It's Time To Talk Conflict Again

Yes, yes, yes... I know I have AOL for a while. Been dealing with a lot of home repairs lately... I know, a lot of excuses and you want some information.

So, here you go.

I am once again seeing a ton of submissions where there is absolutely no conflict between the two characters. Now, don't get me wrong. The characters have some serious conflicts going on in their own heads and their own life, but there is nothing that is stopping their relationships from moving forward.

Let's start from the beginning here.

First of all, a romance is about the relationship. That, my friends, is the story arc. Your goal as an author is to guide the reader from page one to the end and navigate us over all of those hurdles, but more importantly, to get us over that one big obstacle that is PREVENTING that relationship from happening. Notice the bold print here. A conflict is not a head game. We are not talking about the characters just having to decide that it is ok to move on. A conflict needs to be a big time deal.

Let me give you an example. Let's say the hero and heroine are in a company and have now found themselves romantically attracted to each other. The problem is this. If they are together, someone is required to lose their job due to a company policy. They have both fought for this career choice. If they choose the career, now they are forced to have to be together knowing they can never have a relationship.

This is a conflict and it totally sucks.

What if we have a long distance relationship and neither person wants to move because they have a career that is worth fighting for? Someone has to break. Relationship or career?

The deal is, they have to make a decision to give something up, or figure out a solution on their own. Now, let me stress here, readers DO NOT WANT you to throw in a gift from the heavens where suddenly an uncle who we have never heard from dies and leaves someone a butt-load of money and he or she can quit their job and problem is solved. We want the characters to fix the problem.

When all you have is someone just having to say, "You know, it is ok to move on from my past relationship and date this person" that is nothing more than a complication.