Creating Story Problems
An article on creating a problem for you fictional story character to solve.
If a character has no problem to solve then there is no point in writing about him or her. It is the urgent problem confronting your main character and what he or she does to solve it. That gives the character appeal and involves the reader in your tale.
What does your main character want? What vitally important thing must he or she have that cannot easily be obtained? This you must decide early in your story planning, because you want or need will not only indicate the kind of main character he or she will be, but also what other people will do to support or oppose him or her.
In writing for children, the conflict must interest the children of the age in which you are writing for. A teenage girl will be much more interested in problems involving the social success of the storybook heroine, in her romances or career ambitions, than she will be in getting the heroine’s maiden aunt married.
A ten year old would be more intrigued by a book dealing with a “Horse For Keeps,” than in getting great-uncle Henry a fancy chess set. The easy to read age lad will be more interested in a story of how the neighborhood kids got them a clubhouse than in how somebody’s big sister got herself a prom date with the football captain.
Tailor your problems to your potential audience. Make them the kind that readers of that age group can conceivably solve.
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April 10th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
great article helpful one
April 10th, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Very true.
April 10th, 2011 at 3:25 pm
exactly
April 10th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
thanks for the share
April 10th, 2011 at 9:22 pm
well written
April 10th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
Good suggestions Allison, I will take this into consideration on my next writing project.
April 11th, 2011 at 6:12 am
“If a character has no problem to solve then there is no point in writing about him or her.”
Hahaha. That’s so good. This is what I would call intelligent humor.
Very nice writeup.
Regards,
Anusha, UV Associates
April 11th, 2011 at 10:55 am
I particularly liked characters who were underdogs or were losers in their world. Like Ramona and Beatrice who were self conscious and poor, which made them characters I could relate to as a child.
April 11th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Creating age-appropriate conflict is important to success.
April 11th, 2011 at 3:47 pm
extremely helpful
April 11th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
extremely helpful.