How to Write Conflict that Keeps Readers Turning the Pages
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- Опубліковано 2 лип 2024
- Writing effective conflict is critical to crafting a dynamic story that keeps readers engaged from beginning to end. Your protagonist needs to face obstacles along their journey to create tension in the narrative and make your reader eager to continue reading; after all, if there is no conflict in the story, it'll end up feeling boring and lackluster. Here are my top tips for writing conflict that'll give your plot the energy it needs.
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MORE WRITING AND PUBLISHING ADVICE:
The ONLY Way to Plot a Novel (It's Easier Than You Think!): • The ONLY Way to Plot a...
Does Your Plot Suck? • Does Your Plot Suck?
5 TIPS FOR WRITING BETTER CONFLICT:
01:27 - Know the difference between external and internal conflict
03:23 - Make sure your protagonist’s objective is clear
05:20 - Maintain conflict throughout the story
06:43 - Make the sources of conflict believable
08:02 - Resolve the conflict effectively
ABOUT ME:
My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a professional book editor with nearly a decade of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey-whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.
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The most interesting fiction writing advice I ever read was lhis sentence:
From voice comes character; from character comes conflict; from conflict comes story.
The protagonist in my novel wants to have a closer relationship with her father who is an FBI agent. Throughout the narrative, she thinks of all the times he hasn't been there for her. However, things take a drastic turn when he is accused of being a serial killer and she has to prove his innocence before she becomes a victim herself.
I would definitely read that book, great idea 👍🏼
@@kathrynp7595 Appreciate it!!
71,482 words. I just finished the manuscript of my wild memoir and sent it to my editor. Just wanted to say thanks for your videos, they’ve been so helpful 😊
Thank you for this video, Alyssa!
The main conflict of my novel is that the protagonist wants to be loved, but she is an actress, and in Hollywood, it's difficult to distinguish between true and false love, so, in her search for it, she ends up involved in the murder of a famous film director. It's inspired by film noir movies and told from the POV of a 21st-century "femme fatale."
I'm in the query trenches right now and it's going well! I'm excited about this book.
In the novel I'm currently working on, the external conflict stems from the MC's past as a "security consultant" for the US government, mentioned in the last book (I just couldn't leave these characters alone, so I started on the sequel right away after finishing the first book, before getting any representation for that first book). The incident that resulted in the deaths of members of the MC's old team comes back to haunt the survivors, as well as the new friend and love in his life.
The internal conflict comes from worry about the love of his life being placed in danger because of his past actions, his insecurities stemming from being drawn back into international intrigue when he thought he'd left it all behind him, dealing with the changes he sees in his old friends that don't jibe with his memories, having to step up to take on a leadership role he's not sure he's up to and hadn't sought before, etc.
Thanks for another great video.
My favorite stories are those with the heaviest external conflicts, were the protagonists are surrounded by enemies and no way out, the only thing that they can do is fight.
Have you read the cradle series? It's basically that for 12 books. Heavy external threats with a looming deadline. Constantly fighting against enemies that are more powerful than the protagonists.
@@thepocketboy Haven't heard about it. Thanks for the tip.
@@larssjostrom6565 I really liked them. It's considered progressive fantasy... Where the focus is similar to playing jrpgs.... Improve thyself is the mantra. I came away from the reading feeling motivated to push through hard tasks and goals. Book 1 is titled "unsouled".
The books read almost like all 12 books were outlined first. Lots of playoffs in late books that were set up early.
I'm definitely a fan. It's inspired me to try and write something similar on a smaller scale.
@@thepocketboy That sounds fun. I can get frustrated with unmotivated protagonists that doesn't seem to even want to be in the story and then ripe all the rewards anyway.
@@larssjostrom6565 well I can happily say this is the opposite. He works his a** off for every step.
If you don't mind fantasy genre. It's rather well written.
For my novel, my conflicts shift in responses to changes in the characters and their world, though there are some that are there throughout. My MC's internal conflict revolves around her frankly being a bit of a narcissist - conning and stealing from others, and her realizing this isn't a good life for her. Externally, she's travelling through a war zone in the company of a pacifist missionary, and she's routinely under threat, as is he. The combination of her outlaw tendencies, her eventual desire to protect new found friends and a world that's pretty broken (this is 2nd world fantasy) presents lots of different conflicts. There are no scenes without conflict, except possibly the resolution, though even that hints at lots of problems to come.
