Misunderstanding Conflict In Romance

Conflict seems to be a tough one for a lot of authors to handle when it comes to their stories. They hear about it all of the time when they go to workshops and they learn about the character's GMC (Goals, Motivations and Conflicts). And yes, these are indeed conflicts at one level. These are individual character's issues. In other words, a single character has a goal to achieve, has a motive to achieve it, and a conflict standing in the way. 

No problem there.

But when it comes to romance, we have to deal with another level of conflict, and that has to be the conflict standing in the way of the two characters actually getting together. Often you will hear editors and agents talking about "raising the stakes" for the characters. We want the readers to know that, yes, they will make it to the happily every after (it is a romance after all), but we need to know that they will have to work for it.

Think of it this way. If all the characters have to do is say the "L" word, then this is not a conflict. While for most of us, getting that word out the first time is tough because we really don't know the reaction of the other person, there really isn't much to lose other than maybe a little awkwardness. A real conflict however is the characters have to decide between a relationship and something else. Let's say take the classic trope of a corporate romance. The company has a policy of no in company romances. So, do they have a romance or does someone find a new job? Does someone choose to relocate to make a romance work or not? 

Yes, a lot of these conflicts can start externally, but the conflicts WILL interact with the character's personal GMC. So that character in the corporate romance has a goal of upward mobility in the company, their motivation is to prove to their family they can do it because the entire family has always been successful, and their conflict is their internal belief that they have been told by professors in college they would never do it and they should just get married. Now add in the romance. 

See what I mean?

Hopefully that clears things up!

When I'm Sorry Was Enough

We have all heard or used the phrase, "Get over yourself." We know what that means. This is simply a you problem and once you deal with it, the issue is over. And this, my friends, is what I see too often in romance submissions lately. The characters simply have to get over themselves and just move on. 

What we are dealing with here are stories that are simply lacking conflict. When the characters are in situations like this, we would simply call this a complication. In other words, once they come to grips of simply saying, "OK, I can have this relationship" then the story is over. Bada Bing, Bada Boom.

They kiss and make up and we are at that happily ever after. What is unfortunate is that more often than not, authors have created scenarios where this can happen before the half-way mark in the book. And then, they spend the rest of the book filling it with mindless drivel and pointless scenes just to drag it out and make the story longer. That just makes the story repetitious and boring.

What we really want to see is a conflict. This is something that is truly standing in the way of the characters achieving their goal. It is problem they will have to solve, and in the case of a romance, they will likely have to figure out how to do this together. The conflict cannot be an easy solution either. For example. The hero and heroine are trying to build a relationship, while at the same time trying to build a career. Now they find themselves competing for a job, or the jobs might take them to different parts of the world. At some point, something is going to have to give. Is it the relationship, or will someone have to give up all or a part of their dream career to make the relationship work. 

You see, this is not a simple as saying, "I'm sorry."

Now, let me add here, that readers DO NOT want the author to jump in at the last minute and save the day for the characters by throwing the Fairy Godmother at them and saving the day for them. For example, the owner of the company suddenly pulling money out of his "you know what" and now deciding he had money in the budget to hire two people instead of one. This is like the stories where we find out in the last 5 minutes of the movie that there was a dead uncle that left the family $10 million dollars after we spent the entire movie getting the couple to solve their own problem. This means all of that hard work early on was pointless. 

So, if you want to submit to me, make sure you have a REAL conflict and not a complication. 

Conflict vs. Complication

This is a repost from earlier, but after the round of submissions I have been reading this morning, I felt it was a good reminder.


I have been seeing a lot of this lately in submissions. Authors are confusing the idea of conflict vs.
complication. I am constantly asking myself, "so why don't they fix it?' or "so why aren't they together?" Instead, the author goes on and on, making up excuse after excuse to keep the story going but there still is no real conflict.

Let's start with the basics. A complication, which is the one we see the most of in stories, is simply a bump in the road. It's easy to see a complication with real life issues. 

• You are driving down the road and a road crew has a flagger stopping traffic to allow that digger to move dirt.
• You need to bake cookies and realize you need an egg or two.
• You are getting ready to set the table for Thanksgiving dinner and realize you forgot to turn on the dishwasher so you have no clean dishes.

These are complications. These are issues that have an easy solution. Each one simply requires you to do something different, or to take one additional step to fix the problem. With the flagger, you wait an additional 1-2 minutes; with the cookies, you run to the store, or even easier, run next door; with the dishwasher, you go "old school" and wash what you need. See? Easy fixes.

When it comes to stories, I am seeing the exact same thing. Authors are going on for pages and pages making a big deal out of something that could have been easily fixed. When you have the heroine worrying about getting the paperwork filed to open up her cupcake store - solution, fill the stupid stuff out and turn it in; when the hero and heroine want to get together but are worried what the other person might think - solution, they talk. Again, these are all easy complications.

I recently read a story where I spent the first part of the book wondering just why this relationship didn't happen. The heroine had been engaged to one guy for several years (they planned on it in their early days of college), but now that guy is away on business, and keeps saying, we will get together eventually after, after, after.... She really has fallen out of love with him a while ago and doesn't really ever think they will get married. She wants out. The hero, who happens to be the best friend of the jerk fiance has always liked and probably loved the heroine but never did anything about it. When the heroine wants to break up with the fiance, the hero spends the time trying to convince her not to. Of course she realizes that she has always liked him. Solution is easy, but nooooo, the author tries for 2/3 of a 100,000 word book to make this a conflict.

