#conflict in stories

[alpaca-clouds]

Solarpunk Storytelling - And People Who Have Never Read A Book (apparently)

And once more I am back at the topic that maybe annoyes me the most of all when it comes to "white people having bad opinions about solarpunk". (And yes, let's face it, most of the people are white.)

And that is people that argue like this:

"Uhm, actually, how are we supposed to bring in a conflict if it is not about the utopian solarpunk world hiding a dark secret?!"

To which I will always have to assume that these people are not in fact familiar with the concept of books, movies, series, or stories in general, and have not consciously ever consumed a story at all. Because otherwise I cannot fathom how one could come to this conclusion.

Because here is the thing: Most stories out there have a conflict that does not involve a government having a dark secret.

Unbelievable, right?

Escuse my sarcasm in this, but I really just find this argument so silly. I mean, Lord of the Rings most certainly does not draw its conflict out of any government hiding a dark secret. Nor does any of the Sherlock Holmes stories. Titanic is a very popular movie not building around the concept of a dark government secret. And... Ugh, I don't know. Forrest Gump and Fight Club are two very popular movies, that I don't like, but in fact do not work around a dark government secret as a conflict. Nor do my favorite Fantasy books: The Magic Castle trilogy (that includes Howl's Moving Castle) and The Witcher series.

You will find there are a ton of stories out there not focused on a dark government conspiracy. In fact those conspiracies tend to be a feature of only certain subsections of genre fiction: thrillers and dystopian fiction. And obviously especially dystopian thrillers. Which is why it is so common in the original punkpunk genre Cyberpunk: Most Cyberpunk stories are dystopian thrillers.

But Solarpunk is not Cyberpunk. And you can tell a lot of different stories that do not feature those kinds of conspiracies.

What those people do not really seem to grasp is that at the very core fantasy, science fiction, and all the punkpunk genre actually do not quite describe the sort of story you tell, but just the setting. Think about it: High Fantasy does not say anything about what kind of story you can expect. Sure, a lot of High Fantasy is either a war story, or an adventure story, but I have read high fantasy thrillers before, just as I have read one really cool indie mystery story that was high fantasy. Same with Urban Fantasy. Are most Urban Fantasy novels some sort of detective novel often with a strong romantic/erotic subplot? Sure. But I have read Urban Fantasy horror, pure Urban Fantasy romance, and Urban Fantasy adventure stories. (In fact I wrote an Urban Fantasy pirate adventure myself.)

Same with the other punkpunk genres. Yes, most Cyberpunk is in fact some sort of dystopian thriller. Some are more action heavy, others are more mystery heavy. But I have seen Cyberpunk erotica, Cyberpunk adventure, and Cyberpunk drama novels. Sure, they always tend to have dystopian subtext, because Cyberpunk worlds are dystopian - but... It is not the central theme in those stories.

Steampunk is maybe even stronger in this. Because I have seen I think any genre in Steampunk before. Romance, adventure, mystery, action thriller... I have seen it all. And I do not even like Steampunk particularly!

So, I really have to wonder: Why in the world can those people think of telling only one type of story with the Solarpunk-setting? And why is it the kind of story that is literally the polar opposite of Solarpunk as a setting-idea?

Because I can guarantee you: Every single genre is very much still possible even within an utopian Solarpunk setting, where the utopia is not a sort of conspiracy hiding a darker secret.

Mystery? Well, even in an utopian world people will go missing. Even in an utopian world, someone will commit murder. The world being utopian will not just fix humanity from its darkest instincts.

Romance? Duh, people will still fall in love in an utopian world. And people will still be complicated about it.

Adventure? Within a Solarpunk world there will still be people looking for lost treasure. Hell, there will probably still be some asshole private collectors who want it for themselves. Or you can even do it fitting with the theme: Instead of a lost treasure people are having an adventure looking for a supposedly extinct species!

Action? You do not need a government conspiracy for someone to come up with guns and do bad things with it, forcing good guys with guns to stop them and have cool fights while doing so!

Thriller? Again, it does not need to be a government conspiracy for that to happen. (Heck, I might write a different blog about that tomorrow.)

