I think one of the best descriptions I ever heard of introducing conflict is this… “You want to fly from New York to Los Angeles. But that’s not a movie. You’d have to have the plane develop problems in Tennessee, so they have to land. Now they have to get another flight, but the planes are all booked up, and the next one won’t leave until its too late. So you rent a car, and you head out… but the highway is closed, and the detour forces you to Chicago. Now you get a flat tire, and you find out you left your cell phone in Tennessee.”
That’s introducing conflict.
Conflict can be people, place, thing, environment, or event.
What it boils down to is – you cannot simply allow someone to just accomplish what they need to accomplish.
[Tweet “you cannot simply allow a character to accomplish what they need to accomplish.”]
Can you just write a book about two people driving from Florida to the Grand Canyon? Sure!
But someone in the back seat had better be causing problems.
There’d better be an issue in the friendship or marriage that is going to boil up into what should be an exciting road trip across the country.
You need to turn this car trip into the boil over of everything wrong with these people’s lives, and keep the windows rolled up so that none of it escapes the car.
Maybe a sickly child. Or a problem child that’s always getting into trouble with the law.
And maybe some critical event that’s been lurking under the surface that hasn’t been resolved yet.
Your setup will determine opportunities to introduce conflict. All you have to do is choose how to use them
