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Two people getting along is boring to read (and watch). It's not so much that you have to write scenes in which two or more people are yelling and screaming at each other. That's easy. What's hard is have the subtle kind of conflict that shows how people are headed for trouble.
More writers than you would imagine have trouble in this area.
For a very brief time I went out with a woman who, unbeknownst to me, was, for lack of a better description, a party animal. Her idea of fun was going OUT around 10 or 11:00 p.m., going barhopping, drinking and dancing til 3:00 a.m. I was,well, different. I preferred to get IN by 10 or ll:00 p.m. after a movie or play or dinner. I only drank WITH dinner and dancing was something I only did at weddings or New Year's Eve parties.
One of us had to change if we were going to go anywhere as a couple. She was bored with my idea of fun and I didn't have the constitution to do what she enjoyed. We each tried to adapt, but it didn't work. It couldn't work. There was no screaming arguments. The "conflict" was all subtext. I'd be miserable out with her in a club and she'd be miserable heading back home from a Broadway play at 10:30.
So the relationship (not that it ever got to a series stage) ended and we were both happier, not to mention better off.
But the conflict that transpired between us was monumental. Only it was understated. It made us both uncomfortable. Her friends probably heard her complaining about how dull I was, just as my friends heard me complaining how I couldn't keep up with her.
It would've been very entertaining if it were written in a script.
Bottom line: if you're having trouble putting your characters in situations that make them uncomfortable, put them with someone who loves everything they hate. |
