Comments on: How To Turn Your Setting Into a Conflict-Rich Obstacle Course

By: Where did the time go? – Heather E. Wright

Where did the time go? – Heather E. Wright — Tue, 28 Sep 2021 20:24:02 +0000

[…] How To Turn Your Setting Into An Obstacle Course How to Use a Plot Planner […]

By: Describing A Setting You've Never Seen! - Romance University

Describing A Setting You've Never Seen! - Romance University — Sun, 12 May 2019 02:28:40 +0000

[…] realism. And, researching the different features and dangers inherent to a landscape will help you turn your setting into an obstacle course, creating conflict and blocking the protagonist from his or her […]

By: How To Vividly Describe a Setting That You've Never Visited by Angela Ackerman | Romance University

Sat, 20 Apr 2019 19:05:52 +0000

By: ANGELA ACKERMAN

ANGELA ACKERMAN — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 22:13:47 +0000

In reply to Veronica. Sounds like you are making good use of the world around the character to provide lots of challenges to overcome. Good stuff! :)

By: Veronica

Veronica — Fri, 29 Jul 2016 12:13:07 +0000

My main character wants to prove herself; not to men or anything like that but to herself. She knows she inexperienced and lacks field experience but she still applies herself, pushes herself and makes herself strive. The odds are is that despite the system she’s bound to, due to her rank and brief resume in the battlefield, the system doesn’t allow her to compete here or go their. What’s worse is she causes the death of a fellow commerade on her final exam. Brutal.
The challenge I’ve given her is trusting the system and learning discernment with those who sincerely support her goals and those who only support them for the sake of their own gain; their pleasure at the expense of her pain.

By: J.L. Callison

J.L. Callison — Fri, 01 Jul 2016 22:55:35 +0000

Great post! In my current WIP, a thirteen-year-old girl drops and breaks her lantern when she finds a skeleton in a cave she is exploring alone, and nobody knows she is there. I had been somewhat stuck at that point, but you have given me some ideas for moving forward in the race to find her. She will not be the only one having troubles.

By: ANGELA ACKERMAN

ANGELA ACKERMAN — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 02:40:47 +0000

In reply to Jean. This is incredibly creepy...I love it!

By: Jean

Jean — Wed, 15 Jun 2016 01:05:32 +0000

I had a setting as an obstacle in an unusual way. Pa wanted to make a surprise for his two daughters when they went to the lake to skate. He cut holes in the ice. Both daughters thought the surprise was to ice fish which both disliked but didn’t want to hurt his feelings so they didn’t mention this. But, the holes were not for ice fishing and Pa used them to really create a great surprise in the end.

By: Sharon M Hart

Sharon M Hart — Wed, 08 Jun 2016 23:59:30 +0000

C. S Lewis described our bodies as “vast and perilous estates.” That is the overall setting I use for my characters. For example, Rhino tells his brothers, “I never make a mistake.” With that going on in his inner world, I can place him just about anywhere with an expectation that something will happen.

I have found everyone’s comments very helpful.

By: Top Picks Thursday! For Readers and Writers 05-26-2016 | The Author Chronicles

Thu, 26 May 2016 17:05:24 +0000

[…] and tension grip the reader. Eileen Cook has tips for increasing conflict, Angela Ackerman shows how to turn your setting into an obstacle course, and Jordan Dane lists 10 ways to infuse emotion into every scene and […]

By: ANGELA ACKERMAN

ANGELA ACKERMAN — Mon, 23 May 2016 14:47:05 +0000

In reply to Bill K. Thanks for the feedback Bill--We didn't know it worked that way. And thanks for your excitement!

By: Bill K

Bill K — Mon, 23 May 2016 04:57:40 +0000

Boo. Hiss. On your week-long Amazon giveaways for the Positive Trait/The Negative Trait Thesaurus! I love these books and your Emotion Thesaurus, and have all three on my Kindle. But when I tried to win copies of the printed version, I was locked out because I already bought them on Kindle. Had I known how often I’d refer to your super-useful reference books, I would have bought them in print to begin with. I hate you both. (And can’t wait for settings.) 🙂