Pour on the Conflict!

As we continue with our series about what I learned while writing my fantasy novel Dreamlander, I’d like to devote today’s post to the all-important subject of conflict. I love action stories, so most of my novels lean in that direction. Dreamlander is no different. It features large-scale Renaissance-esque battles among other things. But the truth is big battles barely scratch the surface of the conflict necessary to make a book work.

Let’s consider the different levels of conflict.

1. First, we have world-ending conflict: e.g., evil aliens are about to bomb the living daylights out of humanity. That kind of thing.

2. Then we have large-scale human conflict, such as war.

And these big conflicts are all fine and good, because they create a framework of high stakes, as well as inherent settings of danger and tension. But these conflicts are never really what a story is about. Books that are about war become more about the event than the characters, which is fine if that’s what you’re wanting to do.

But most stories will find their power in something smaller and more intimate: and that is the conflict between characters. So we have several levels of this as well.

3. To begin with, we have the obvious conflict between the protagonist and the antagonist. But why stop there? Why not pour on the conflict?

4. Between the protagonist and the protagonist’s family.

5.The protagonist and the protagonist’s allies.

6. The antagonist and antagonist’s allies.

Conflict is what makes fiction run. More than that, it’s what makes fiction interesting. Keep the conflict pumping in every scene, and don’t forget to vary its intensity (because obviously you’re not going to want the conflict between the protagonist and her boyfriend to be at the same level as the aliens vs. the humans).

Conflict is what will keep your action popping and your readers hooked!

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! How many levels of conflict are present in your story? Tell me in the comments!

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