Conflict = Life

 

     As a creative writing teacher at The High School for Creative and Performing Arts, I had the challenge of teaching a Fiction course.  When I first started, there were no books, no curriculum, no prior syllabus... nothing.  My principal just handed me a binder with the word "fiction" on it and that was pretty much my  foundation for constructing the course.  I didn't mind; I was young and energetic and was very interested in writing. 

     During my teaching tenure there, I gravitated toward the short story genre.  This genre served the my purposes well - first of all it was short, so it enabled me to really focus on the respective structure and language so as to illustrate to my students what to model and what to avoid.  In my opinion, the class evolved over the years and offered a substantive study of the short story.  At some point during my preparation for this class I had an epiphany:  the short story was a lot like our lives.  First, let me share a kind of "literary equation" that I penned during this time:  Character + Conflict = Plot.  It's important to note here (and I expressed this to my classes a countless number of times) that without conflict, there would be no plot, no story.  Often I'd pose this question:  Can there be a short story without a conflict?  Of course, there were always attempts made by some of my writing students to argue that this brand of "conflict-less" story was possible, but ultimately I'd prevail and maintain conflict was an inherent part of the short story equation and that without it... again... there would be no story.  

     With respect to my literary equation, of course, we are the characters... the "plot" is the course of events that our lives happen to take.   But what about the "conflict"?  Naturally, our lives are beleaguered with conflicts throughout and arguably, the impetus which drives the progression of our lives.  Think about it:  how we act and react to these conflicts presented to us leads us to make certain decisions which ultimately determine our destiny.  Now, what happens if somehow "conflict" is removed from our lives (of course, impossible... but just suppose) what would drive our actions?  What would motivate us?  What would we have to react to?  Not a whole lot... perhaps our existence would be pretty boring...  uneventful - just like a short story with no conflict.