✍️ A Trick for Adding Conflict to Your Story
...or, Why My Story is No Picnic
Most writers are mild-mannered bookish types who squirrel away in hovels under the stairs and type in the darkness.
Okay. That’s hyperbole. But it’s not far from the truth – and in fact I know of at least one who does this! And, as bookish, squirrelly types, we tend not to like conflict. (Though, as Kenny Rogers taught us, sometimes you have to fight if you’re a man.)
Any-the-who, speaking of squirrel… I’m veering here.
Point is, many writers, and perhaps people in general, don’t like conflict in real life. The unfortunate part is, that spills into our writing world. Many failed stories have characters who ask cordial questions, give honest honey-dripped answers, and go along on their picnics. No deception or subterfuge – and no conflict. A story isn’t a story without conflict.
We’ve heard that before. I’m not giving you anything new here. Except, that sacred knowledge seems to get flushed down the toilet when we sit down to write a story. I’m certainly bad for it. I want only nice things for my characters!
It helps me though to remember that these characters aren’t real. Besides, I have the power to ensure they come out ahead in the end, no matter what I put them through now.
The people who do get hurt though if you have no conflict are your readers. Picnics are nice to experience. They’re boring as shit to read about.
“Nigel, pass the marmalade?”
“Certainly, my dear. And can you pass the butter?”
“Why yes! It would be my absolute pleasure!”
Can you pass me a sharpened spoon to gouge my eyes out? Yikes.
When the Characters Always Win, the Reader Always Loses.
When I say, “Readers get hurt…”, perhaps they don’t get physically injured. But imagine your disappointment if you read the above passage in a book you’ve been looking forward to reading. If it’s an author you admire, you might push through a few more pages. Eventually, they’ll give up and put your book down.
Nobody wins there.
We need to see those characters go through hell. It may sound like a sick human compulsion, watching someone twist in the wind. But it’s actually rooted more in compassion. If we like a character, we hate to see them encounter conflict of any kind. That’s as a reader and as a writer – which is why we write too many picnic scenes and not enough knife-point scenes. When we see a character we like struggling, we worry for the character, want desperately for the character to succeed, wish and pray the character will make it through. So, at the end of the book, when the main character overcomes all challenges, we feel happy and relieved and satisfied. The character was tested, and the character came out on top. Even in “sad” stories, the character should change in some positive way.
When your story gives you lemonade at a picnic, start serving your characters lemons! Here are three things that have help me when I find myself avoiding conflict for my characters:
I remember my characters aren’t real – they don’t actually feel the pain I’m putting them through!
I have the ultimate power to ensure everything works out for them in the end, if I want.
My readers do have feelings. I want to keep them happy, which means putting my unreal characters through hell so that my readers have something and someone to root for.
Over to You
Do you have trouble creating enough conflict for your characters? Any tricks you can share with us? Let us know in the comments below!
Until next time, keep writing with wild abandon!
~Graham
email me if you get lost.
I try to do my best to put conflict in every scene. If nothing else, there is internal conflict, uncertainty about what to do, what to say, etc. Also, I do my best to create potential hazards, some of which the character doesn't know about. Anything that is getting in the way of the character doing whatever he or she is trying to do - or that can potentially get in the way. That can include micro conflicts, like trying to see something that is difficult to see or struggling not to get noticed while eavesdropping. I'm a big believer also in specifying what a character is doing with his or her eyes, breath, and touch - as well as other body parts. Trying to bring the reader not just in the character's mind but into their body as well. Just getting up in the morning or fighting old age is conflict. The body doesn't want to do what it needs to, even if it's just sitting upright.
Great reminder, Graham. Thank you. Generally speaking, we all can agree! And remember there are always exceptions. One example being Jan Karon's series of Mitford Stories. Twelve books, ALL best sellers. A simple chronicle of small town life where most everything is a picnic, the largest conflict being, maybe, the local bakery runs out of snicker-doodles. Sometimes readers need to put aside murder, mayhem, angst, deceit, death, lost love, and just rest among good people. ha ha ha! And, as far as Kenny Rogers goes, I defer to him often when trying to finish a piece of fiction and can't find the end. He advised, "You've got to know when to hold 'em, Know when to fold 'em, Know when to walk away, And know when to run." I usually discover the correct end to my stories when I delete the last two or three paragraphs. Than you, Kenny. I sure enjoy your posts, Graham.