Horror? You can have both serial killers/slashers in a Solarpunk world, abusive people for psychological horror, and ghosts/demons if you wanna go supernatural. Literally neither of those care much about the setting they are in.

So, yeah. Really. If you think you cannot write an interesting story within a Solarpunk novel that does not involve the government hiding something and the world being build on a lie, that is very much a skill issue. Or to put it different: Maybe writing is not for you.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Conflict: man v. man, man v. nature, etc. (Trying to find the origin.)

Ayn Rand mentions it without reference here:

"The more struggle a story involves, the better the plot. By showing the kind of conflicts that a man has to resolve and make the right decision about, the author shows which decision is right, or, in the case of characters who make the wrong decision, why the decision is wrong, to what bad consequences it leads. The essence of plot structure is: struggle—therefore, conflict—therefore, climax. A struggle implies two opposing forces in conflict, and it implies a climax. The climax is the central point of the story, where the conflict is resolved. “Conflict” here means conflict with other men or conflict within a man, but not conflict against nature or coincidence. For the purpose of dramatizing a man’s struggle and choice, a conflict within his own mind, which is then expressed and resolved in action, is one of the best devices. By that means, you present clearly and in action the man’s freedom—the fact that his decision is what resolves the conflict. A man’s struggle against nature, by contrast, is an issue of free will only on his part, not on the part of nature. The blind forces of nature can be only what they are and do only what they do. A conflict against nature is therefore not a dramatic conflict—no choice or suspense is possible on the part of the inanimate adversary. In a fully volitional conflict, both adversaries must have free will; two choices, two sets of values, must be involved."

Rand, Ayn. The Art of Fiction: A Guide for Writers and Readers (p. 23). (Function). Kindle Edition.

The problem with this is, again, no references. And as I've traced before, It was conflict theory invented by Lester F Ward to Percy Lubbock, likely to Kenneth Rowe, to Lajos Egri, to Syd Field.

She seems to be referring to someone else because the flavor of the argument isn't strong enough, but the date range is correct. This is published in 1958.

But as I've traced also before, women never get any credit for contributing to story structure.

And the way she speaks here, she's making direct reference to something else and trying to refute it, but no reference. *sighs*. BTW, for those not aware and too lazy to do a search, she's the author of Atlas Shrugs.

So this puts the dates now between 1921 and 1958. But I'm leaning towards 1958, with some man probably in the 1960's-1970's taking credit for it. (See, my 7th grade lit teacher while being a pedo was also highly sexist, so I have high doubts he was listening to Ayn Rand who was politically and ideologically opposed to him and he wasn't the brightest person.) This gives plenty of time for it to reach the ears of my teacher.

So close. BTW, anyone sick of the lack of citations yet? You have the internet, do citations. *cough* Larry Brooks. Dude, you had no excuse, Syd Field's book is on the internet for free. Even his last edition. You could have also bought it. You even know the author and still got his story structure wrong. And yes, midpoint is 100% Syd Field. I checked forwards and backwards of him. Midpoint is his concept. If you're going to take an author, at least get his diagram right and ask the estate... You had the internet. You don't have an excuse. Also, to all of those people who are getting Freytag's Pyramid wrong. WHY??? I screenshot it directly from the translated book and checked the German version too.

All you writers who want to write a manual of how to write novels and screenplays, internet is waiting for you. And I did the references. You can plug and play. I even gave you the direct quotes.

[ancientroyalblood]

Character Growth and Change: Crafting Dynamic Protagonists

Characters aren’t static entities frozen in time; they are living, breathing entities that evolve, learn, and change. As I embark on the journey of exploring character growth and change, my thoughts meander through the profound responsibility a writer bears in crafting protagonists that resonate not just at the beginning, but throughout the entire narrative. The Seed of…

[tibli]

i have been trying to figure out why the whole 'fae god' and katniss everdeen things with kendrick lamar on here were bothering me, and i think i finally put it into words.