This book simply drags because there is no conflict. Everyone wants the same thing but the author doesn't want them to have their solution because she has a 100,000 word count to make for her editor and the book could have been finished in easily 50,000-60,000 words:

• Heroine says she wants out of engagement.
• Jerk hero is fine with it since he has been fine with it for some time.
• Hero uses this as an "in" to the girl he likes.
• Heroine already liked the hero.
• And they lived happily ever after.

A conflict, however has a lot more at stake. The characters will be faced with a solution that is not that easy to make. The stakes are so high that there is a chance someone will have to lose out on something, and that something will be much more than a sense of pride. 

Let's say that we have a hero and heroine who are both in the corporate world. Their jobs might be in the same general profession but nothing has really stood in the way of each getting what they want as well as having a relationship. But now one of the two has a chance for a job that is what he or she had always been dreaming of. This is money, prestige, advancement and everything. The issue is that it will be with a rival company with a no fraternization policy.

• Take the job and the relationship has to end.
• Take the job and the other person has to quit his or her job.
• Keep the relationship and turn down the work 

This is not something that can easily be fixed. This is a conflict. In this case, it is an external conflict but it does stand in the way of the characters moving ahead with what they want to achieve - their GOALS. 

When an author works with a real conflict in the story, the readers now have an invested interest in the characters and the plot. They want the two of them together and are now working hard to find the solution to the problem WITH the characters. The readers keep turning the pages wanting to know how the character will really get out of this mess.

There is one word of warning here. If you make the conflict so hard to overcome, and your only solution is to bring in an "act of God" to fix the problem, your readers will be very disappointed in you. They want the characters to figure their way out of the mess, and they don't want that "surprise" solution to just pop out of thin air. An example of this would be a family who is about to lose their home due to finances but mysteriously, a distant relative in another country, who they didn't know about, dies and the one of the characters is the only relative left so the 5.5 billion dollars is now their money. Um, yeah, right! That's believable.  Keep your solutions on planet Earth. Make the conflicts tough and make the characters fight for it, but make the conflicts real. 

Insurmountable Conflicts Will Hurt Your Story

A lot of times, writers will, in an attempt to create drama and back story, create huge complex conflicts for their characters to overcome. Although, at the time, this might seem like a great way to give the characters something to fight for, far too often, these become a major roadblock for anything to happen in the story. In simple terms, when you create insurmountable conflicts for your characters, you are creating a situation where they will never reach their ultimate goal unless you start bringing in "acts of God" to solve the problem.

I was recently working with one of my clients who ran into just this situation. When I first read the proposal, I sensed there was something wrong with the story but really couldn't put my finger on it. This was just a partial and I knew the author always found ways to work out of the situation. When I was speaking with her editor, she too noted the situation I had seen. Indeed, it came down to this insurmountable conflict. In this case, the conflict involved a problem that the hero and heroine had with their families. But this problem was so big that there was absolutely no way the families would ever come together. A great wedding between the hero and heroine, babies, puppies, amazing wealth and happiness would never bring them together. Literally, the only way to get to that happily ever after would be if the entire two families were dead and gone, leaving only the hero and heroine.

Too often, when writers get into situations such as this, they do resort to these miraculous solutions to save the day. "Oh wow, I didn't know I had a 3rd uncle who has been following my struggles and is now coming in to give me $4 million dollars to save the day." Or, "Wow, isn't it a coincidence that when I am at the local Starbucks, worrying how I am going to save my husband who needs a bone marrow transplant, and suddenly, his long lost twin brother is in line right ahead of me."

Umm?? Not really believable.

The point is to just look at your conflict. Is this really something the characters have a chance of overcoming on their own? Is the solution really there? Don't rely on scenarios we see for sports playoffs: "If this team wins and this team loses, but our team wins the next three but has to do so by 7 points, and it is raining that day, then we make it to the playoffs."

Conflict Vs. Complication: Raise the stakes!

I have been seeing a lot of this lately in submissions. Authors are confusing the idea of conflict vs.
complication. I am constantly asking myself, "so why don't they fix it?' or "so why aren't they together?" Instead, the author goes on and on, making up excuse after excuse to keep the story going but there still is no real conflict.

Let's start with the basics. A complication, which is the one we see the most of in stories, is simply a bump in the road. It's easy to see a complication with real life issues. 

• You are driving down the road and a road crew has a flagger stopping traffic to allow that digger to move dirt.
• You need to bake cookies and realize you need an egg or two.
• You are getting ready to set the table for Thanksgiving dinner and realize you forgot to turn on the dishwasher so you have no clean dishes.

These are complications. These are issues that have an easy solution. Each one simply requires you to do something different, or to take one additional step to fix the problem. With the flagger, you wait an additional 1-2 minutes; with the cookies, you run to the store, or even easier, run next door; with the dishwasher, you go "old school" and wash what you need. See? Easy fixes.

When it comes to stories, I am seeing the exact same thing. Authors are going on for pages and pages making a big deal out of something that could have been easily fixed. When you have the heroine worrying about getting the paperwork filed to open up her cupcake store - solution, fill the stupid stuff out and turn it in; when the hero and heroine want to get together but are worried what the other person might think - solution, they talk. Again, these are all easy complications.

