I’ve written a bit about my prior novel-in-progress, which has suffered from at least three false starts. Each time I’ve launched myself into the story, I’ve become mired in the muddy middle, which by now has become a tar bog strong enough to fell a brontosaurus. I’ve written three decent beginnings, one of which I like very much, and have a big-bam-boom ending planned. If only novels didn’t need all that boring in-between stuff…
In my continuing quest to resolve my struggles with plot and character drive, I read this article by Kristen Lamb, a blogger whose work I very much enjoy. In the post, Lamb reframes character conflict as culture conflict. This set my gears turning, and helped me clarify the interpersonal conflicts I worked to create and link those conflicts to some foundational story world issues in a way that deepens the characters’ motivations and heightens the tension.
“Put more than two humans together and somewhere, somehow they will find something to fight about,” Lamb writes in the post. “Age, sex, race, religion, socioeconomic status, education, hobbies, political views, on and on and on invariably impact our perspective.”
My story was already layered with these kinds of conflicts, based on the age and sex of the characters, their relative wealth, their social status and apparent authority in their town, and their visions of how life, love, success, family, and marriage should be defined. Viewing that tension through the lens of cultural conflict, rather than merely personality differences, suggested additional confrontations, as well as particular settings where these conflicts can play out. When a place represents everything a character hates or simply wishes not to become, tensions will rise.
Importantly, this angle also showed me how the characters can be more attached to their desires and visions, and why those needs are important to them and what they represent. This connection shows why they go to such lengths to get what they want and the intangible sense of self they’ll lose if they fail.
What does this look like in practice? Two major story forms – sitcoms and rom-coms – heavily rely on culture conflict to create tension between their main characters. “Why do we love these stories? Because they are fun,” Lamb says. “One world trying to understand and work around the other, butting heads, but then finally coming together at the end and being better for knowing one another.” Why does the Hallmark channel make 6,000 movies about a holiday-hating big city executive falling in love with a small town artisan who still believes in Santa? Because people watch them.
This dynamic works, whether you have a clash of personalities (The Odd Couple) or a clash of lifestyle (Green Acres), regardless of genre. It works in mystery fiction (Holmes and Watson), science fiction (Star Trek, Star Wars), fantasy (Lord of the Rings), and horror (Beetlejuice). Think of the various survivor communities in The Walking Dead, and how each is based on a vision of how the world should be. Every mentor/mentee story and those with main characters from different generations features a culture clash. History is filled with culture conflict, from colonization to the American Civil War to the French Revolution.
I finally got around to reading A Game of Thrones and I can’t help but notice how much of the conflict is driven by family culture, which is hidden behind the jockeying for the throne. Consider the stoic northern Starks, quietly preparing for winter, in comparison with the ruthless southern Lannisters, who are involved in plots within plots that will put one of their own on the throne, and compare each with the wealthy Tyrells, who have plenty of ambition but are happy counting coin.
In fact, GRRM makes the culture clash explicit in the back matter, where he identifies each of the major family’s credos:
Ours is the Fury. Winter is Coming. Hear Me Roar! As High as Honor. Family, Duty, Honor. Growing Strong. We Do Not Sow. Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken. Fire and Blood.
Can you guess which families are most savage on the battlefield, which would keep their vows, and which would be most ruthless? You might be able to sort they families by which have the most wealth or are longer established, which have the most ambition, and which have the most to prove.
Even if you know nothing about the books, you can see how characters with those mottos would come into conflict. I bet most of you reading this could design nine original characters based on your interpretation of the meaning of those credos, and create high-stakes conflict simply by placing those characters in a confined setting and putting them in motion.
At heart, conflict arises when characters have strong – but opposing – visions of how the world should be. Casting those disagreements as cultural, rather than merely a difference in personality or opposing goals, can raise your story to another level.
Lamb also suggests humans are often drawn to people who are our opposite in some way or who make us crazy. We see something that we lack in the other person, and are thus drawn to them. In this way, a strong culture clash can both create conflict and connection between your characters, adding additional layers to your characterization.
“Culture…can be as broad or narrow as we want or need it to be,” Lamb writes. “If you are trying to create a story that is ‘same’ enough to resonate, but ‘different’ enough to spark interest…try starting with a culture clash.”