In a post on Killzone, Debbie Burke examines a different kind of conflict and communication between characters – the art of negotiation. “Whether you’re buying a car, arguing with a boss, or making a deal with your kids to do their homework, most interactions in life are negotiations,” she says. “Each of us wants to get our own way.”
Negotiations generally involve a power imbalance – someone has something another person wants. Even when two equals meet, they look for advantages that will give them the upper hand. Exploiting that imbalance can make for strong dramatic tension, Burke says.
Negotiations can be physical, verbal, social, or psychological, and the goals can be large or intimate. Generally, one character begins in a dominant position. They have something the other wants or will be asked to take some action to benefit the requester. “Their struggle creates tension and suspense as the reader wonders who will prevail,” Burke says. “Each scene in a novel is a micro power struggle between characters.”
Those struggles can arise when:
- A character has superior knowledge, ability, or position that the other character attempts to gain.
- One character wants to control another.
- A character takes action that appears to mean one thing but actually means something different.
- A character’s dialogue is different from what they’re actually thinking.
In many genre novels, the antagonist often starts in the stronger position, and the protagonist spends a good deal of time fighting for advantages. But even in quieter stories, characters must negotiate for information, power, and success. As you’re crafting scenes, Burke suggests you consider some questions:
- What are each character’s goals?
- Which character is in a stronger position and which is weaker?
- How do they negotiate with each other to shift power to achieve their goals?
- Do they ask, plead, implore, barter, demand, or threaten?
- Do they slyly seduce their opponent? Or beat the snot out of them?
- Do they feign defeat to fool their opponent into dropping their guard?
- Do they bluff and posture, claiming strength or power they don’t actually have?