There are lots of facets to writing. I find myself most interested in characterization and conflict, which are is intertwined as amorous jellyfish.
Nice article - happy holidays!
Thank you so much for all your videos! I first watched you when I set out to plot my book, have followed you through all my drafts and edits, and now this week have sent out my first batch of queries!
I finished a first draft of a novel but though it had scenes that I thought were good the book as a whole did not make the reader rush to run each following chapter. I am rewriting it to have each chapter logically build to the ending and keep that conflict foremost.
I look at internal and external conflicts to a story like comparing persistence and resistance when it comes to struggles and overcoming them if possible.
I understand within stories that there has to be something that engages your characters to either persist and overcome an objective; or either resist the primal objective to either what is morally right and wrong. There lies your conflict of interest which can be internal or external conflicts with a person.
My protagonist wants to live a normal life, and find meaning in it, but his severe schizophrenia gets in the way of that. The novel tells the story through multiple perspectives of his family, including his parents, as well as through stories that represent the struggles in his id, ego and superego (loosely speaking). It culminates in him deciding to tackle the problem in a fresh but challenging way that forces him to confront the illness head-on.
Your videos are really helping me write my fantasy book :)
Terrific video, Alyssa. You're cranking these out like donuts these days, but your videos are far healthier. I don't focus on "conflict" nearly as much as I should. I focus on what would be more interesting, especially in the first 20 pages. "More interesting" tends to be my protagonist encountering something or someone that challenges them. The worse day they're having, the more the reader is going to be hooked.
😂 LoL! Challenging your protagonist is the heart of conflict! You're doing the thing, just calling it something else.
My manuscript conflict; race against an unknown time. I’m having fun with it !
Excellent tips! Thank you.
Thanks
Oh my god you don't know how much I needed this video. I just wanna ask, that in my story, the protagonist has both external and internal conflict, and the external conflicts don't really begin up until the end of the first act of the story. Would I still be able to make my story interesting?
I'm not the best person to answer this, but I am in a similar case. A conflict is introduced literally in the first 3 chapters of my story, however that's (relatively) quickly resolved. The way I'm handling it is having my inciting incident and thus the true conflict, be what ends act 1.
I saw Enders Game, the movie. Spoiler alert. I know there's a big twist where the kids learn the simulation is actually real. The story is a great example of the author raising the stakes and taking the conflict to another level.
Hi Alyssa - is it normal/appropriate to have the REVERSE of a "sagging middle"? I.e. your character's conflict gets resolved in the first half, but then a new one is quickly introduced halfway through?
Should I get an agent or submit to a publisher who accepts submissions directly?
Why would you not try to get an agent? They're going to improve your book before they try flogging it to a publisher. Plus, publishers trust agents coming to them with manuscripts much more than they do some completely unknown author who is trying to get them to read a manuscript. They're inundated with such. An agent is an industry professional, but also a gatekeeper. If an agent approaches a publisher, a publisher knows the book has already been scrutinized and probably gone through a round of editing that is beyond the author's remit. An agent doesn't get paid until they sell your book. So, it's advantageous to try to get one.
I wanted to start my story in the present day so the conflict internal and external are solved, then have chapter 1 start at the beginning of her childhood to see why she became a psychopath. I’m torn whether to start at her childhood then end the book with solving the conflict ( which would have been the present day chapter) I really don’t know what to do? Can you offer some guidance? Thanks 🤔 Also could people in the comments offer suggestions ? Much appreciated.
I think you could pull off the chapter one spoiler with the rest of the book as a flashback if you don't fully reveal the internal conflict resolution (aka lesson learned) right away.
Character arcs aren't always positive change, but they are change. You could grip readers with various conflicts as steps toward their psychosis and how the resolutions or conclusions to those conflicts lead them to be a psychopath.
Readers will want to puzzle together those moments and make sense of it since you've revealed the end already.
Thank you so much, very helpful 👍🏼
My character has inner conflict with his love for a prostitute and outer conflict as cat and mouse watch with the police and local council and rival gang.but bravely taking all situations on
First!
I congratulate you! You make a good role model for the youth of today.