Conflict & Consequence

You may have noticed that we're pendulum-swinging between query-writing and NaNo-writing here on the blog.

Well, yes, we are. And I don't plan on stopping any time soon.

I've got one paragraph - hook and setup - of my query written to a point that I'm happy with it. Oh, and one sentence of the second paragraph - conflict and consequence.

It's been so hard writing the rest of the conflict and the consequence, that I've taken to pen and paper. {You know I'm desperate when I'm writing on pen and paper.} And today I jotted down some thoughts to help. Some questions, because if I could answer these questions, I'd have my conflict and consequence.
    • What does she want?
    • What's in the way?
    • What happens if she doesn't get what she wants?
That's it. That's conflict and consequence. I had heard that a million times, but this was the first time I'd written it down myself. That's it? That's all?

{You can pry a little deeper. Answer the question, then ask why. She wants to find her brother. Why? He's the only person she can trust. Okay, so really, she's looking for someone she can trust. You don't have to write that in your query, that she's looking for someone to trust, but it's nice to know. When I wrote that down, I realized what was important to note about the love interest. She can trust him.}

So if you're query-writing, just ask yourself these questions for the second paragraph. {And if you're story-writing, ask yourselves these questions now. It really, really helps if you have them answered before you finish. Trust me.}

{Need more query-writing help? Download Elana Johnson's From the Query to the Call for free. It's epic.}

What about you? Do you know your story's conflict and consequence?

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