I recently read a story where I spent the first part of the book wondering just why this relationship didn't happen. The heroine had been engaged to one guy for several years (they planned on it in their early days of college), but now that guy is away on business, and keeps saying, we will get together eventually after, after, after.... She really has fallen out of love with him a while ago and doesn't really ever think they will get married. She wants out. The hero, who happens to be the best friend of the jerk fiance has always liked and probably loved the heroine but never did anything about it. When the heroine wants to break up with the fiance, the hero spends the time trying to convince her not to. Of course she realizes that she has always liked him. Solution is easy, but nooooo, the author tries for 2/3 of a 100,000 word book to make this a conflict.

This book simply drags because there is no conflict. Everyone wants the same thing but the author doesn't want them to have their solution because she has a 100,000 word count to make for her editor and the book could have been finished in easily 50,000-60,000 words:

• Heroine says she wants out of engagement.
• Jerk hero is fine with it since he has been fine with it for some time.
• Hero uses this as an "in" to the girl he likes.
• Heroine already liked the hero.
• And they lived happily ever after.

A conflict, however has a lot more at stake. The characters will be faced with a solution that is not that easy to make. The stakes are so high that there is a chance someone will have to lose out on something, and that something will be much more than a sense of pride. 

Let's say that we have a hero and heroine who are both in the corporate world. Their jobs might be in the same general profession but nothing has really stood in the way of each getting what they want as well as having a relationship. But now one of the two has a chance for a job that is what he or she had always been dreaming of. This is money, prestige, advancement and everything. The issue is that it will be with a rival company with a no fraternization policy.

• Take the job and the relationship has to end.
• Take the job and the other person has to quit his or her job.
• Keep the relationship and turn down the work 

This is not something that can easily be fixed. This is a conflict. In this case, it is an external conflict but it does stand in the way of the characters moving ahead with what they want to achieve - their GOALS. 

When an author works with a real conflict in the story, the readers now have an invested interest in the characters and the plot. They want the two of them together and are now working hard to find the solution to the problem WITH the characters. The readers keep turning the pages wanting to know how the character will really get out of this mess.

There is one word of warning here. If you make the conflict so hard to overcome, and your only solution is to bring in an "act of God" to fix the problem, your readers will be very disappointed in you. They want the characters to figure their way out of the mess, and they don't want that "surprise" solution to just pop out of thin air. An example of this would be a family who is about to lose their home due to finances but mysteriously, a distant relative in another country, who they didn't know about, dies and the one of the characters is the only relative left so the 5.5 billion dollars is now their money. Um, yeah, right! That's believable.  Keep your solutions on planet Earth. Make the conflicts tough and make the characters fight for it, but make the conflicts real. 

External Conflict Can Also Be Internal Conflict

When we talk about conflict, we often use the terms external conflict and internal conflict. Obviously, the idea of external conflict refers to things getting in the way of the characters goals and plans that come from something other then the character itself. This could be something such as a company that is planning to over-throw the character's company, or even a natural disaster. Internal conflict, on the other hand, deals with the character having to come to grips with two different emotions or desires from within. These might be a struggle with how they were raised and a goal they want to achieve that goes against those thoughts.

In most cases, authors keep these two elements separate. The external once drives the plot of the story and provides action, while the internal conflict provides the emotional ride for the reader. But, a seasoned author can, though careful planning, blend these two elements together into one.

Let's consider the classic story of Romeo and Juliet. The external conflict in the story is the fighting between the Capulets and the Montegues. This is a fight that has been going on for some time and is certainly an issue with the two main characters. But here is where the internal conflict can come into play. The internal struggles Romeo and Juliet face is having to come to gripes with what they have learned about family and honor, while at the same time, trying to figure out how to deal with the teenage raging hormones. In this case, the external conflict IS the internal conflict.

One of my clients just faced this issue with her latest book which was also very similar to the Romeo and Juliet issue. She too had characters where the family dynamics were the external conflict, but in both cases with the hero and the heroine, they had to deal with the way they had been raised in their own individual families and countries. For her, blending the external and internal conflicts was clearly the best decision.

Now many authors make a tragic flaw with a story like this. Instead of making a single statement (probably no more than a paragraph) in the story to talk about that honor vs. love argument, they add a full extra story line in to create some other internal conflict in the story. The problem with doing something like this is the characters now have to deal with more problems than they need to. To add to this, suddenly the word count in your story is going to easily increase by another 20,000 - 30,000 words just to take care of the plot.

As you know, I am a firm believer in trying to keep things simple and focused. This comes from my love of poetry and certainly William Wordsworth. In the case of working that conflict into your stories, continue to work to streamline your writing and get things to do more than one thing in your story. Blending those conflicts is a great way to do that.

Romance Writing Still Needs A Plot

When we talk about romance novels, we always emphasize how a the central story arc needs to be

about the relationship. The goal is to follow this romance from the beginning through all of the ups and downs as well as the complications, to that final happily ever after. While this is very true, I do think many authors have taken this to such an extreme that we now end up with stories lacking really any plot and substance. 

I know that I am constantly pushing and screaming here on the blog about keeping things simple, but please people! When we say simple, it doesn't mean to strip it of any significant plot. You have to give me something.

I am reading a book right now (yes this is one that is already published) where I am seeing just this happening. In chapter 1 the hero and heroine meet (they bump into each other at a restaurant). Somehow, they are both immediately attracted to each other and by the end of chapter 1, the readers already know where this is going. At some level, I am not overly concerned here. But then it falls apart. The rest of the novel is about them going on dates, and then, at the end of a date saying they can't have a relationship (for no real reason).

