6. Conflict and Plot

Page 1 of 10 | What Is a Story? | Originality Counts | Gotta Have Structure | Set the Hook | Reel 'Em In | Land 'Em |
| What If I Don't Know? | Other Times, Other Worlds | Events Follow Character | Try This at Home! |

What Is a Story?
shipAn idea by itself is not a story. Neither is a world. Characters are not a story, even if they're alien. Their problems are not a story, either.

All right, then—what is a story?

A story is what happens to the characters, in their world, in the face of their problems. A story is a series of events, with all of the tension and color and excitement that go along with it; a story is the changes that your characters undergo, or resist. The story is what keeps you on the edge of your seat, turning the pages.

 
 

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