.  While researching an article I'm writing, just today I came across "The Boston Tea Party was a defining moment in America's Civil War".  Now, maybe it's just me, but I thought the Tea Party (NOT the current one) and the Civil War were in different centuries.  That right there is what you call a "Research Fail".

We've all heard "write what you know".  But how is that possible if you're writing a historical novel, or a futuristic?  How about a novel that involves some scuba diving if you're deathly afraid of the water? 

Jane Austen, however, did write what she knew, and we're certainly the richer for it.  She was a keen observer of the world around her, and could hone her words to a razor's edge--the better to cut you with, if you were her quarry. 

So this week I pose some questions:

• Do you "research" or "observe"?
• Do you get what you need before, during or after the story is written? 
• With the focus in most women's fiction being on the characters, rather than the explosions, murders or other selected mayhem of general fiction, is perfect research a necessity?
• And what do agents and editors think about this?  Will they take on a manuscript with great characters, but holes in the research? 

Let's talk

Last day in London

We walked all over London today:  The millenium bridge,


then to the Globe Theatre,



then back across the Millenium Bridge to the Monument to the Great Fire.  331 steps to the top, and I climbed all the way up.  (And back down, of course).  Got the certificate to prove it.


From there we took the tube to Leadenhall Market, which still looks pretty much as it did in Victorian Days, when it began.  Everything was closed because it's Sunday, but it was still fun to see. 


Then we went to the Museum of London, which is built on one part of the original Roman wall.  A section of the wall is still outside the museum.  Very interesting place. From there we went to the Liberty Department Store, which had a lot of very expensive, uber-trendy stuff that I wasn't interested in. But it was fun to gawk at all the weird stuff.


Took the tube back to the hotel, ate a most lovely dinner (I had Caesar salad with grilled prawns), packed and re-packed, and are now ready to exit stage left.

See everyone when we get back home!






 the Bodacia statue,


then to

London

Well, we left Scotland and have arrived in London.  The scenery is definitely different, much flatter and, of course, way more people. On our way from Edinburgh to Dumfries to return the rental car we were on "B" roads much of the time, and we encountered the proverbial "Scottish traffic jam": sheep standing and/or walking in the road, looking at you like you need to get out of THEIR way.

But eventually we got to Dumfries, returned the rental car, and took the train to London.


 Today we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Natural History Museum, which are conveniently next door to each other.  Of course, each one is about 3 city blocks in size plus several stories high, but they are close to each other.  Here's the V&A:

After museum-ing it we went to Harrods where we ate a late lunch and did some shopping.  Didn't buy much (much of it is way too expensive for us) but had some fun. 


Tomorrow evening it's time to try to fit everything into our bags for the trip home.  Luckily I brought a nifty duffel bag that my daughter Jessica gave to me.  It zips into a little square about 2" thick and 14" square.  Unzip it and it's a medium-sized duffel bag.  viola!  Instant baggage happiness. 


Ready to wind up this trip and head back home.

Borthwick Castle, south of Edinburgh

Wow, this place is magnificent.  We wanted to stay one night in a real castle, and mom decided Borthwick was the place.  Here's how it looks upon driving up:

Here's part of the information we got upon arrival:

“Sir William de Borthwick built Borthwick Castle in 1430.  He was granted a Royal Charter by King James I of Scotland to build it. . . . but it was noted that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would pay for its construction.  This was because Sir William had been a hostage in the release of King James I in 1424, he (King James) having been abducted by Henry IV of England when he was just two years old and kept more or less prisoner in the French Court.  One of Sir William’s ancestors was one of the knights who carried Robert the Bruce’s heart to Jerusalem.  (A) feature of strength is the extreme thickness of the walls tapering from 14 feet in the dungeon area to 9 feet thick in the garrison.   There are some 30,000 tons of masonry in the building, of which 12,000 tons was quarried locally.  (Another ) feature of the Castle which makes it so unusual and so strong is the vaulted ceilings.  The Great Hall has a pointed vault some 30 feet high.  Above this there is a second chamber almost the same height with a rounded vault, which is currently divided into two levels.”

