Mary Gottschalk
Every
good fiction writer knows that conflict is key. The main characters in a novel
must have clearly defined desire lines … something they want badly enough to
persevere in the face of every obstacle.
It’s
a challenge even when your character’s desire line is concrete: getting rich,
becoming president of the United States or finding the murderer (or avoiding
being caught). You still need characters whose internal conflicts give the
story depth and intrigue.
The
challenge is exponentially harder when the key characters have desire lines
based on abstract goals: making a contribution to people’s lives, bringing
peace to the world, or being seen as loyal and dependable. As with all good
fiction, the story arc is based on conflicting desire lines. But in my upcoming
novel, A Fitting Place, the
characters have, in some way, actually contributed to creating the very problem
they are trying to solve, and are often the source of the obstacles that get in
the way of a solution.
Just
like in real life. This is the dilemma
most of us live until we learn to break out of our comfort zone.
In
fiction, as in life, The Enneagram, which classifies personality types based on
unconscious motivation, can be helpful. As I’ve noted in previous blogs, each
of the nine personality types can be evaluated in terms of the effectiveness
with which they go about converting these abstract goals into real world
accomplishments.
Take
for example, the conflicting desire lines of my two key characters in A Fitting Place. As a “thinker,” my
protagonist (Lindsey) takes prides in being knowledgeable, capable and
self-reliant. On her good days, she is
thoughtful, perceptive, and a very good listener. On her bad days, she can be
self-absorbed, secretive, and remarkably unaware of the emotional mood of her
environment.
In
contrast, my antagonist (Joan) is a “missionary” who wants to be helpful and
nurturing. On her goods days, she is
compassionate, sympathetic and highly attuned to what other people need or
want. On her bad days, she is possessive
and manipulative and can be masterful at inducing a sense of guilt into those
reject her overtures.
Because
both my characters are flawed—they operate at different points on the
effectiveness spectrum on different days—the opportunities for mayhem and
misunderstanding abound, as do the possibilities for significant personal
growth and development.
A Fitting Place is
a story in which the challenges, mis-steps and successes of characters in
conflict should be familiar to readers who (like most of us) have both good
days and bad. Good days, when we are happy with who we are and how we
respond to the people around us. Bad days, when we are our own worst
enemy.
Do you ever have days on
which you are your own worst enemy?
Mary
has made a career out of changing careers. After finishing her MBA, she spent nearly thirty years in
the financial markets, working as an economist, a banker and a financial consultant
to major corporations. She has
worked in New York, New Zealand, Australia, Central America, Europe, and
amazingly, Des Moines, Iowa.
Along
the way, she dropped out several times.
In the mid-1980’s, Mary and her husband Tom embarked on the multi-year
sailing voyage that is the subject of her memoir, Sailing Down the Moonbeam.
Twice, she left finance to provide financial and strategic planning
services to the nonprofit community, first in New York and later in Des Moines.
In
her latest incarnation, she defines herself as a writer. She is working on her first novel (A Fitting Place), freelances, and lectures on the subject of personal risk-taking.
Links to books
and social media sites
http://www.facebook.com/mary.gottschalk.9
http://www.facebook.com/MaryGottschalkWriter
