Writers in the Storm

by Jenny Hansen

So you think you know how to fight dirty?

Monday's post explained the nuance of "clean fighting" and how to use it to your best advantage in your stories.

Today, we're gonna leave Mr. or Ms. Nicey-Nice at the door and show you how wallow in the muck.

Every entry in the list below is guaranteed to make someone in your story see red.

If you’re writing fiction, that anger and tension is a REALLY good thing. There's actually twenty-three of these techniques but if I give them all at once, it's like taking a drink of water from a fire hydrant.

So...we’re going to start with the five that will work best in fiction.

p.s. If you dig Dirty Fighting, let us know in the comments. I’ll make this a multi-part series so you have time to really  roll around in the swamp.

As I said in Monday’s post, great books are filled with conflict. And great characters who learn important lessons. Plus, dialog is the number one way to do several fun things like move your story quickly and legally bring in backstory.

[For a rundown of the perils of Back Story, read this post by Kristen Lamb.]

OK, go rub some dirt on your face. Jump up and down. Take a few test jabs. I want to help get you into the Dirty Fighting spirit!

In case the dirt didn't do it, let’s take a peek at some great dialogue posts:

• How To Write Dialogue: 6 Ways To Use it Effectively
• Dialogue Tags: How To Kill Off Some Of The Little Buggers by Sharla Rae
• He Said, She Said: Dialogue by Roni Loren

I have just ONE big problem with reading about dialog:

Every character is unique. Even though the examples usually rock, I walk away thinking: "My characters would never say that."

How do you write creative conversation that applies only to YOUR character?

One answer is to make him or her fight.

 BRING.     IT.     ON!!

Below are my top five Dirty Fighting Techniques for adding plotting options to your story.

#1 – Triangulating: Don’t leave the issue between you and your conflict partner (could be a family member, friend or love interest), pull everybody in. Quote well-known authorities who agree with you and list every family member whom you know has taken your side (and lie about the ones you haven’t spoken to yet).

Uses: Triangulating is incredibly useful in fiction because you can expand the discussion to more characters and stir up some real drama. Let’s not keep this issue between just us, one character says to the other. Oh no, lets involve everybody.

If you have extreme Dirty Fighting Talent, you can stir the pot and then step back and play a new game called, “Let’s watch the other two people fight.” That’s good times.

#2 – Escalating: Quickly move from the main issue of the argument to questioning your partner’s basic personality, and then move on to wondering whether the relationship is even worth it. Blame your partner for having a flawed personality so that a happy relationship will be impossible.

Uses: Excellent tool for keeping two love interests apart. BUT, the fight better be about something that really, really matters or you risk falling into the Bog of Coincidence and most stories don’t have enough muscle to climb out of that place.

Escalating also allows for plausible use of Back Story. When you’re moving from the main
issue to what the REAL issue is (often happens at the black moment / end of Act 2), escalating the argument will make someone lose control enough that they blurt out something juicy. Way to go, Author!

#3 – Leaving: No problem is so big or important that it can’t be ignored or abandoned all together. Walk out of the room, leave the house, or just refuse to talk. Sometimes just threatening to leave can accomplish the same thing without all the inconvenience of following through.

Uses: My favorite use of this is employing it when the two characters really need each
other. It completely ups the betrayal factor: I can’t depend on you, I don’t trust you, You’ve let me down.

You noticed how dirty those last three statements were, right? Not a clean fight to be found anywhere with “leaving,” which is fantastic for your story! The farther your character falls, the harder the journey is on the way back up, right?

#4 – Timing: Look for a time when your partner is least able to respond or least expects an argument.

Uses: Think about this from a story point of view. A really great time to pick a fight is just before the main character embarks on a journey, has a new murder to solve, is called on to
save the world. Anything with high stakes works great. Be sure the character ambushing them is a likeable one so the reader REALLY gets drawn into the conflict.

#5 – Rejecting Compromise: Never back down. Stick with the philosophy that only one of you can win.

Uses: This is a kickass Dirty Fighting trick to use on the main character. If there is only one winner, there is automatic conflict involved for the person who “loses.” The
solutions are endless.

Note: We'd love to see you do a few lines of dialogue down in the comments to illustrate one or many of these techniques.

