Writerly Ways
Nov. 23rd, 2025 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cornerofmadnessToday was hard, tomorrow will be worse. Fully expecting to be yelled at but I don't regret posting the the union all the DOJ investigations into the shit insurance we're voting on. So enough of that. Let me get into the writerly ways.
One of the reactors for Hazbin Hotel was ranting about 'forced conflict' and I'm like that is a great term for it and I do hate that writing...shortcut? Trope? I'm not sure what I want to call it. Basically, characters X &Y act (often out of character) in a way that most people would not do and it ends up creating drama and conflict that we otherwise wouldn't have and don't necessary need.
I'm sure this has been happening forever. But the first time I remember ranting about it was way back in the heyday of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Xander purposely doesn't tell Buffy that Angel's soul could be/was being returned. At least that example has a reason. Xander is a jealous douche.
Later in the same verse we have much less of an excusable example is in Angel S4 with Connor. When the whole team knows that something is wrong with Cordelia and they set out to prove it, Angel excludes Connor rather than keeping him close so he could see for himself that Cordelia is being influenced. Because Connor isn't there in the beginning he believes the team is attacking Cordy for no reason. There was no reason to force this conflict and it made the team look like a team of morons.
Oh I know why it was done. Joss was punishing Charisma for getting pregnant and wrote the world's stupidest story line to make her look bad (she is now freely talking about how much of a piece of shit he was to her) but at the time we didn't know this and it felt like bad writing.
Where this came up in Hazbin was Charlie, the pollyanna of the group, sees her father's big secret exposed to all of hell and rather than comfort him for the torment he just endured she tears him a new one for destroying her dreams on purpose (he didn't know Vox had found his secret out and had gone to stop him for his daughter's sake) and when Vaggi mentions she had asked Lucifer to help, this out of character ire is turned on her for the better part of two episodes. The fans did not react well and as far as I'm concerned, we shouldn't. There was still an opportunity for Charlie to be mad b ut maybe mad for the right reasons. Sigh.
So have you written this? I try hard not to. Have you come across it and been disappointed by that turn of events? Or did you like it?
Open calls
The Faerie Cat Volume 3
Fantasy, speculative fiction, and horror, especially those steeped in Celtic mythology or featuring the Fair Folk
Adventitious Issue 1 Stories that offer a surprise and sense of wonder through their language, characters, plots, or all of the above
The Phantom Pulse 2026 First Window speculative fiction of the grey corners of humanity, dread that permeates the skin, and the bizarre
We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2025 Queer short fiction reprints from 2025
Shift: Now Seeking Submissions
30 Magazines Accepting Genre Fiction
From Around the Web
Charting Your Course #2: Self-Publishing in 2025
How to Maximize Book Pre-Orders (Even With a Small Audience)
Creating Low Points for Your Protagonists
these next four are from![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
ushobwri
Character backstory tips for better writing
A Writer’s Comprehensive Guide to Backstory.
8 Dos & Don’ts of How to Write Sex Scenes That Work
Five Principles For Writing Kick Ass Action Scenes
From Betty
Mining Off-Stage Movement
Five Popular Tropes Writers Struggle With
Pacing Your Dialogue
Five Problems With Focusing on Internal Conflicts
Six Tricks for Memorable Character Moments
Should Your Romance Be Single or Dual POV?
How to Edit Emotion in Romance & Women’s Fiction
The Plunge
Make the Most of Your Manuscript’s Resting Time
Coping Mechanism Thesaurus: Spending Time in Nature
You're Writing a Book. So Stop Writing a Movie.
How To Be An Author: What's Your Next Book About?
Find and delete these phrases from your novel
Redshirts
Creating Low Points for Your Protagonists
Insights into the Shape of a Scene
Microtension – A MUST in Your Fiction
Charting Your Course #2: Self-Publishing in 2025
The Art of Intimacy in Writing
Living, Breathing Characters
Is Your Writing “Good Enough” to Publish?
8 Qualities that Will Help Your Protagonist on Their Journey
Be careful setting children’s books in the recent past
How to Get Your Blog Posts Found in AI Search (Not Just Google)
Write With Imagination: How to Stay True to Your Voice and Avoid Predictable Stories
One of the reactors for Hazbin Hotel was ranting about 'forced conflict' and I'm like that is a great term for it and I do hate that writing...shortcut? Trope? I'm not sure what I want to call it. Basically, characters X &Y act (often out of character) in a way that most people would not do and it ends up creating drama and conflict that we otherwise wouldn't have and don't necessary need.
