Every week I get a a set of Writing Prompts from a place called Daily Topic (http://writingfix.com/ ). And this prompt intrigued me enough to want to post it and my little story that I wrote. "What's the most important plot element? Setting? Character? Conflict? Write a defense, or pretend these three things are characters in a scene, and write their argument for 'Which one of us is best?'"
"If only you could understand what it means to be me," Character lamented, reclining in a soft leather chaise, her face forming into a melodramatic pout. "It is so very difficult to go through what I have to. These writers think that they could put me through anything. They need someone to be kidnapped, they need someone to be the villain, they need someone to be ridiculously funny. And who do they choose? Me. Always me."
Conflict raised his dark eyebrows and laughed, "Please Character, you are not that important. Without me you would sit idly in a room and do absolutely nothing. You couldn't even think coherent thoughts. I'm the one who dictates where the story goes and what you do and what goes through your head. Without me you would be nothing."
Character shook her head fervently, "But without me you would have no one to do those awful things to."
Both of them turned to a light airy chuckle coming from the other side of the room. "You see," the speaker said, "that is where you are both wrong. Neither of you could exist without the other. You build off of one another to create stories, and, granted, get the most attention for it. But I can stand on my own. I don't need Character or Conflict. I can simply exist."
"Oh, Setting, I didn't think you would join us," Conflict drawled.
Now it was Setting's turn to raise his eyebrows, "I've been with you the entire time Conflict. But that is what you've failed to notice. I am the room you stand in, the chair that Character is sitting in, the world outside these walls. Just face it. I can exist without you, but you can't exist without me."
"That's true Setting," Character said sitting up. "But writers normally write Settings for Characters and for Conflicts, not just for some pleasant scenery. If they do, then it's for exercise only. You could never be published just as you are."
"What Character is trying to say," Conflict said condescendingly, "is that you can exist but you would be incredibly boring without us."
"I think," Setting said, his tone matching Conflicts, "that we would all fail miserably without the other. Conflict needs Character, Character needs Setting, Setting needs Conflict, etc. A story wouldn't be very good without any of us. We are all needed to suceed."
The story is sort of lame, but that's all right I guess. I think that all are needed to create a decent story, but do you guys think that one is more important than the other?