most posts like that are probably coming from well-meaning white people (i am also partially a White People, to be clear), who otherwise dont really listen to rap. they cannot find a way to 'relate' to this black man who sings largely about issues that affect the black community– and rather than try and meet him where he is, they have to fit him into these little tumblr cultural boxes before he can be 'palatable' to them.

they have to shave off the rougher/more abrasive aspects of his work and activism because it makes them uncomfortable, that way they can pigeonhole him into something that allows them to enjoy his work without the critical analysis that MUST come with it

he is not your fae god, he is not a YA protagonist, he is not a little gremlin or a cinnamon roll or a blorbo. He is a human being with opinions and beliefs that deeply permeate his work, and to ignore that truth is to ignore the entire point. PLEASE try to engage with artists' work outside of the lens of tumblr fandom, and i mean that as nicely as possible. you are doing YOURSELF a disservice

[atavist]

Layan Albaz is one of thousands of Palestinian children who had lost limbs in Israeli air strikes since October 7—and one of the very few evacuated to the U.S. for medical care. 

The new Atavist story, COMING TO AMERICA, is now live, and also available in Arabic:

The average U.S. public school has about 550 students. Imagine eight or nine schools in an area roughly the size of Philadelphia where every kid is missing at least one limb. Imagine also that their amputations happened alongside a torrent of other tragedies: the loss of family members, friends, neighbors, schools, houses.

Now imagine that the only hope to reclaim some semblance of physical normalcy required those children to leave home. Gaza’s sole manufacturer of prosthetics and its affiliated rehabilitation center were destroyed in an air strike months ago; as a result, many families of children who have lost limbs are trying to evacuate them so they can receive medical care abroad. Social media is brimming with their desperate pleas, and only a few get what amounts to a lucky ticket for the mortally unlucky: Countries willing to take pediatric amputees from Gaza are doing so in relatively small numbers.

The kids who do find a way out board planes for distant places. In Layan’s case, that place was more than 6,000 miles away from everything and everyone she knew.

[bevioletskies]

If God doesn’t want us to love each other, then what’s the point of having God in this world?

GEMINI NORAWIT & FOURTH NATTAWAT in TICKET TO HEAVEN (2025)

[justafewberries]

y’know how all of the books we have revolve around a d12 winner? after sotr there will be only one d12 victor remaining without a dedicated book.

Peeta Mellark

[calcified-fluorited]

Hot take, season 2 feels like piltover apologist propaganda

Piltover has been oppressing and exploiting zaun for who know how long, but the timeline where everything is good, all that had to be different was for hextech to not exist

at several points in the story, including Cait's poison gas mission, enforcers go down there to brutalise people in pursuit of jinx, but all of that unnecessary violence is brushed aside because there is a new Big Bad that we all must unite against. How convenient!

the Big Bad (Viktor) was from Zaun, and we need Piltover's police force to save us from this zaunite. Actually, the previous season's big bad was also from the undercity

zaunites come to help the people who treated them like animals their entire lives AND THEY PUT ON THE UNIFORMS OF PEOPLE WHO OPPRESSED THEM? I'M SORRY WHAT

Sevika who conveniently hasn't spoken a line since what, episode 4? her opinion isn't important, just be happy that she's on the council now.

entirety of act 3 actually

the "dirt under your nails" line. ????? Who wrote this? I want to talk.

[kimyoonmiauthor]

Just to document my own work

Around Midnight of today, I edited the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conflict_(narrative)

article to add Percy Lubbock, Conflict theory, Lester F Ward (by mentioning conflict theory), and showcase a bit of the core terminology around conflict.

I still haven't found the person who did the classification, so I could not add those citations. But I know it was before 1993. One, my pervy teacher wasn't that bright, so probably heard it in uni somewhere and didn't check his sources. And I estimate he graduated long before 1993. And two, triangulating time stamps, etc, I know it was inserted by the 1990's, and I haven't found mention of it in the 1950's or 1960's. I'm guessing with how these things take up steam, it has to be 1970's, and translated, or 1980's.

