Fiction Writing
Stories Are Conflict — Give Readers What They Want
How to harness conflict layers for best results
Readers pick up a story not to read but to engage, to feel, and to live vicariously through someone else’s experiences. Ever wonder how to make a reader feel an emotion? It’s all about embracing levels of conflict.
Before we dive into how to write conflict, though, we must understand why readers need it so we can understand how to unleash it.
Readers Crave Conflict
Have you ever started reading a book and given up, bored or annoyed?
We all have a To-Be-Read pile waiting on the side, so if a story doesn’t grip us from start to finish, what’s to stop us from tossing that book aside and grabbing the next one?
I mean, would you invest 250+ pages of your time reading about a character who has a great life, wants for nothing, and seems to get things out of pure luck?
If you’re anything like me, you want The Struggle.
I will read thousands of pages from a single author if I can follow characters as they learn and grow. I want to see fictional people fight their way through the story, earning my respect and adoration as they overcome everything thrown in their way. I want simmering things left unsaid between characters, difficult interpersonal dynamics standing in the way of the character’s goals, and major obstacles I wouldn’t begin know how to solve if I encountered them.
The reader needs to feel invested in a character to read their story. At every point in the story the reader needs to know:
- What is at stake?
- What are the consequences?
- What is the character risking?
And the reader needs this info on many levels, from the very first page.
Here’s how to put conflict and tension throughout the story, in every scene and on every page.
Levels of Conflict
Conflict is so much more than an argument. It’s the mechanism driving the story forward. What the character wants and why they can’t seem to ever have it.
A strong story has conflict in the overall plot, within each scene, and in and among the characters themselves.
Here’s how you ensure that your story has the conflict and tension to not only keep a reader reading but also make your story one they remember well after the end.
Plot Conflict
Plot conflict is basic, but crucial. No matter what structure or method you choose for writing your story, every plot must include the main character wanting something and how they attempt to find it.
To resolve the central conflict, what must the character achieve or learn:
- Every time a major plot point occurs?
- Whenever the character must make a decision?
- Whenever is most inconvenient for the character?
And each time the character must make a decision, bring it back to the central conflict: Each obstacle should add a different dimension to the larger issue.
Scene conflict
Every scene must include a want or need that the character needs to pursue. This conflict is not necessarilty the overall plot conflict, but instead a challenge contributing to whether the character moves toward or away from that central plot goal.
Scene conflict is the smaller task the character must resolve before they can move to the next, in a series of minor conflicts that lead them to and through the central conflict.
What does this mean?
Each scene must begin with the character wanting or needing something. The rest of the scene is how they work to get that something, against all obstacles in their way (i.e., conflict). The scene ends when the character either doesn’t get what they wanted and they must regroup and decide to try something different, or they do achieve what they set out to do.
If they do achieve it, what is next? Was goal really what they wanted or did they discover they actually need something else?
This is how a character feels realistic: their actions have consequences.
Readers want to see a character go to the ends of the earth, fight bad guys, and overcome all obstacles to really earn that reward in the end.
Character conflict
Within the character, readers need internal conflict.
Think about it: making decisions is hard for all of us. Every choice has a consequence, and often we are clouded by our current situation and unable to clearly see what the “right” decision would be.
Even the most confident and capable characters need to wrestle with making decisions. Let the reader see them weigh their options. And when things don’t go as planned, let the reader see on the page exactly how that character deals with regret.
Conflicts within the character can come from the following:
- Decisions to be made
- Resistance to what needs to be done (as part of their character trait)
- Verbal conflict with other characters (actual arguments, simple disagreements, or misunderstandings)
- Nonverbal conflict (what body language tells us how they feel about something)
The Takeaway
A single, central plot line is not enough conflict to support an entire story. For best reader engagement, ensure your story includes all the levels of conflict, from big picture plot conflict to a simple mismatch of character intentions within a single moment.
Conflict in real life may not be desirable, but in fiction, conflict is the hearbeat of story.
Within each scene and in each interaction, think about what can go wrong for the protagonist. What antagonistic forces from the environment or other characters could stand in their way, and how does the character navigate this? The more you can throw in the way of your main character, the more readers will root for them and turn the page to find out how they overcome all the obstacles stacking up against them.
Happy writing!
If you found this information helpful or have a topic you’d like to hear more about, let me know in the comments.
For a full archive of articles related to writing and other writing-related resources, check out my Resources tab at www.editsunderway.com.
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Elizabeth Russo is an editor and author with a passion for helping new writers navigate their way through the process of taking a good story and turning it into a publishable manuscript. Elizabeth is a 2023 and 2019 Florida Writers Association Top Ten Short Story winner, a 2021 Royal Palm Literary Award Finalist, and a returning Royal Palm Literary Award judge. She’s an active member of the Florida Writers Association, the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, ACES: The Society for Editing, and the Editorial Freelancers Association.
