How To Write Specific Events

The Secret to Writing Well Part III…. Knowing what plot is won’t cut it.

Hello Everyone,

Conflict is key. I’ll say it a thousand times till I’m blue in the face. You have to understand conflict to write a meaningful story.

Going back to O’Connor’s quote from Mystery and Manners, I want to dive deep into what she means by Specific Events. Because I was just ‘oh, this is just what happened, the plot point…’no, it’s not as my investigation showed me. I used the same masterclass article that I used to define internal conflict to define external conflict, because I believe a big part of the specific events she mentions is external conflict. The author said:

“sets a character against something or someone beyond their control. External forces stand in the way of a character’s motivations and create tension as the character tries to reach their goals.”

I love that definition because it speaks to the specificity O’Connor was talking about. The external events that are happening can’t be random. There has to be the natural events that come with the setting and or an antagonist of any kind. It also specifies external conflict involvements with characters and therefore the main…