Come on! Give me something here!

We're talking about Creative Writing 101 here. We do need to see in a story a significant plot with a conflict that has a potential impact on preventing that happily ever after from happening. As we see in the chart above (which you have all seen before), the idea of the rising action means the story is building toward something. It doesn't just plateau and do nothing. 

I do think authors have taken the advice of toning down the story a bit too much lately. Yes, it is true that we do not want a story that is so convoluted the characters have no chance of getting to that happily ever after. We don't want stories that have so many back stories that it takes a flow chart just to keep track of things. But, we do need something.

When I work with authors, one of the first things we focus on is whether or not the story comes down to a "yes or no" answer. In other words, if the whole problem could be fixed with someone just saying, "Sure, let's have a relationship" and there is nothing standing in the way, then we have nothing to work for.

I will also say a huge side-effect of this lack of plot thing is the repetition the story will now encounter. Since you have no where to go, but there is a word count issue you struggle with, the story now starts to just do the same thing over and over again. This is what we always see in soap operas. It isn't that they are limited to plot lines. The issue is the supposed conflict of the plot of some of those characters is so easy to fix, we end up watching a week or more of the characters just doing the same things over and over again. 

Let's see if we can swing that pendulum back the other way. Let's find that happy medium between too much and too little!

More Is Not Better - Adding Backstory to Create GMC

We are all told to give the characters in our stories something that they are struggling with on the inside that will hopefully come into conflict with the bigger story arc of the entire book. We often discuss these in terms of the standard model of Goal, Motivation and Conflict. More often than not, this idea is probably inserted into your story as a critique partner is reading over your partial and asks a simple question such as "Why is the hero doing this?" or "I really don't know why the heroine would want to start up this relationship with this guy?"

Knowing this information is very important! I had a director that I worked with in a local production that got on our case all of the time about moving around on the stage. You simply didn't need to move during the scenes if there was no reason. We had to have a legitimate reason to do so, and yes, the same goes for your characters.

A common flaw I see in writers, however, is the obsession of adding far too many of these reasons in for the characters. Before long, this character has become a counselor's dream client knowing he will be able to retire just with the income of dealing with all of the character's problems. In other words, not good.

I do think part of the reason authors do this is because they aren't thinking of the story in a global context. They are simply seeing the story as these individual scenes, so when it comes to a time to add motivation, the author is thinking of the single scene, and not the unity of the entire story. I also believe there are authors out there who believe adding each of these will allow multiple audiences to appreciate the story and tap into something they can relate to.

In either case, it becomes a distraction, and even more so in the case of a romance.

I have rejected so many stories for this reason! In simple terms, the characters have so many other issues to worry about, thinking of a budding romance is the furthest from their minds. The distraction from all of these problems will prevent any logical thought of seeing the other character in any romantic light. At the same time, I am betting the other character will run screaming as he or she sees all of the personal problems the other character has. Look, we have all seen this before. How long did you like to hang out with someone who only saw things in a negative light. You know the type of person!

Let me give you an example of something I see far too often in a Regency romance. The hero, who we are supposed to be cheering for and wanting to get hooked up with the heroine is dealing with:

• A war injury, most likely a leg because we thought Patrick Swayze in North and South was hot with that limp.
• He has PTSD and frequently wakes screaming with nightmares
• The PTSD results in cases of E.D. every now and then and thinks he is not a "man" anymore
• His family is losing money due to a cousin who is spending the family's money.
• The heroine's dad has a hatred of people with blonde hair which he happens to have.

But he loves her...

But wait, there's more. The heroine:

• Was abused as a teenager.
• Is protecting a sister from unwanted advances from the "Skank in the Ton" (sounds like a great title)
• Mom has migraines and does the Laudanum/Hops personal medical treatment.
• And she is a shy virgin!!!!!

But she loves him...

And now we are going to add in the central story arc??? Really????

I say this over and over again here. KEEP IT SIMPLE! Pick one issue (I might give you two if I am feeling generous that day). Have them work through it. You might find the story flows better!

When Two Conflicts Collide - Now That's A Great Plot!

The title says it all!

We all know there are two types of conflict in our stories. We have the internal conflict that the individual characters have to wrestle with on their own, and then we have the external conflict, that often is the big motivating force for the entire story. Too often, however, I am seeing stories with one of three other scenarios: 1) characters with weak or no internal conflict; 2) no external conflict; or 3) external conflict that is really nothing more than a complication. Instead of focusing on those today, I want to look at the situations of some great conflict.

As I said, the title says it all. Plots can be really fun and exciting when we see these conflicts coming into play with one another. The result is that the author has set up situations where decisions will have to be made, and, potentially, someone is going to lose out!

I was just reading a project recently (and yes, I did request a full of this one) where the author had carefully planned out the conflict. I am going to keep things pretty vague, however, since I haven't had a chance to really work this one out yet.

In any case, Character A is working hard at achieving a status within a company, but is facing a huge resistance from the family. No one really thinks the character can do this, but the character believes it is possible. Here is an external conflict coming into play.

Now, to achieve this Character A must work with Character B who has a history that isn't exactly on the up and up. Still Character B does have a reason for doing all that is being done but wrestles daily with how those two don't quite work together. In other words, the history is forcing the character into situations that are less than desirable, and now Character B has to justify the actions. Now we have internal and external coming into play.

