On the Road With a Double Shot of Conflict

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Because you can never have enough conflict, I'm stopping by both Ava Jae's blog, and Writers in the Storm today, asking the question, "What's Driving Your Plot?" and sharing "6 Ways Setting Can Create Conflict."

Here are some sneak peeks:

From "What's Driving Your Plot?"

Conflict encompasses a wide scope of problems and situations, and can be as varied and interesting as you want to make it. But no matter what type of conflict a character faces, it presents a challenge in how to resolve the conflict. That challenge leads to a choice on the best course of action, and that choice forces the character to act. And that’s good, since those challenges, choices, and actions create and drive the plot (the combination of internal and external conflicts). Without conflicts, the protagonist would have no problems at all, and there'd be no story.

On one side, we have the external conflicts. These are challenges the protagonist has to physically overcome to resolve the core conflict problem (and all the smaller problems along the way). They’re the actions she takes to fix the problems preventing her from getting her goal. They’re what make up most of the action in the plot, since this is what the protagonist does from scene to scene. (read the rest here)

From 6 Ways Setting Can Create Conflict

No matter what form it takes, conflict is at the core of every story. It’s part of what drives the plot, and it’s what makes readers eager to read on to see if the protagonist succeeds. Characters face problem after problem, and with each trouble found, they’re forced to make tough decisions about what to do next. It’s this constant flow of dealing with problems that keeps the story moving.

But conflict also exists in the world around the characters which has nothing to do with them personally—it’s just the inherent conflict of the world. The setting can be rife with problems that prevent your protagonist from solving her problems and even add to her internal conflicts. (read the rest here)