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Sorry for the slight delay this morning, got caught up in one too many phone calls. Sometimes, conflict can be a burden, or - as Libby Drew helps point out, it can be the key to great writing. We hope you enjoy this latest writing tip - let us know some other ideas for conflict that you think could be effective. As always, if you have a writing or site tip that you'd love to share with the community, let me know. - Trebs

Enjoy!

Creating powerful conflict and weaving it tightly throughout the story is a difficult skill to master. It can take years of practice. But the reward is worth the learning curve, especially if the result is cathartic to the reader.

Conflict is what makes us interested in outcome. A story with a weak conflict that leaves the characters exactly as they were at the start won’t be satisfying; your story won’t make a lasting impression. I’m betting that’s a no-brainer for most people reading this. Unfortunately, knowing isn’t the same as doing, so here are a few generalities to keep in mind while crafting your plot.

Your main character, your hero, should face three different types of conflict.

• Internal
• Relational (with other characters)
• External (against environment or circumstances).

Use all three. It’s not as difficult as it might seem at first glance, and your story will have more depth.

Keep the tension rising. Always. All the time. The pacing of conflict in your story should look like this:
Conflict Simmers --> Conflict Boils --> Conflict Explodes --> Temporary Safety --> Repeat.

Envision your story with peaks and valleys. Your peaks should get progressively higher as the climax nears. At every turn, ask yourself “How can I make this situation worse?”

Conflict is the nervous system of your story. It sets characters in motion, forcing them to do things they would never have imagined doing. They may lash out or jump onto paths they never expected to travel. In reality, most people try to get along with others, to bring peace to potentially explosive situations. Your characters should go out of their way to make those situations worse. This will highlight their imperfections. Make them more richly rounded.

Your characters can’t all love each other. They can’t always agree. If they do, your readers will be asleep by chapter two. Or looking for something else to read. So don’t hold back. Let characters say things they’ll regret. Make then lose their tempers, their possessions, and their hearts. Push them beyond their limits and then show the reader how much that hurts them.

Consider these suggestions:

• Give your characters opposing goals.
• Make them face their fears and rely on their weaknesses instead of their strengths.
• Deny them what they want most of all. Then deny them again.
• Introduce uncertainty at every opportunity—is a friend truly a friend?
• Make them care, then threaten what they care about.
• Leave them isolated and under attack from both friends and enemies. Maybe even from themselves.

It may sound complicated, but chances are you already have a solid grasp of what’s needed. Execution may not be so simple, so stay vigilant. Test yourself by “graphing” your story. Is the tension escalating as it should?

Pushing your characters into conflict will drive your story tension higher, forcibly evict blandness and banality, and leave behind something far more fulfilling for the reader. Conflict is a requirement of satisfying fiction, so make it a strong component of your stories.

~Libby