I'm sure this has been happening forever. But the first time I remember ranting about it was way back in the heyday of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when Xander purposely doesn't tell Buffy that Angel's soul could be/was being returned. At least that example has a reason. Xander is a jealous douche.
Later in the same verse we have much less of an excusable example is in Angel S4 with Connor. When the whole team knows that something is wrong with Cordelia and they set out to prove it, Angel excludes Connor rather than keeping him close so he could see for himself that Cordelia is being influenced. Because Connor isn't there in the beginning he believes the team is attacking Cordy for no reason. There was no reason to force this conflict and it made the team look like a team of morons.
Oh I know why it was done. Joss was punishing Charisma for getting pregnant and wrote the world's stupidest story line to make her look bad (she is now freely talking about how much of a piece of shit he was to her) but at the time we didn't know this and it felt like bad writing.
Where this came up in Hazbin was Charlie, the pollyanna of the group, sees her father's big secret exposed to all of hell and rather than comfort him for the torment he just endured she tears him a new one for destroying her dreams on purpose (he didn't know Vox had found his secret out and had gone to stop him for his daughter's sake) and when Vaggi mentions she had asked Lucifer to help, this out of character ire is turned on her for the better part of two episodes. The fans did not react well and as far as I'm concerned, we shouldn't. There was still an opportunity for Charlie to be mad b ut maybe mad for the right reasons. Sigh.
So have you written this? I try hard not to. Have you come across it and been disappointed by that turn of events? Or did you like it?
Open calls
The Faerie Cat Volume 3
Fantasy, speculative fiction, and horror, especially those steeped in Celtic mythology or featuring the Fair Folk
Adventitious Issue 1 Stories that offer a surprise and sense of wonder through their language, characters, plots, or all of the above
The Phantom Pulse 2026 First Window speculative fiction of the grey corners of humanity, dread that permeates the skin, and the bizarre
We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction 2025 Queer short fiction reprints from 2025
Shift: Now Seeking Submissions
30 Magazines Accepting Genre Fiction
From Around the Web
Charting Your Course #2: Self-Publishing in 2025
How to Maximize Book Pre-Orders (Even With a Small Audience)
Creating Low Points for Your Protagonists
these next four are from
ushobwriCharacter backstory tips for better writing
A Writer’s Comprehensive Guide to Backstory.
8 Dos & Don’ts of How to Write Sex Scenes That Work
Five Principles For Writing Kick Ass Action Scenes
From Betty
Mining Off-Stage Movement
Five Popular Tropes Writers Struggle With
Pacing Your Dialogue
Five Problems With Focusing on Internal Conflicts
Six Tricks for Memorable Character Moments
Should Your Romance Be Single or Dual POV?
How to Edit Emotion in Romance & Women’s Fiction
The Plunge
Make the Most of Your Manuscript’s Resting Time
Coping Mechanism Thesaurus: Spending Time in Nature
You're Writing a Book. So Stop Writing a Movie.
How To Be An Author: What's Your Next Book About?
Find and delete these phrases from your novel
Redshirts
Creating Low Points for Your Protagonists
Insights into the Shape of a Scene
Microtension – A MUST in Your Fiction
Charting Your Course #2: Self-Publishing in 2025
The Art of Intimacy in Writing
Living, Breathing Characters
Is Your Writing “Good Enough” to Publish?
8 Qualities that Will Help Your Protagonist on Their Journey
Be careful setting children’s books in the recent past
How to Get Your Blog Posts Found in AI Search (Not Just Google)
Write With Imagination: How to Stay True to Your Voice and Avoid Predictable Stories
no subject
Date: 2025-11-24 10:40 am (UTC)I hate the miscommunication trope!! So much. Because, as you say, it is soooo stupid. And the miscommunication could be so easily resolved if the characters just talked. Or maybe didn't overreact to that extent.
it felt like bad writing
It can be both. He tossed good writing out because he wanted to punish her and didn't care how stupid it looked.
no subject
Date: 2025-11-29 05:48 am (UTC)Yeah Joss has a habit of that
no subject
Date: 2025-11-24 03:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-11-27 05:48 am (UTC)