Does this make sense to you? Can you see places in your story where you can use a good fight to amp that tension sky-high? Which one is your favorite?

Jenny

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Jenny fills her nights with humor: writing memoir, women’s fiction, chick lit, short stories (and chasing after her toddler Baby Girl). By day, she provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. After 15 years as a corporate software trainer, she’s digging this sit down and write thing. In addition to being a founding member here at WITS, Jenny also hangs out on Twitter at jhansenwrites and at her other blog, More Cowbell.

 

by Jenny Hansen

Today we’re going to open a discussion here at WITS about how your characters fight.

Some of my posse from More Cowbell, who also hang out here, have heard the terms "dirty" and "clean" fighting.

Those of you who are new to the concept are likely scratching your heads wondering, "What is all this Dirty/Clean Fighting business, and why do I want to know about it?"

Answer: It's an easy plausible technique to help you send the character conflict in your fiction sky-high. Being deliberate in HOW you have your characters fight helps dialogue magic happen.

Dirty Fighting isn’t  some how-to guide on Jujitsu or Street Fighting. Nope, it’s actually a list of twenty-three dysfunctional communication techniques that nearly everyone engages in (including your characters).

I originally found out about these techniques when my pre-marital counselor gave my hubby and I a Dirty Fighting pop quiz (which we failed).

This rockstar counselor proceeded to teach my husband and I the difference between the Dirty Fighting Techniques practiced by most people and the clean-as-a-whistle fighting he wanted us to strive for.

Before we get into Dirty Fighting, let's make sure we define it's opposite: Clean Fighting. Think about this in terms of a real life conflict you had with your spouse, sibling or best friend. Imagining a real-life scenario first will help you extrapolate these skills to your characters.

Clean Fighting:

• Take responsibility for your own stuff. Also known as “cleaning up your own side of the street.” I know it sucks when you’re mad and you clean up your side of things while the other person leaves their big cow patties steaming, but lead by example on this one. It helps when someone steps up to be the bigger person.
• Leave the other person an “out with dignity.” This is most often achieved by understanding that there might be facts you don’t know.
• “I” statements are always going to work better when you’re pissed off than “you” statements. And don’t be trying to cheat with stuff like, “I understand that you’re a selfish bastard.”
• Talk about the behavior  in those “I” statements, not any personality disorders you think the other person should address.
• Stick to the point. Resist throwing in the kitchen sink of laments spanning back over months of why they’re a (fill in the blank).
• Deliberately pushing buttons is REALLY dirty. The weak underbelly is to be avoided, even if you’re thinking your partner is lower than a yellow-bellied toad for siding with your mother-in-law over you.

Here is a clean fight summed up in 4 easy steps:

1. How you feel (use an “I” statement for this)
2. The behavior that prompted that feeling
3. Why it’s important/the background (i.e. what button did they push)
4. What would you want them to do differently next time

Sounds simple, doesn’t it? Go try it. It’s really hard to do when you’re mad. Most people who are angry fight dirty. Clean fighting takes some rigorous training.

Now let me ask you something. Do you really think your characters will have had any
of this sort of training? *clutches sides laughing*  Not likely.

Unless you’re writing about a psychologist, it’s much more likely that your character will be flawed like the rest of us.

What Makes Great Fiction?

• Great books are filled with conflict.
• And great characters (who learn important lessons).
• Great fiction rips emotion out of us readers.
• Oftentimes a great book will make you see yourself inside its pages.

Understanding the difference between clean and dirty fighting will give you a TON of mileage in your own stories. If you need plausible arguments and dialog, Dirty Fighting Techniques will help you achieve this.

The nice part (for you) is that these techniques can be applied with a friend, family member OR a character in your books…it doesn’t really matter. It's about having more tools in your personal toolbox.

Exercise:

1. Go through your your current work in progress and look at the resolution/make-up scenes.
2. Examine whether or not your characters are fighting cleanly or not, based on what I outlined above about clean fighting.
3. If they're engaging in dysfunctional fighting, think about changing the conversation in the resolution scene to something cleaner and moving the "dirty" dialogue to a place in the book that gives you more tension.

