Last one! I made it! Woohoo!

(If you’re wondering why this is #51 instead of #52, it’s because somewhere back around scene prompt #8, I did an #8.5. I don’t know what I was thinking. But I’m not going to take the time to fix it, so . . . Anyhoo . . .)

This is another revision prompt, great for all of your scenes. I’m just going to take it wholesale from Jules Horne:

Look at the scenes in your work in progress, and identify each character’s overall dramatic ation. what’s the essence of the scene? Do they want to persuade, placate, overcome, or distract the other character? Brainstorm active verbs that express one character’s action on the other.

Are the characters in conflict, or are they on the same side? If they’re on the same side, where’s the tension?

Actions can often be paired into opposites – for example, persuade/dissuade, focus/distract, and so on. Looking at the verbs in your list, what are their [“they” being the main opposing characters of the scene] opposite actions? If you escalate their intensity, or tone them down, what verbs do you get?

Try using your discoveries to amplify the differences between your characters.

Jules Horne

Have fun!

Book that inspired this post

The book cover link above is an Affiliate Link, which means I get a commission if you decide to make a purchase through this link, at no cost to you.  In other words, if you’re thinking of buying a copy of this book for your home craft library anyway, buying said copy through this link is a no-brainer way to help support this site. And I appreciate it. Thank you!

And that’s it!

Fifty-two scene prompts. Big thanks to those of you who checked them every week. I would have crapped out long ago if it weren’t for you.

There may be something else coming for next year. We’ll see. I haven’t done anything on it yet, but . . . we’ll see. Plus finishing scenes. Gotta finish the scenes series. Scenes, man . . . I’ll get them done eventually.

Until next time!

What about you?

Anything to add about juicing up your conflict? Tell us in the comments!

If you found this post helpful, please . . .

1. Like it and share it! There are share buttons below . . .

2. Subscribe to the Blog to receive the Tools in your inbox as soon as they post:

3. Subscribe to the Newsletter. It’s a monthly-to-quarterly-ish (that’s still vastly overstating it) newsletter to share news and free worksheets and whatnot. Your welcome email will include the 19-page Character Development Workbook. You can subscribe here.

4. And if you found it particularly helpful . . .

Thanks!