We toured everything from the top (our room, the Sinclair room) to the dungeons.  Originally the castle has only ONE door in, and it was about 4 feet high.  That was on purpose.  You had to duck down to enter, exposing your head and neck.  To defend the castle against invaders, all Lord Borthwick had to do was station a knight at that door with a sword and. . . .off with your head if he didn't like you.  There's also a trap door that drops to the dungeon about 27 feet below.  We went to the dungeon, but we went down some narrow, winding stairs like this to get there, rather than the more abrupt trap-door route:

Note the direction of the stairs.  This was on purpose.  If you're coming UP the stairs, you'll run into the central pillar if you're a right-handed swordsman, as most of them were, making it more difficult for you to make an effective attack.  But if you're heading DOWN the stairs, as a defender would be (guards slept in the upper reaches), you can use your right hand with impunity because there's no central pillar in your way.  Very ingenious.  

Here's a picture of the Great Hall, where dinner and breakfast are served.  The walls of the castle are 14 feet thick here!  Originally colorful tapestries were hung on the walls (the holes to support them are still there) and there are faint, faint traces of sayings that had been painted on the walls back in the 1400's.  The fireplace is immense at the other end.  This is the reconstructed minstrel's gallery.  The ceiling is a pointed vault, over 30 feet high.

Our room, being at the top, required 37 + 78 steps to reach:  37 steps from the parking lot to the entry door, and then another 78 steps from the main floor to our room.  I carried mom's bag for her a couple of times, and finally got some exercise!  the walls at the top are a mere 9 feet thick.   I felt so unprotected!

Just up the road from the castle is the Borthwick Parish Church.  The original was built in the 1430's like the castle, but has burned down a couple of times and been re-built.  However, the stone effigies of (they're pretty sure) the original Lord and Lady Borthwick from the 1430's have survived, and are currently lying in state inside the church.  Apparently they're planning to create a vault or something and put them there in the future. For now they're gazing up at the church ceiling.

So that was our trip to a castle.  More on that later, including pictures of our room.  For now, we've made it safely to London, and it's time to SHOP!

No luck today

Went to the General Register Office for Scotland where all the old records are kept.  One young lady there was very helpful. . . the rest completely ignored us.  I couldn't believe it.  The most unhelpful bunch of people I've ever met.  It should be evident when I speak that I'm not from Edinburgh, but was any offer of assistance forthcoming?  nope.  I ordered some records, told I had done it wrong, and asked to find something more specific.  Well, if I don't know what I'm looking for, how can I find it?  While there are a lot of records there, finding them is beyond a first-timer's capability without some help.  We spent the whole day there and found nothing, which wasn't totally unexpected, but I think we could have made a lot better progress with some assistance. 
The guys in the research room just kept pointing us out the door to where the ladies worked, and after a while I got tired of bugging them. 
Get with it, GROS!

Stirling to Edinburgh

Stayed last night at a lovely B&B, the Roslin Cottage in Callander.  No overly scented sheets, thank God.  I could sleep through the night without itching and was able to breathe in the morning.  Amen to that.  Ate breakfast and headed out, stopping first at Stirling Castle.  As with many medieval fortresses, it was built high on a hill.  Easy to defend, not so easy to get water.  But wait--you're the king!  You can just send people to FETCH the water for you!  Such a deal.  The view from the castle is amazing.

Took a tour of the castle, learned that each of the statues on the side of the castle has a meaning.  You can also see quite clearly how many times the castle has been altered and/or rebuilt.  There are headings and doorways from earlier windows, etc. all around, but they've been filled in.  The castle isn't nearly as tall as it was in medieval times, either.  Apparently after the invention of the trebuchet (see earlier post with pictures) someone decided that a really tall castle made a really good target, and took things down a notch or two. 

It's still a very impressive structure, no matter how you slice it.  Hmmm, my husband made me promise not to buy any furniture on this trip, but what about property?  THAT doesn't have to clear Customs.  "Hi, honey?  Yeah, I didn't buy furniture.  But guess what I found?" 

After Stirling we drove south to Bannockburn, where a decisive Scots victory was had in 1314 by Robert the Bruce, King of Scots, over Edward II, King of England.  This led to the poem by Robbie Burns (an ancestor of ours, we found out recently) titled "Scots Wha Hay" and the "Flower of Scotland" song--one of my favorites. 

And here's a tribute to the man himself, King Robert the Bruce who, we found out today, undoubtedly had leprosy.  He clearly hid it well.

After Bannockburn we drove the M8/M9 into Edinburgh (THAT was quite an adventure) and found our way to our hotel (the Best Western Bruntsfield Hotel) where we parked the car and will take the bus to the Family History Centre tomorrow.

Who knows what we'll uncover there?