HOW STORIES REALLY FAIL: THE WITHHOLD-AS-CONFLICT FALLACY
In the Withhold-as-Conflict Fallacy there is no real journey – everything is aimed at the destination. The reveal becomes the excuse not to build, not to structure.
This is one of those discussions that would work better if we had an example of what we’re talking about — a sample story suffering from the Withhold-as-Conflict Fallacy. So much easier to understand a problem (and its possible solution) when it’s expressed in the fiction itself. But as that’s not possible, we’re going to have to make do. Like teaching a dance without dancing, only through words — a challenge, yes, but if that’s all you got, that’s all you got.
Enough with the preliminaries, let’s begin:
Nothing thwarts Story quite like the Withhold-as-Conflict Fallacy.
If you’re an editor-type or workshop regular you will have run into this one often enough. This is when a writer convinces themselves that revealing needle-drop information at the end of the story can replace all the structural hard work required for a good Conflict.