“Obstacles (Watch this as a reminder)”

These two pages of notes list possible challenges or conflicts for Roark to encounter throughout the story. As Rand later stated in The Art of Fiction, “The more struggle a story involves, the better the plot.” In the context of writing fiction, Rand understood that “to illustrate the achievement of a purpose, you have to show men overcoming obstacles.” Hence, her emphasis in these notes on the challenges that Roark would have to face in order to achieve his purpose, “the career of a creative, independent architect.”

It is worth noting that not all of the obstacles listed here made it into the final story. In this as in other aspects of the novel, Rand kept the plot at the forefront of her mind. As she later explained it, she had to “devise the hardest obstacles possible, and those of greatest significance to the hero.”