At this point we bring the two characters together. For A to achieve the goal of working at the company, Character B must be taken down, but to take Character B down means the past history of that character, which is justifiable and all Character B is working for will be ruined. Not taking Character B down means Character A loses out.

Hopefully this made sense. It is a bit difficult to leave out those pronouns and keep it vague, but I think you get the idea.

What makes this scenario work is the simple fact that we as readers like the characters enough. We like what they are fighting for, and when we see them in a situation like this, we want to help them find a solution out of it. On the surface it seems daunting and impossible, but we know it is possible. It is just a matter of finding a solution that both of the characters work through together to achieve.

So look at your conflict today. Is the conflict setting up a real puzzle for your readers and characters to struggle with and solve?

Finding Strong Conflict In Your Stories

Lately, I have found myself passing on a lot of projects where the author seems to have missed a key ingredient to the story. Namely, the conflict! Oh sure, there are a lot of little complications and roadblocks along the way, much like bad traffic on the way to work, but in terms of an awesome conflict that keeps the hero and heroine apart? NADA!

Let's begin today with understanding what I have been seeing. These are complications. I think I have mentioned this before here on the blog so forgive me if you have heard the analogy before. Remember the sitcom, THREE'S COMPANY? For 30 minutes, we saw nothing but complications in that plot line. Most of the episodes revolved around someone not hearing correctly a conversation and then trying to do things within the show. For example, Jack hears Chrissy making a comment about getting pregnant and he immediately thinks she is. You get the idea. Now, here is the thing about complications. These are easy solutions. Someone simply has to ask someone else and the problem is solved.

Writers tend to use the same thing in their stories. I often find that really, in the end, there is nothing that is truly keeping the characters apart from one another. Oh sure, they say they can't get involved but the reasoning is really weak. "I can't start a relationship because she's just a tourist in the town." Really? Is that all?

In the case of a conflict, we have to really see something that is going to prevent the two of them getting together. In this case, we're talking full Romeo and Juliet level. The two of them could never get together because of the rival families. As we saw, getting together meant people were going to die. What we have to see in a real conflict is that something can be lost for one or both of the characters. There has to be something at stake here for the characters.

In the latest Bronwyn Scott novel Mercedes and Greer have a lot to lose should they continue this relationship. If she continues to work with Greer to win this billiards tournament, she is likely going to lose the respect of her father, which she really wanted to gain. Should she enter the tournament and lose Greer? Greer stands to lose money and the woman he has fallen for if they continue.

Now the issue here to make a conflict great is how the author finds a way to get that solution and not make it sound corny. In other words, we need to see the author set up the situation where we think it is totally impossible and then, at the last minute, throw in a scenario that makes the reader think, "Dang, I should have seen that one coming."

Let me give you another author who does just this. Take a look at another Greyhaus author, Helen Lacey. DATE WITH DESTINY (or for that matter all of her books) does just that. You will frequently find
reviews about Helen's books that make comments that she will throw you a spin that you simply didn't see coming.

But here is the twist. The solution cannot come across as being an act of the gods. In other words, there can't be a sudden supernatural solution that is thrown in that hasn't been set up earlier in the story. For example, the characters are completely destitute. All money is gone. The family structure is completely gone. And then, mysteriously they are at a grocery store and the character finds an unused Lottery ticket, scratches it and they become instant millionaires. I'll be very honest. You do this and you lose the reader. We feel cheated. Why? Because we wanted to see the characters do this on their own. We wanted to see them find their way to success and not have this random act of fate "fix it for them."

So, go out and review what you have? Conflict or Complication?

Character Development - Day 2: Conflict, or what is keeping them apart

Yesterday we spoke about the idea of finding the right characters to put together in your romance. Hopefully you had a chance to explore that idea with your own writing. Today, we are going to look at the idea of conflict within the story. In this case, we're talking about those things that are going to keep the characters apart.

We have spent a lot of time here on this blog talking about conflict so for some of you, this might be a bit of a refresher course.

Conflict is really the driving force within your story. It is that problem that drives the characters to trying to figure out how to conquer it and get to that happily ever after. Again, we have to remember that there is a huge difference between conflict and complication. Conflict deals with something that truly is preventing the characters from getting together and/or getting to what they want. A complication, on the other hand, is simply a bump in the road. In most cases, this is something as simple as a misunderstanding or miscommunication. Maybe the character has a flat tire on their car. The solution is easy. With conflict, the solution simply cannot be that easy.

Now, when we look at a romance, we have to have something that really stands in the way of the couple actually getting together. If your characters meet and can get together immediately from the start, then what is the point of the story? There certainly isn't anything exciting to keep the reader moving through your story. On the other hand, if you create a conflict that is impossible, then the characters simply won't want to fight for the relationship and your readers will certainly give up. For you as an author, the only way to get them through an impossible conflict would be to create a plot device that will come across as being contrived. When you do this, you really let the readers down.

If you think about your conflict between the hero and the heroine, you have to set it up so that, in some way, one of the two of them will have to give up on something. In other words, to get to the romance, to get to the happily ever after, someone will have to give up on that personal goal they were working for.

Think of this example. It's probably something a lot of people have faced when they were first looking at getting married. You meet the person of your dreams, everything seems to be going great. And then the job offers come in. Both of you want the jobs, but the jobs are in different states. To be together, one of the two of you has to give up his or her job. Or, you can both have the jobs of your dreams and give up on the relationship..

