: Re: How to write a story without conflict, like "My Neighbour Totoro"? We are used to stories being about conflict. There can be an antagonist, or a hostile environment, or even an internal problem

@Speyer920

Vote Up Vote Down

Remember back to elementary school. There are three kinds of stories.

Man vs. Man (Let's call this Capt. America vs. Iron Man)
Man vs. Nature (How about The Perfect Storm or Alive)
Man vs. Self (Castaway, for example)

Now many "real" stories have some of each category, but every story relies on one more than the other.

For your story (with no antagonist) your going to do more of the man vs. self or man vs. nature.

For example, you could tell a very heart-wrenching story of a family separated due to a hurricane. The family members can meet awesome people.

The children can stay with "the older couple next door", the parents with friends in another city. All while the roads and infrastructure are being rebuilt after the storm.

The children, while never in any danger of any kind can struggle with the fact that they miss their parents, and that the older couples' house is so different.

The parents can meet all 100% nice people and still can't manage to get to their children because bridges are out, roads are shut down. They could struggle with the fact that they can't get to their kids because the Red Cross, while nice, know their kids are safe, so they won't divert rescue parties from missing kids. And how that must feel to know that your kids are safe but having a part of you that wishes they weren't so you could get more help in getting them back to you.

Again, a story need not have an antagonist to be a good story. It does need conflict of some kind, but that conflict can be internal. Some of the most dramatic times in our lives don't come from fighting an external power, but from fighting our own internal issues.

(0)

Login to post a comment!