I'm glad I did! While I am quite proud of my characters, and I love where the story is heading, I realized yesterday that it's missing something vital: conflict.
Conflict, conflict, conflict. That's the crux of any story, regardless if it's 5,000 words, 50,000 words, or yes, even 5. (Hey, don't laugh, a very famous story by Ernest Hemingway was written using just 6 words!)
Conflict is the story's problem. It's what prevents—or delays—the character from reaching his or her goal. And the more conflict in the story, the more exciting it is for the reader. (And, if I'm being honest, the more exciting it is for the writer, too.)
So, what constitutes conflict?
Person-versus-person: This is the most popular, because conflicts between people are most fascinating to readers. For example, Superman versus Lex Luther. Or, in the case of my story, my protagonist versus the friendly-but-mischevious ghost.
Person-versus-himself: This is when a character has internal strengths and weaknesses, or a fight within themselves over good and bad. The Grinch from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas is a good example of this—he hates Christmas, but he's not evil at heart. He's like that because someone hurt him.
Person-versus-nature: This usually involves natural disasters or survival skills, like in Lord of The Flies or Jurassic Park. In my story, I'm thinking about introducing a haunted house, which would put some obstacles in the way of my character's survival (not for real, of course, but it will seem that way at first.)
You can absolutely combine conflict types—such as I'm doing in my story now. But just remember, you want to include obstacles, but you should also understand how the conflict will be resolved. That's my next brainstorming—conflict resolution.
Do you have enough conflict in your story? Gotta jet—but keep writing. See you tomorrow!
~ Chase Superman Duffy
Word Count: 2,525
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