How I Create Conflict

There must be conflict in a story. Without it, you can go an entire novel without anything happening besides scence description. And that's boring as hell.

People talking to each other about nothing sleep-walking through the fictional lives. But characters are not real people and not real life.

Characters want something and they can't get it. Their needs are often contradictory. Either that or a protaginist's need is threatened by something like a character: the environment, themseleves or some other inhuman, malevolent force.

Disclaimer: my 'process' is rapidly evolving and what I describe here may be wrong in a year.

When I start a novel I outline. Not everyone likes a good outline, but I figure I have to develop a plot eventually, I may as well do it now. Some people develop the plot while writing the prose and that's fine too. But because I outline first I have a first-cut understanding of my character's motivation and flaws.

I often select a character's flaw before I select anything else about them. That way the flaw is synchronised with the plot I'm trying to write. The result is a story. It's just that my story outlines almost never survive contact with the enemy.

For me there are two aspects to conflict. First is the overt, plot-based conflict. A detective wants to solve the murder. Somewhere out there is a murderer that doesn't want her to. That kind of conflict often works for me in the crime/suspense/thrillers that I like to write. Those kinds of conflicts are often explored in plot. I think I"m okay at writing that kind of thing.

The second aspect is conflict based on character flaws and motivation. A detective bases her world view on trust and struggles when that trust is broken. Her motivation in any scene needs nuance and supersedes plot. That kind of conflict takes me many drafts to understand and realise for my audience. But it's the difference between Raymond Chandler and Cormac McCarthy.

That difference is the land in which I live.

My fear is that I build in too much conflict, especially of the second kind, making my stories feel less ham-fisted but more bleak. I don't want to write like Palahniuk. But a writer has to execute too. If you throw that many problems at a character, you have to resolve them by Act Three or you'll end up with a pale, inadequate version of Hemingway's A Farewell To Arms.

Intention and obstacle. Keep it simple. Every scence, every act, every story must have clear characters with intentions and each intention must have an obstacle.

Once I'm clear on my character's needs and flaws - usually by the sixth draft! - I often change the ending. Those needs and flaws must drive the conclusion, denouement and catharsis. I'm still learning this trade, but that's the part of the process that I love.

Constructing a story in a way where the ending writes itself. That's a satisfying feeling.