Masterclass: The Idea of Conflict
One of a series of ten intensive, impactful masterclasses from Faber Academy's Director of Fiction.
Level
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Location
Length
After eleven years directing our flagship Writing a Novel course, helping over a hundred students gain publication deals, Richard Skinner has developed our new series of ten masterclasses. Covering the essential elements of fiction in his fullest, most impactful workshops, this series is perfect if you’re looking to sharpen your skills, improve particular elements of your writing, or aren’t able to commit to one of our longer courses.
If drama is the heart of a story, the idea of conflict is its heartbeat. Without conflict, there is no drama, and without drama there is no story. In this session, you will do a ‘stress-test’ on your plot.
Schedule
The course will take place on Zoom, using a mix of teaching and discussion time with practical exercises to get you writing.
18.30–18.45
Welcome and introductions
18.45–19.45
Finding conflict
We will look at the cyclical nature of all stories and the levels of conflict in them. We will see that characters must pay some kind of price for what they want.
19.45–20.00
Break
20.00–21.00
Pushing your plot
In this half of the evening, you will ’stress-test’ the plot of your story to check how well it's working.
Richard Skinner
Richard Skinner is a novelist, poet and critic. His most recent book, The Mirror, was described as ‘beautifully written...
More About This TutorRichard Skinner is a great teacher [...] After every one of his classes, I return to my writing feeling inspired
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