Last night, after a ton of research and a basic idea of how I wanted to begin the story, I began writing the short story involving a succubus. I decided to call it Dodi Li, which means “My Beloved” in Hebrew and tell the story from the perspective of the succubus herself, who I’ve named Umuruk (sounds like a Biblical name, but remember that Japanese comic book I mentioned with the succubus character that started this whole thing? It’s her name backwards).
I managed to get two pages in, but then I realized something: there was a problem with the conflicts of the story. And I intentionally say “conflicts” instead of “conflict”, because I plan to have Umuruk deal with two conflicts instead of just one, an inner conflict and an outer conflict. The inner conflict is Umuruk struggling with herself; she wants to do something, but is conflicted it morally and spiritually. It’s the old “I want to take such-and-such action, but if I do, how will that effect me and my beliefs, or the beliefs of those close to me” problem, and I plan on giving Umuruk a hard time with it.
The outer conflict however, was the one with the problem; I had planned on the outer conflict being human in origin, but now I realize there are several different ways I could take this story. I could have Umuruk struggle with another spirit, with a human foe, with her duties as a succubus. It could go any number of ways and I’m still not sure which one would work best for the sort of story I have in mind. So now I have to focus on that and see which one would make the best story in my opinion.
You ever have problems such as this? If so, let me know.
Rami Ungar The Writer 