Controversy, and purposely stirring the pot. Bring emotion into it.

Stories are about emotion. One way to get those emotions flowing is to create controversy. It doesn't have to be political, or spiritual, or anything especially egregious. Controversy can simply be putting in a situation that we would all agree is brutally unfair--being accused of theft when the accuser is the one actually thieving. What happens with the audience is an emotional response, it heats them up, enrages, and hopefully creates a deep connection with the story.

I've listened to master oral storytellers work their craft. It's incredible. If you ever get the opportunity, take it. It's a dying art form, but well worth the effort. What really amazes me is how they take the words and create such emotional depth. Especially, they turn the central conflict into a controversy that brings the audience and the story together. It's incredible. In their spellbinding oration, the unfairness becomes even more dynamic and palpable. As they speak, they watch their audience and respond accordingly, pushing harder at whatever resonates the most.

It comes down to conflict, but controversy isn't necessarily a fight and can be a setting itself. The environment may simply be against the characters in a way that puts them at odds with everyone else. Ray Bradbury's fantastic classic, Fahrenheit 451, is just that--the main characters thinks differently than those around him and thus the conflict centered at the book is born. The controversy actually drives the story.

Perhaps it's a careful slicing of the idea of controversy and conflict, but I think it's an important distinction. Controversy is the basis for so much more, and isn't just a fight. That breeds powerful emotions, which is what makes stories so powerful.

- M