Escalating Conflict 101 by Susan Brewer

Escalating Conflict 101

I write screenplays. Here is the opening of one I finished last year called “Androcles and the Lion”. It has potential but still needs help and work.

Screenplays use a specific format which you can see (in part) here. Another difference to ‘normal’ writing is that screenplays must show a story, not tell a story. They are action based, and use scenes like beads strung on a string to guide conflict into a final showdown.

FADE IN:

EXT. WOODED OUTSKIRTS OF BEJOR ON THE IBERIAN PENINSULA (SPAIN) - DAY

Sunrise over a mist-filled wood with mountains in the background.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

The ancient world once lived, filled with death and blood-lust and war, though a competing desire was rooted there, too: a longing for stability, culture and opportunity, for security and the luxuries of a life well-lived.

CUT TO:

EXT. STREAM, TUNNEL OF TREES, AND FIELD BEYOND - DAY

Action: Splash! Bare feet drop into a stream before they spring away and are gone.

Then, through a tunnel of over-arching trees the runner sprints down a flat path as if pursued by the hounds of hell. A bundle of firewood is strapped to his back; he descends quickly down a short hill then emerges out onto an open field beyond.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

This is a tale of such a time and place - where the Old World struggled to do more than survive; it struggled to thrive.

Action: Rushing the stream, a horsed and helmeted cavalryman clears it in flat-out pursuit of the running man.

The horseman gallops through the tunnel of leaves, makes his way down the hill and emerges onto the field where he circles the tunic-clad runner, drawing his sword. The runner in desperation draws a piece of wood, a stick, from over his shoulder. The horseman laughs, circling the runner once more before spurring his horse on, leaving the runner armed with a stick alone.

NARRATOR (V.O.)

Though culture struggled to flourish, there were lions still at the door.

Action: Still clutching his stick, the young man’s chest heaves, he raises his arms to the sky in empty defiance before bending at the waist in pain, a beat, before he explodes, hurling the stick away.

Writing requires quiet to gather the voices inside your head and time to connect them fluidly together into a whole. But writing also requires stimulation, controversy, and angst to make up conflict and action - information and drama the reader must use to form his or her own conclusions about themselves and the world. In the end, the equation, if I may call it that, is all about fantasy.

So here are some questions I like:

1. What will the resolution solve, and what are you interested in illustrating about characters and the difficulties they deal with?
2. What will the conflict say about the nature of mankind?
3. How closely must you follow “the rules” of writing a story, and where can you take liberty?

The hardest thing for me to do is put together the beads on the escalating necklace of conflict. For help I look for genius in screenplays like The Wizard of Oz:

Home’s meaning to Dorothy, illustrated:

1. when Dorothy seeing Aunt Em in the crystal ball from prison in the witch’s palace, the audience sees her love for her aunt – it’s a lot; “Oh, Auntie, Em!”
2. when Dorothy is left by the Wizard/Professor Marvel when his balloon floats away her heart breaks. Then she learns she has always had the skills to save herself, on her own. Fabulous!

Killing the Witch is saving the Scarecrow, not an evil act. That was a neat piece of work.

And on a serious note, Toto deserved an Oscar for his performance in my opinion.

My screenplay has a man being chased. He must end up in the arena being spared by a lion meant to kill him. And because of Hollywood, I must also include lots of life-or-death drama in between, so I am still not satisfied with the way in which my screenplay gets from beginning to end. I am still interested in learning how to “discover” dramatic elements.

Susan Brewer in Rabun Gap, GA