Since gratuitous fighting in a story is like gratuitous sex (kinda boring if there’s no real connection or reason for it), the author needs to find a great reason for the fight. How do you do that?

I think the easiest way to pave the road to this amazing fight is to discover what your characters really want. Then dig down for what they really, really want.

DON’T give it to them. Or at least, don’t give it too soon.

Then flake away more layers to uncover what your character really fears. Then what they really, really fear. DO give it to them!

This is where things get interesting. You now have characters who are upset, which shows their true colors. Plus, you’ve now found a problem/conflict that slides both your reader and your character deeper into your story.

Still struggling with this? Try asking your character questions.

Perhaps you’ll use the 9 questions I discussed in my January post on Character
Engagement or new ones that are all your own. Below are some of mine to help you get started.

1. What matters most to this character? (What is he or she most afraid to lose?)
2. Who matters most? (This is usually the person  they are most afraid to lose.)
3. How did the character’s parents fight?
4. How did the character’s parents interact with him or her?
5. What does this character wish  he or she had gotten in childhood?
6. What does my character want to be when they grow up?

All of these questions can provide you with cues about where your character is “broken” and give you ideas about fixing the broken part (i.e. Fix = Lesson).

Because this post is already long enough, I'm going to save the actual Dirty Fighting techniques for Wednesday's post. The clean fighting techniques are enough to get you started.

What do you think? Do your characters fight "clean" or "dirty" (and are you being deliberate about it)? What are some ways you could use a good fight to help your
character(s) grow or advance your story?

***********

Jenny fills her nights with humor: writing memoir, women’s fiction, chick lit, short stories (and chasing after her toddler Baby Girl). By day, she provides training and social media marketing for an accounting firm. After 15 years as a corporate software trainer, she’s digging this sit down and write thing. In addition to being a founding member here at WITS, Jenny also hangs out on Twitter at jhansenwrites and at her other blog, More Cowbell.

By Laura Drake

 

I read a lot about craft. Books, blogs, articles, websites. I’m always looking to improve my craft. I know you are too, or you wouldn’t be reading this. WITS is all about craft.

One of my weaknesses is Plotting. I know these amazing characters – like Athena, they are born, fully formed. I’m just not so sure what they’re there to do.

So I got to thinking about what Donald Maass, James Scott Bell and others have written about plotting:

Take your character’s biggest fear, and throw them into a situation where they have to face it.

One of these days, I’m going to remember this before I start writing a book; wow, what a powerful plot that would be! (Hey, there’s a reason it took me 13 years to sell, okay?)

To see how very powerful this is, I started thinking about great stories (either books or movies) to see how often this technique was used. The more I thought, the more I found.

Gone with the Wind – Scarlett is a spoiled, rich, entitled daughter of a landowner. What’s the worst that could happen? To lose her land, her money, her status, her culture. Yep. It happened.

The Hunger Games – Katniss is her Sister’s protector. To her, it would be worse if her Sister was sent to the games than Katniss. So, of course she volunteers.

The Wizard of Oz – OMG, Baum, the masochist, does this to almost every character!

• Straw Man? Fire – can you say, torch?
• Tin Man – water.  Several times. Thank God for oil cans.
• Lion? No courage. Poor thing was terrified the whole movie!

Jaws -  Sheriff of a beach town is afraid of the water. Big fish wants to eat him. Why the heck did he take a job at the beach, anyway?

The King’s Speech – What kind of Karma makes a man with a huge speech impediment King, during a critical time for the Nation?  And this wasn’t fiction! Yikes.

Disney / Pixar – They GET this concept. Almost every one of these movies you can name involves this technique. Think about it:

Finding Nemo – The father ‘lost’ is spouse due to a predator’s attack. Now he’s overprotective of his young son. What happens? You can tell from the title.

Lion King - A young lion watches his father die, and thinks it’s his fault. Major Self-esteem issues. What would be hardest for him? To have the responsibility of the entire pride on his shoulders. You guessed it! It happens.

Does every book or movie have to throw the protagonist into their worst nightmare to be successful?

Absolutely not.  But with examples like the above, you might want to look at the possibility of trying it!

So throw them out there – I came up with the above in 15 minutes. What plots can you name?