In this situation, you have external conflicts (the jobs) working against the personal internal goals, motivations and potentially conflicts of each of the characters. As readers, this is what we love to see. We want to figure out how the characters are going to work through this.

As you move your characters toward solving that ultimate conflict, you can certainly have them experiencing a series of smaller complications. When you do this, think of the idea of putting together a puzzle. Each of these complications will lead to solving that bigger conflict. The characters learn something new that will help them solve this big issue. Sometimes they learn something that moves them away from where they want to go. Sometimes they misinterpret the puzzle piece. Sometimes they get it right. This is how you keep that story moving.

So, examine that conflict in your story today. Tomorrow, we explore the motivations and goals of your characters. We want to really figure out what makes your characters tick!

Conflict vs. Complication

I frequently find myself passing on projects for the simple fact that the conflict in the story is either too weak or simply not there. I do think many writers believe what they put into a story is conflict, but in reality, it is simply nothing more than a minor complication in the story.

Before putting this post together, I did a little digging for different writer's opinions of what conflict really is. While the definitions varied slightly, all of the sites I looked at said pretty much the same things. First of all, conflict tends to return to the classic three examples we learn in literature classes: man vs. man; man vs. self; and man vs. nature. In other words, we're looking at larger global issues that exist throughout the entire story. Secondly, most of these writers were really stressing the same thing I want to say here. Conflict is the thing that drives the story and gives the reader a reason to want to get the characters through it. A weak conflict or a non-existent conflict brings the story to a screeching stop.

What we see, too often, are writers creating complications in the story instead of a conflict. In this case, a complication is something that, yes, does play a bit of havoc in the story, but is something that really can be over-come too easily. In this case, if you think of most of those plot lines in sit-coms, you are seeing a complication and not a conflict. For example, someone over-hears a conversation and thinks they heard something that didn't really happen. A character hears someone say there are some problems with money and immediately thinks the family is bankrupt when in reality they were talking about another family or maybe someone else's business.

The easiest way to think of a complication is that the solution can be fixed with a simple bit of communication between the two characters.

When we talk about conflict, we're talking about something much bigger and something that is really going to be life changing for one or more of the characters. If you think of Downton Abbey, a conflict here is the decline of the aristocracy and how this family is going to have to deal with the changes. As you can see, this is not something that can be fixed with two characters talking to one another. This is a big, life changing effect.

If you do feel that your story is not going where you want it to, you might want to take some time to examine what the conflict is. Is it strong enough? Is there a conflict? Are you thinking you have a conflict and it is really a complication?

Is The Story's Conflict Apparent Immediately?

There is a fine line of starting too soon and starting too late. This is really a struggle many authors face so if you are struggling, don't worry, there are others like you.

The biggest problem a lot of authors have writing single title books is the conflict simply doesn't show up until too far into the book. There is a belief that since we have 100,000 words to work with, we simply don't have to rush things. Instead, the author takes far too much time developing his or her world; exploring the characters goals, motivations and conflicts; or simply providing huge amounts of back story the author feels is necessary to "truly appreciate the story." The result of this is boredom. Your reader will give up too soon and not wait around for the good stuff later on.

I think it is also important to remember that most editors and agents only do read a partial of your submission. They may only ask for the first three chapters or they may ask for a full, but the decision is often made after the first three chapters anyway. You simply have to hook them much sooner. We are reading your story just like the your potential readers will do. If the book is boring, we move on to our next book in the infamous TO BE READ pile next to our bed.

Now, let's talk about the opposite end of the problem. This is one that often happens with writers in category genres. This is also the reason this genre has established a stereotype of being formulaic. In this case, because the author knows there is 1/2-3/4 of the space to tell the story, the author immediately launches a full assault on the reader with the conflict already in place. For many authors, they do this because they were told to start the story with action. Although the book does have action, the problem here lies in the fact that the reader has no context to work with. In simple terms, there are a ton of people doing things around us, we know these actions are probably going to be important, but, because we have no idea who these people are, we have no connection. We have to care about the characters. We have to have a "buy in" and without this, we are lost.

You have to simply take some time to do a little "pre-writing" work. Take some time to decide what the reader truly needs to know and what can probably be held off on until later in the story. Plant some seeds in the head of the characters where we can see that "this could potentially be a problem." For example, if we are introduced to a hero that is a corportate magnate, apparently a work-a-holic, and with a short fuse, we know that this will probably get him in trouble later. We don't know what, but this is clearly a sign of something that might not work out. Maybe it is a suspense novel and the simple line of "Shelly was told by her colleagues at the university that maybe taking a year off of the research would be a wise decision, but she knew the information from this trip to Borneo was crucial and had to happen now" will give the reader the sense this is going to be much bigger than poor Shelly imagined.

Just find that happy medium and think before your write.

Scott

What Is Keeping Your Heroine and Hero Apart? Is It Enough?

Conflict is a huge deal in romance writing. We want to see the hero and heroine get together, and, because it is a romance, we know they will. The challenge for the reader is to see how they go about getting to that final happily every after.

Conflict is also one of those points that is often a big reason for why an editor or an agent might pass on a story. In simple terms, the challenges before the characters simply isn't big enough. The conflict is nothing more than a bump in the road that can be fixed too easily.

