EXERCISE: Problems and Questions!

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original posting 13 February 2009

All right! Let's try mixing a dilemma with some little questions, shall we?

Pick a number from one to six, okay? Roll that die . . .

You got your number now? Here's what you have picked:

1. You agree to buy a friend's piano. Later, you discover that the agreed price is too high. Considering that your friend has told other buyers that it is sold, do you try to renegotiate?
2. Your neighbor's teenager has another wild all-night party. His parents return from out-of-town and asked how things were. Do you say what goes on?
3. The person you have been living with hints at suicide if you carry out your intention to leave. Do you leave as intended?
4. You have an essay due in a French language course. Your typist is French. Do you write it in English and asked her to translate it?
5. You suspect the cleaning woman is sipping your booze when you're out. Do you mention it to her?
6. You are visiting an unmarried, elderly aunt. On the table is her will. When she is out of the room, do you glance at it?

There you go. Six little problems from the game A Question of Scruples.

Okay? Now the questions. Take your problem and consider:

1. Who will this hurt? Pick out your protagonist/point of view based on who has the most trouble in this situation.
2. What can go wrong? Aha, that's the conflicts! Make a list.
3. What's the larger issue? Go ahead, think about the big scope of your story.
4. Who pays? Who loses what? There's the climax.
   

Grind it out. And you might want to make a little matrix -- secrets or conflicts and characters, to help you see what all is going to happen here.