1) internal conflict (how much is too much? When does it become the equivalent of navel-gazing?); 2) how you ensure that you are putting your characters through a variety of conflict; 3) when do you put that first novel aside forever (or until you have a few other finished, polished manuscripts and the experience that goes with them)?
All my novels used to be internal conflict all the way, baby, and so angst-laden they dripped.
As a result of having been kicked, repeatedly, by critters who had a much better feel for plot than I have (can't say had, because I still have a long way to go), I became aware that my external plot, if one even existed, was only there as a framework on which I could hang my poor, overworked protag's internal struggles. External plot, therefore, is where I've been focused for probably four years now--it's what people talk about when they describe the books they love the best, it's what even *I* pointed at as being the most important thing in my favorite books. It's what I need.
Along the way, I realized that internal conflict not only came about as a result of external events, but could be made deeper if it mirrored, in some fashion, those external conflicts.
So now, that's what I do: I figure out what it is my protag wants. I figure out why they can't have it--what *external obstacle* stands in his/her way. And then I write the protag's struggle to gain that object he wants so badly, including the wants and desires and actions of all those around him who have their own lives to live. I pay attention to the antag, because it's his story, too; without him, there is no story.
As far as a variety of conflict is concerned...I can't say I ever look at it like that. I follow someone's advice of making sure that things are worse for the protag at the end of each scene. *Logically* worse, that is. Conflict unsupported by events in the story feels manufactured and is to be avoided, IMO.
Don't ask me when you finally give up on early novels. I'm still flogging mine...and it was one of those rewritten-ad-nauseum novels that finally caught the attention of an agent. (Thus far, no publisher interest, but I'm patient.) Of course, the current Canum novel rewrite bears very little resemblance to the angst fest that was its earlier incarnation! And, as much as I love reading well-founded angst, I'm glad this one has a real backbone to support the weight of Canum's occasional navel-gazing. *g*
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2) how you ensure that you are putting your characters through a variety of conflict;
3) when do you put that first novel aside forever (or until you have a few other finished, polished manuscripts and the experience that goes with them)?
All my novels used to be internal conflict all the way, baby, and so angst-laden they dripped.
As a result of having been kicked, repeatedly, by critters who had a much better feel for plot than I have (can't say had, because I still have a long way to go), I became aware that my external plot, if one even existed, was only there as a framework on which I could hang my poor, overworked protag's internal struggles. External plot, therefore, is where I've been focused for probably four years now--it's what people talk about when they describe the books they love the best, it's what even *I* pointed at as being the most important thing in my favorite books. It's what I need.
Along the way, I realized that internal conflict not only came about as a result of external events, but could be made deeper if it mirrored, in some fashion, those external conflicts.
So now, that's what I do: I figure out what it is my protag wants. I figure out why they can't have it--what *external obstacle* stands in his/her way. And then I write the protag's struggle to gain that object he wants so badly, including the wants and desires and actions of all those around him who have their own lives to live. I pay attention to the antag, because it's his story, too; without him, there is no story.
As far as a variety of conflict is concerned...I can't say I ever look at it like that. I follow someone's advice of making sure that things are worse for the protag at the end of each scene. *Logically* worse, that is. Conflict unsupported by events in the story feels manufactured and is to be avoided, IMO.
Don't ask me when you finally give up on early novels. I'm still flogging mine...and it was one of those rewritten-ad-nauseum novels that finally caught the attention of an agent. (Thus far, no publisher interest, but I'm patient.) Of course, the current Canum novel rewrite bears very little resemblance to the angst fest that was its earlier incarnation! And, as much as I love reading well-founded angst, I'm glad this one has a real backbone to support the weight of Canum's occasional navel-gazing. *g*