As I began working on my Minstrels of Skaythe novellas, one aspect I focused on was the underlying conflicts of this world I was building. Now, I’m sure you all remember how they teach conflict in English classes. Supposedly, there are three basic conflicts in any story. 1) Person vs. Person. 2) Person vs. Nature. 3) Person vs. Themself.
For Minstrels of Skaythe, I was really trying to step up my game, and I wanted to have layers of conflict at play. There are not just human antagonists who stands in the way of my characters. I’ve also had giant animals — badgers in The Tower in the Mist and wasps in Dancer in the Grove of Ghosts — reflecting nature as a foe. And of course my characters question themselves or are tempted in various ways. But that would be true of any story, honestly. A POV character who never got worried would be pretty boring.
More than that, I’ve set forth that Skaythe is a world ruled by dark sorcery. A cruel elite, mages, oppress the common people. This oppression has been so successful and complete that every part of society regards it as right and proper. When my Minstrels do good deeds, they truly are renegades.
So below the “big three” conflicts, I have another: 4) Person vs. the World. I’ll get more into what that entails in my next post, on Wednesday.
Also, I have some exciting news! Last month I submitted an essay about Minstrels of Skaythe to a big-name blogger. I’m thrilled to say that my essay will appear on Cat Rambo’s site, Kittywumpus! That’s scheduled for December 19th, and you can best believe I’ll post a link once it’s live.
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