Fiction Plots Require Conflict
Characters Need Deep Desires and Increasing Problems
A story isn’t a story without conflict. Without a problem to solve, there is no plot. It doesn’t matter whether the conflict is major, such as Odysseus’ arduous journey to get home, or seemingly minor, such as a teen wanting to be accepted within a peer group.
Ask Questions to Determine Major Conflict
The conflict must be deeply important. If the character isn’t truly driven, then it will be too easy for him to quit when things get tough. This is true for both the protagonist and antagonist, as well as secondary characters.
To determine the conflict, ask what the character desires – what is he or she desperate for? To succeed in business? To have a date for the prom? To win a championship? To reconnect with an estranged parent? Also consider what unrecognized needs are driving that desire.
Good Conflict has Dire Consequences
Determine what makes that desire so vital to that character. What will happen if he or she fails? Perhaps the businessperson will be bankrupt and lose the house if he or she doesn’t get a particular contract. Or perhaps custody of the children depends on a stable financial situation.
Even something that seems minor to an adult, such as a date or winning a game, can seem like life or death to a teen. Scoring the championship point or having a prom date can mean anything from pride and accomplishment to self-worth, peer acceptance or fulfillment. A contest could also mean a scholarship or winning a prize that provides needed money.
Obstacles Equal Rising Tension
To keep the tension rising, add additional obstacles. At a BYU-Hawaii writer's conference, YA suspense writer Lael Littke said that conflict means putting your heroine in the middle of a raging river without a paddle, and then throwing stones at her.
When things are getting bad for your protagonist, add another obstacle. When she solves one dilemma, put a different obstacle in front of her. And if the pace slows down and the story is becoming boring, throw yet another obstacle at her!
Even internal conflict can have rising tension. A woman who does something dishonest can struggle with herself to rectify the situation. Obstacles thrown in her path can make it more and more difficult to redeem herself.
Characters Must Solve Problems Themselves
An authority figure cannot step in and solve the problem – the protagonist must do it himself. A cop can’t solve the mystery for the detective, a parent can’t fight a child’s fights, and the government can’t suddenly step in with a program that will provided needed cash for a business.
If the conflict is solved for the protagonist, then the protagonist really doesn’t have a problem, and therefore the writer is left with no story. And if somehow the story is written with great conflict along the way, carrying the reader suspensefully along, but the problem magically disappears at the end, then the character doesn’t grow and the reader is left unfulfilled.
A character with a dilemma, with increasing problems along the way, will always result in an interesting story.
Plot Problems are Vital!
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