2.3 – Presentation and trigger of the conflict
Normally a quarter of the total of the work (the first quarter) is usually used for that first act, what we usually call the Approach of the work. Today we are going to talk about the final part of the approach: The presentation of the conflict and the trigger, which is what the narrative chicha begins with.
The status quo
The status quo is the established order. It's how things are the moment the story begins, which is normal. Depending on the story, this status quo can be very different. In a story, the established order may be that the institute groups are closed and people are pigeonholed into one thing; while in another the established order may be a society with horizontal mobility in which people can be in more than one group at a time without problem.
Normally the status quo is when things are going "right." Sometimes they go well, other times well, and sometimes, just "good." The book 1984 is an example of when things are going "well", with Big Brother watching over everyone and people without any problems, right? Won't you be thinking on your own?! That's wrong.
However, sometimes things are not going well, but badly. Star Wars is an example, with the Empire being bad people and hunting down the rebel alliance and doing its space Nazi stuff. It doesn't matter much if things are going right or wrong, the important thing is to make it clear to the reader that "This is how things are going in this world, city, house, group, whatever."
And why is it important to make clear what the status quo is? Because by definition, stories are usually a very specific sequence: Status quo – > Breaking the status quo – > New status quo.
And what we do with the approach is to prepare the status quo and then immediately break it.
The Conflict and the Trigger: Breaking the Status Quo
Life is going well in villa villosa. However, something happens, which makes life stop going well in villa villosa. That something is the trigger of the conflict, and the conflict is that life is no longer going well (or that the prota on duty has been kicked out of the villa because it is that something).
The conflict is the "what the plot is about". What's going on? Has our protagonist been trapped on an uninhabited island? Has the devoted father shown that he has ties to Satan and now the family is turned upside down? Conflict is literally conflict, it is what clashes with the status quo and prevents things from continuing as they are. It may be because there is a new member on the team who looks like it is going to split it. Or because the world is going to end and we must avoid it because without a world to see where we live.
The trigger, on the other hand, would be the event that starts the conflict (or that transfers that already existing conflict to our status quo). The trigger can be anything from an eviction notice, to a love you, or the appearance of a specter of death.
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