When we see stories like this, the weak conflict often trickles down to the rest of the plot issues in the story. Now the characters just keep doing things in the story that seem pointless to the reader. The author, in an effort to keep things going in the story just starts adding "stuff" to the plot. We often see scenes that are repetitive leaving the reader with a sense of "oh come on, just fix it and move on." The problem though is that, "fixing it" means the story stops in the first few chapters of the book. Now what?

You have to really put a big barrier in front of them. Nothing impossible, but it needs to be significant enough that someone could risk losing something. Please also note, I am using the "singular" of the word conflict here. No, you should not throw in multiple conflicts just to create a bigger barrier. Doing this runs the risk of turning the reader off because the solution is just too impossible.

This weekend, it is time to go and explore those conflicts!

Scott

Don't Limit Your Story - An example: UP ALL NIGHT

So, we are now seeing the new line-ups for TV. Among the list, and getting a lot of big publicity is the comedy UP ALL NIGHT with Christina Applegate. If you have ever had kids, the things these two are going through is truly a riot and brings back a lot of memories (both good and bad). I was thinking about this though, and it got me thinking about writing stories. Clearly, these writers and producers missed a point in their planning. There is simply no longevity for this show.

Regardless of how good the show might be, how great the writing is, this show has a limited lifespan. Why? Think of the premise... This story is about a couple and the trials and tribulations of having a newborn in the house. Now, unless these characters are going to discover that the baby is an insomniac, the show is over when the baby grows up.

I bring this up because too often, we ahve a great idea for a story, but fail to think of how quickly the story can come to an end. This all deals with the conflict. In other words, if we can fix the conflict in the first chapter of the book, you simply don't have anything to write about. The story is over. As an author, you simply cannot drag something out over the course of 75,000 plus words when the solution happens too quickly. The writers will get tired of it and you lose your credibility as an author.

Just something to think about for the day.

Scott

Conflict - The most frequently screwed up story element

I was tossing and turning about how I wanted to approach this issue all day yesterday. At one point, I was going to talk about the relationship with the goals and motivation of the character, but I decided to simply focus on the conflict in the story. In reality, this was the biggest issue for many stories to get the big R from an editor or agent.

In reality, writers really mess up the conflict in the story. What we see are several scenarios:

1) The conflict is too easy to solve - This is a big one. If the story can be summed up in a single conversation, or one of the characters just has to make a simple decision, then the story has no legs. There is nothing that is driving the story. This is really that "sit-com" approach. You know what I am talking about. Someone overhears a conversation and thinks there is something bigger going on. In other words, had someone heard the whole thing, there would be nothing. This is part of the reason why these approaches only last for a 15-20 minute episode.

2) The conflict is impossible - In an effort to make the story really big, the author creates a conflict that simply cannot be fixed without an act of God or amazing coincidence. When readers see something like this, we simply tune out. We know the characters will never make it, and yet, we know that when the author decides to get them out of a jam, the resolution will be unsatisfying. Honestly, the only place I believe the impossible conflict works is with the James Bond series.

3) The conflict would never happen - This one is the last of the three issues. The conflict you created in your story is one the characters would have never gotten into in the first place. The girl from Beverley Hills dating someone that isn't in her "world" and then goes camping in the back country of the Nile River. Ummm, probably not.

The point is simple. Find something that really creates some believable tension between the characters. Find something that a tough decision will have to be made, but one that the characters would do and have the capablity to do. You will find the story flows much better.

Scott

Conflict Is Key

One of the key elements that keep a story moving and keep the reader wanting to flip the pages is conflict. We all know this. Unfortunately, too often, writers get really hung up on this concept. Either there is far too much conflict in the story, or in some cases, the conflict is not strong enough to maintain a pace throughout the book.

I was thinking about this recently as I was reading a submission. The premise of the story I had asked for sounded great. The intial pages of the submission sounded like it might head in the right direction. And then the bottom fell out. The problem was simple. There was simply no conflict that was going to hold the hero and heroine apart. Both characters liked each other from the first moment they saw each other. The "conflict" the reader had put in place was literally fixed by the third chapter. In other words, other than taking some time to "get to know each other" there was nothing that was going to stand in the way of them getting together.

Now, in the case of this story, sure the writing was good. It was great to see these characters hanging out together and this was a nice "feel good story." The problem though was that I kept asking myself why I really was going to be concerned about them on the next page. I knew, by the end of that third chapter that in 20 to 30 years, they would still be living happily ever after. Ugh.

On the reverse side, I do see too often writers creating far too much conflict in a story. First of all, we have internal conflict for both the hero and the heroine. I'm not talking about a little bit here, I am talking a full blown stack of baggage that would put anyone over the edge. To make it worse, their conflicts are in such a direct conflict with each other, the hero and heroine have nothing in common other than a pscychotic mess. Now the reader adds in secondary storylines, and external conflicts for, what they call, "layering". The end result, however, would look like that tangled mess of Christmas lights we fight with each Christmas. And, like those lights, we probably toss the story out because it is too much work to untangle.

The key to good conflict is to keep it simple but to really make it worth something. One or both characters will have to potentially give up something to make the relationship work. The external conflict should be something that doesn't just serve as a roadblock for the relationship, but a challenge that will bring the two together.

So, your homework this week is to trim out that conflict. Find the key elements and push for those. The other "conflict" things you added to the story? Toss those in the attic with those Christmas lights.

