Creating Conflict

      If you've ever looked slightly under the obvious layer of writing, you know that all writing is driven by conflict. Conflict is what keeps readers reading instead of skipping to a different book. Conflict is the friction between two best friends that has suddenly arisen--the fact that there is an apocalypse on the edge of happening. At the heart of all plots is some sort of conflict. 

     Sometimes when you're writing a book, you get to a point where you are bored with it--or maybe whoever is reading your book tells you that it has gotten boring. Though there are a thousand different problems that could be at the heart of this, a lot of the time it is because there isn't, or isn't enough conflict. So you're sitting at your laptop, or with a notebook in your hands, and you think: alright, you say that I need more conflict...but how? Think of conflict as a problem. There are four main kinds of conflict:

1. Man against Man

2. Man against society

3. Man against nature

4. Man against self

     You can clearly see that there is one main theme in these four things: against. That is conflict. It is a problem...something against something else. When you're looking at your novel and trying to add more conflict, this is what I want you to do: Create a problem! If something good happens to your character, immediately turn that around into something bad. When you have solved a problem, un-solve it! I can guarantee you that this will add more drama, and more intensity to your novel. Give a little bit of resolution, and then smack your character in the face with a bomb--make them wish that you had never solved it! 

     Keep digging deeper to get to your main conflict. If at first you think that the conflict is the fact that your main girl can't decide between her best friend and the new guy she just met, dig deeper until you find that the real conflict is that she's dealing with herself--she doesn't believe herself worthy of either, and is trying to get out of choosing. Find your main conflict by digging deeper into new conflicts. Then resolve the big conflict. This will not only give your story more layers, but will add a great amount of depth to it. Most likely, if you can find that central conflict, your book will begin to seem real rather than just fictional. And that's the goal of writing anyway, isn't it? You want your characters not just to be on a page, but to jump to life and feel real to your readers. Give them life by giving them problems! 

      -Elysia Regina