The Story Lab: Making Our Characters Suffer (Live)

Two weeks ago we had zero ideas. Last week we filled our book with characters and gave them some emotional baggage. This week we make their lives much, much harder. We're Hank and Abby, and we're co-writing a novel live as part of Dabble's 60-Day Novel Challenge. Week 3 is about conflict and subplots, the engine that drives a story forward. At its bare bones, a story is a goal plus an obstacle. Without the obstacle, it's a textbook, and nobody's staying up past midnight to finish a textbook. Here's what we're working through, live and unscripted: External conflict: Character vs. character, society, nature, technology, the supernatural, or fate. We figure out which bucket our book's big, flashy, book-selling conflict falls into. Internal conflict: Moral, identity, philosophical, self-esteem, or relationship. It's rooted in our protagonist's big hurt and the lie they believe. It sounds less exciting than a horde of zombies, but it's what makes the zombies matter. Picking at the lie: How to aim outside obstacles straight at a character's flaws, so they glimpse the truth and then retreat back to safety. That intersection is where the good stuff lives. Subplots: We have 50,000 words, not 300,000, so every subplot has to earn its spot. We brainstorm subplots tied to our protagonist, the main conflict, and the theme. Then we keep the one or two that connect back to the main plot. Combining and refining: We pull three weeks of brainstorming, character profiles, and conflict maps into one place, so the story's bones are solid before the writing month starts. Writing along with us? Tell us in the chat which type of external conflict your book has! Join the 60-Day Novel Challenge: https://bit.ly/4AqrUe3 Plan (and write) your novel in Dabble, free for 14 days: https://bit.ly/3VsWi7o #AmWriting #WritingCommunity #NovelWriting #60DayNovelChallenge #WritingSoftware #HowToWriteABook #WritingTips #Preptober