1. Accelerator231

    Accelerator231 Contributor Contributor

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    Writing small scale conflict and stakes?

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by Accelerator231, Mar 30, 2019.

    Ok, fantasy... lots of stuff. Science fiction as well.

    To defeating the evil empire, saving the world, taking down the dark lord, grabbing the world changing McGuffin, defeating the Illuminati, taking on the international corporation... lots of stuff.

    How does one write small things? Small stakes?

    Like, you're in a small city, and you're out to take down the Mafia. Should you include in the plot twist that the first friend you made in the city is a bigshot inside the Mafia? Maybe you're trying to improve the lives of the slums. Do you exchange the evil general and dark lord with a slum lord? Instead of focusing on epic things, do you instead focus on people's lives?
     
  2. EBohio

    EBohio Banned

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    What's the story you want to tell? There-in lies your answer.
     
  3. Fallow

    Fallow Banned

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    What sort of fiction do you read? Have you read fiction that takes place in a small city with organized crime?
     
  4. Accelerator231

    Accelerator231 Contributor Contributor

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    Only the Dresden files.

    And those escalated quickly.
     
  5. GingerCoffee

    GingerCoffee Web Surfer Girl Contributor

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    I don't think taking down the Mafia is small stakes or small scale conflict.

    Small conflict to me would mean conflict involving individuals or families rather than cities, countries or worlds.
     
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  6. Fallow

    Fallow Banned

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    Try reading some more. Maybe some Dashiell Hammett?
     
  7. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    Taking down the Mafia is small? For me "small stakes" is, say, trying to get that raise. I'd say that you're talking about medium-large stakes.

    But, yes, in small stakes or large stakes, I think that people's lives should be important. A Wrinkle in Time, for example, has planet-sized stakes by the end, but it's still mainly the story of girl trying to find her father. Several of the Narnia books focus on smaller stories, despite having God-as-a-lion wandering around. The first Westmark story (I haven't read the rest) was arguably about nation-wide events, but it's mainly about the characters.

    I realize that those are mostly children's or young adult books. I'm not sure if that's about my fantasy-reading preferences, or something else.

    For tightly plotted books about individual stakes, you could try reading some classic murder mysteries.
     
  8. cosmic lights

    cosmic lights Contributor Contributor

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    I don't think I'd class taking down a mafia group as small - those are nasty gits! I knew the Richardson Brothers growing up, seemed like normal guys at first. They could be evil! Research them and you'll see.

    I think all books have small stakes but everything is big and global in Fantasy. Are there any small scale Fantasy books?

    "I don't do small scale!"
     
  9. Dracon

    Dracon Contributor Contributor

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    I think taking down a mafia in a local city is small scale in the scope of the fantasy genre. I'm not sure if this is what the OP meant here.
     
  10. XRD_author

    XRD_author Banned

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    Well, nothing is "small scale" to the main character, obviously their problems are of great importance to them.
    But on a "save-the-country/save-the-world" scale, there's plenty of small scale Fantasy stories.
    Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty for a start.
    For more recent and longer stories, IIRC Elizabeth Ann Scarborough's Godmother books are small-scale.
    The whole Myth Adventures series too, I think, but it's been a while since I read them.
     
    Last edited: Mar 30, 2019
  11. Accelerator231

    Accelerator231 Contributor Contributor

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    Yes
     
  12. Dracon

    Dracon Contributor Contributor

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    Thanks. Well, I think everything that you mentioned are great ideas for a story of that scale and it sounds like you're already well on your way.

    Although it's not a trope that I am personally find of myself, it's one that is well-explored and highly successful in increasing the stakes for the MC at that critical point.
    I have a small/medium
    /whatever scale in my WiP with a similar subplot about a large development that results in a lot of displacement, and the socioeconomic impact that has on the characters on the ground is seen through the eyes of my MCs on a local scale. Moreover, one of the POVs sees the redevelopment as a great thing for the city, and another gets to see the human cost that is associated with that change. And I'm finding it really interesting to explore. I think a slum lord would have their own story to tell, looking out for their own people, probably feeling disenfranchised and misunderstood by the rest of society. I think that is interesting to explore over the mafia lord / evil lord increasing their taxes/protection racquet because why not.

    What all this boils down to is personal stakes. Taking the other end of the scale we're familiar with, epic fantasy rather takes a bird's-eye view of things that means that often I feel like the personals takes are underexplored in some works.

    Think about something - anything - that happens in an epic fantasy book that gets one sentence or off-hand mention and quickly forgotten about in the grand scope of an epic fantasy novel. The village who have had all their youth conscripted into the army, and the effect on their safety, their ability to harvest. The advent of gunpowder putting an expert swordsman into retirement. A farmer having his winter's crop commandeered by a passing army and given a receipt from which he can claim back money once the war is over.

    That's what I like to do. Think about how the small-scale things slot into the bigger picture, or maybe vice-versa. Of course, then you might run the risk of the story turning into a large-scale conflict, but something to think about, in any case.
     
  13. XRD_author

    XRD_author Banned

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    Yep.

    My MC's mother created her to save the world.

    The MC doesn't care about that. She sees how her mother's is suffering because of what (may have) happened long ago, and wants to save her mother from that pain. That's her goal, and it doesn't necessarily involve saving the world.

    Part of the issue is that no one, including the reader, is sure whether her mother is sane. There's plenty of reason to believe she isn't.
    But whether the threat to the world that terrifies her mother is real or not, her mother's pain is real.
    That's what matters to my MC.

    Let the cardboard heroes go off to save the world for that reason alone.
    IMO, real people "take care of those [they] call their own" -- Queen
     

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