For Thursday, April 7th

500 words min.

The essence of drama is conflict—forces of one sort or another at odds in one way or another. In this exercise I want you to focus on the notion that the essence of conflict is power. Power as in….

Someone has authority over someone else
Someone challenges the authority of someone else
An institution or a group of people control an individual’s behavior
An individual controls the behavior of a group of people or an institution
Someone wants something from someone else
Someone uses the threat of physical force to manipulate someone else
Someone uses information or money to try to control someone else

Using one of the above—or something similar—explore the notion of power as leading to conflict. Perhaps put the characters from your short story into a situation where there is a power differential. See what comes up.