Scott

A Misunderstanding IS NOT a conflict

This is one of those big reasons why I pass on so many manuscripts!

I honestly think many writers out there fail to understand the concept of conflict in a story. Needless to say, this lack of understanding what a conflict is results in not only stories with no purpose, but also a lot of rejections, especially from someone like me that values a good story. It seems that many writers believe that a misunderstanding is the same as a conflict. This is far from the truth.

I have seen far too many of these stories recently and frankly, it is really wearing me out. The solution is too easy to fix. If the two of them talk, then the problem is solved. End of story. But nooooooo, the writers seem to make a big deal out of nothing and make me have to stomach the mindless drivel of the writer as he or she tries to reach that minimum word count.

When I see stories with nothing more than a "misunderstanding" I am force to think of nothing more that those bad episodes of Three's Company: "In tonight's episode, Jack overhears Crissy and now thinks she is pregnant with his child (despite the fact that they never did anything." Sorry people, this is a misunderstanding and that is it.

The conflict, on the other hand, is that serious issue that has to be worked out by the characters so they can come to a full resolution at the end of the story. Sure, there might be some misunderstandings leading up to this conflict, but it is not the big issue. As readers we want to see that, if things don't work out right, the relationship may not finally happen at the end of the story.

I am reading a story right now that in the beginning, the hero and heroine meet. It is clear they have the hots for each other, but don't know that one will be the other person's neighbor. Oh my, what will they do when they have to live next to each other. (Hope that sarcasm comes out in the italics). So what? There is absolutely nothing stopping them from moving on to that next level.

Now why does this happen? It's very simple. The writer has spent more time trying to create the totally hot characters or that amazing sexy bedroom scene. There is not prep, no thought, no planning.

Now, get out there and find a real conflict before you send me your story.

Scott

Conflicts Should Not Be Impossibilities

I frequently get stories come across my desk with fantastic characters. The settings are great, the storytelling is wonderful, but the conflict is just awful. In other words, the challenges that the hero and heroine have to overcome are so huge, the believablity of the story is simply gone.

Like goal setting, when you create a conflict for the characters in your book, whether it is internal or external, the conflict has to be something that can be overcome through the efforts of your characters. In other words, the conflict has to be achievable. Unfortunately, I think a lot of writers out there, in an attempt to create a story that is truly unique, or amazingly exciting, have created conflicts that are impossible. In this case, bigger is not necessarily better.

It is important to remember that the thrill of the book doesn't necessarily come from the conquering of the conflict, but the excitement of the chase. We want to see that there is this huge problem out there and we as readers are unsure, like the characters, how to overcome it. As readers, we want to be part of the chase. We want to be in it with the characters trying to figure out how they will work out of the situation.

I am working with a writer right now and the project we are working on is the elimination of coincidences in the story. As I stated earlier, we want to see the characters solve the problem. I think many authors often rely on those external random acts of fate to help out with the problem. We really don't want to read, "Oh, aren't we lucky we happened to find the key to the prison that we have been trying to break into for the last chapter. Isn't it strange that the guard happened to drop it as he was passing us." Blah. That is a cheap way out. Make them go get it.

Now please understand I am not saying to make the conflicts weak. I am saying make the conflicts believable and achievable with a little hard work. Your key words today are difficult not impossible.

Have a good day. Off to the next pile.

Scott

Understanding Complications vs Conflict

Conflict is the element that drives the story. It is that battle we want to see the characters over-come in the story to get us to that happily ever after. For many authors, however, stories completely lack a conflict an are only fillied with complications. The end result, unfortunately, is the story ends up having no point.

Let me explain it this way. Once I see the hero and the heroine and I hear their problems, I want to see how perfect they are but really question how on earth they can and will ever get together. I don't want to see that easy solution at the end of the first 10-20 pages. For example: he wants to get married after returning home from military duties over-seas. She wants to get married now that she has gotten her graduate work done and her business is established. Now they find out they are neighbors with the same interests. Ta Da! No conflict.

But here is what the inexperienced writers would do. The would then fill their story with mindless complications that do nothing more than stretch the length of the story. They give him PTSD. They have her business suddenly going bankrupt. They bring in some random pscyho killer. He had to deal with an ex-wife that is her best friend. They have the military call him back for "special services". The list goes on and on.

The problem with complications is that these pesky little things are the common everyday occurances in eacy of our lives. We don't have conflict in our life. We have complications. The care breaks down, or your run out of milk. For your stories, the only thing you did was make the complication worse by adding melodramatics. Instead of the milk running out, you have it containing some hidden disease that no one knows about that when chilled slowly releases a chemical in the air that turns people in the kitchen into were-puppies.

The key with conflict is to understand from the beginning what would be keeping the hero and heroine together. This is where internal and external conflict comes into play. To make the story successful, we don't want to simply see the problem being an outside force. There needs to be something inside the characters also holding them back. Those two elements should be intertwined to really add the development. For example. The lawyer is arguing for the death penalty for the heroine's brother (not that this would happen since it would be a conflict of interest but you get the idea). It is clear the brother deserves it. the evidence points in that direction but now he has to make a huge decision between the girl and his job. She wants him to drop the charges which he cannot do. He could leave the job, but that would mean he loses his career. If he prosecutes, he loses her. That is conflict.

Remember I said to start from the beginning? Did you do that with your last WIP? Did you establish a true conflict or was it a complication?

Scott