Anyway, listing this, because I don't want to be accused of plagiarism, or that I just "copy-pasted" No, I copy-pasted my long and hard work from here and shortened it by a long bit to over there because I found it frustrating to read a retconned history and so did an anonymous reader who said none of the article made sense since I'd bothered to cite the history of European story structures with primary sources within an inch of their life on three other wikipedia articles.

Did I include all of my citations and proof? No. It's a Wikipedia article. Not a symposium. But you can find the citations to the primary sources on this blog with screenshots of the exact pages, written out text and page numbers so you know I'm not lying when I say things like Freytag was a fascist pre-Nazi.

And just to be a bit of a jackass, I suppose, I added Criticisms to the theory, Bertolt Brecht who argued for fun as his story driver. (I also detailed his writings on this blog, but against I'd like to pick his mind about the Great Man theory. In my Adoptive family, we debate and Brecht from how he wrote seemed game for that sort of thing. He's on my time machine list for people I'd like to have a long conversation with.)

[thenationofzaun]

Still haunted by this interview

So enforcers killing the sisters' parents, the very first scene of the show, the introduction to the brutal class conflict and theme of oppression that was the bedrock of season 1, the inciting incident that traumatized the girls forever, that changed Vander forever, leading Silco to lose all respect for him and begin plotting his coup, literally the beginning of the end for the Vander and Silco tragedy, and by extension the Vi and Jinx tragedy, the incident that Jinx avenges in Season 1 in a brilliant full circle moment, these girls seeing the gunned down corpses of their parents dumped like trash on the ground, THAT scene...........................

......was conceived to give Caitvi some relationship drama......

[barib-yariel]

scammer bot: hello👋🏾 I'm arab abu-froud from gazza😔. yesterday my grandfather mohamad gazzinsky has been murdered to death by the IDF😨. he was only 3 years old🫃. since then we are starving and homeless😭. 15 minutes ago Isra*l🤮🤮🤮 bombed our disabled tent of color🏳️‍⚧️. we don't know what to do🤕. please donate💵 to my gofundme so I can survive this genocide💪🏿 and make lebanon a recyclable city again 🇸🇩.

average tumblrina:

[chipsncookies]

I've been playing the arc suit stories in pokemas and I love it so much. I have to redraw this scene

[bugboy-behaviour]

a collection of queer Palestinian stories in Gaza from queering the map.

Don't let pink washing get to your head. Queer people live everywhere, including in Gaza, where they are currently being massacred.

images are from the tiktok link i attached, there's even more there.

[sky--phantom]

Lucanis missing Davrin

I miss him too

[ducklingpia]

I saw there’s a lot of ppl talking about Caleb being a scary Yandere in the main story chapters but aren’t we gonna talk about these?

A bit spoilers of Caleb’s 4&5 stars card

MC is such a brat to him 😭😭😭😭 (I love it so much)

Plus, He spoiled her ROTTEN 😩😩😩😩

The facts that they hide all of his sweet sides behind the pull is kinda annoying 🫵🏼🫵🏼🫵🏼🫵🏼

Btw I made a full summary of his story-line HERE bc I. JUST. CANNOT. STOP. THINKING. ABOUT. HIM 😔😔😔

[shitpostingkats]

Not to be xehaqus posting on main but the amount of (misplaced) trust Eraqus puts in Xehanort makes me insane. What do you mean he watched his boyfriend murder someone before his eyes and cried alone in his room at night but still thought it alright to let that boy walk away from him and study ancient dark magics? To confront him about it, years later, only to have his face sliced open and still, still, even later welcome him back into his home like nothing's changed? To take a wounded, obviously traumatized kid off his hands and not even consider it might be a red flag? Even when your students approach you and go "hey your old beloved old man partner might be up to something?" the blinding confidence to go "No, that doesn't sound like him :/ " To, even after you are both dead, at vaguely eachother's hand, to reach out beyond death and still believe there's good in him?

Like, one can joke a lot about how Eraqus' bad taste in men is what doomed the narrative to its current path, but also, this is a character who watched someone he loved make bad choice after bad choice after bad choice and always thought he was going to suddenly start making good ones instead. And he did this for sixty years. What if I threw up.