Like many writers, I’ve spent countless hours creating conflict in my novels. I’ve thrown exciting obstacles in my protagonists paths, I’ve developed sinister antagonists to thwart my heroes, I’ve devised cruel ways to put my characters through mental anguish — and my beta readers still told me, “This book needs more conflict.”

Because despite what we “know” about conflict as writers, the concept isn’t so cut and dry. It’s hard to create quality conflict in a story.

How to create compelling conflict in a story

It’s not just about the obstacles in the path, or the bad guy with the evil plan, or the mental anguish of the hero. It’s not the plot or the character arc, even though we often talk about it like it is.

It’s a tapestry woven from multiple aspects of writing that work together to create a feeling that victory will not come easily to the characters, and it leaves readers dying to know what the protagonist is going to do about it.

Over the years, I’ve pinpointed the three most common reasons writers stumble over creating conflict in a story.

1. Conflict isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” issue

Conflict is the push and pull of the character as she experiences the story.

It’s the combination of external challenges with internal struggles that rounds out the conflict and gives meaning to what the protagonist does. These two sides work in tandem to illustrate why the problem of the novel (the core conflict) is worth reading about.

What works for one story might not work for another, and even within the same novel, you’ll have different aspects of conflict depending on the needs of the scene.

Something might technically be a conflict (two sides in opposition), but it doesn’t make a good story conflict, because a strong story conflict has to also create a situation that drives a plot and leads readers through that story.

For example, a shootout between outlaws holed up in a cabin, while the sheriff’s posse tries to apprehend them, has plenty of conflict, but two sides shooting at each other for hours isn’t a very interesting story.

If the situation doesn’t do anything to create a strong story, it won’t feel like an actual conflict.

This is tough, because what constitutes a “strong story” can vary by person. Readers have biases, likes and dislikes, and that contributes to how they regard story conflict depending on the genre they enjoy.

And they’re all right, and all wrong, because different genres use conflict in different ways, and what readers look for varies. Different genres require different approaches when developing the conflict.

2. It’s not always clear what people mean when they say “conflict”

If two writers are coming at conflict from two directions, there will likely be misunderstandings about what they’re actually talking about.

Getting feedback such as, “Your novel lacks conflict” isn’t helpful if the person giving that feedback is referring to a different type of conflict.

For example: If Writer A thinks conflict is about the internal struggle of a character, she might think Writer B’s adventure novel that’s heavy on plot has no conflict — even though it does.

In contrast, Writer B could read Writer A’s novel and think nothing ever happens because the conflict focuses on the internal and not the external.

One conflict is external and requires external actions; the other is internal and requires more reflection and thought. Neither is plotted or written the same way, and trying to plot the internal conflict the same as the external conflict will lead to some troublesome scenes.

You might look at such a comment, point directly to the core conflict of your novel and disregard the advice (and then pull your hair out when you keep getting rejected).

Context is everything, and if you don’t understand which type of conflict someone is referring to, it can lead to a lot of frustration and confusion. You might think your novel has all the conflict it needs, so any “needs more conflict” feedback you get just flat out doesn’t make sense to you.

3. Using the wrong conflict makes it harder to write a novel

Use the wrong conflict and things don’t quite mesh in a novel.

This is most often seen when trying to plot using the internal conflict of the character arc.

For example, an internal conflict might work wonderfully to support the character arc, but internal conflicts don’t create plot — they just make it emotionally harder to overcome those external challenges. What the character physically does to resolve that internal conflict is the plot.

Say you have a novel about a woman with a criminal past who gets out of prison and wants to go the straight and narrow and get her life back together. Many writers would say this book is about “A woman who gets her life back together after she’s released from prison.” And they’re right — but many of those same writers would have trouble creating a plot to support this story.

The reason? There’s no conflict in that description of the book. It’s more the description of the character arc.

“Getting her life back together” doesn’t show a plot, because nothing in this statement provides an external goal to pursue. There’s also no conflict — nothing is preventing her from getting her life back together. Without those details, the goal isn’t specific enough to know what external challenges she might face as she tries to get her life back together.

Trying to plot with a character arc can create a lot of frustration for writers. The focus is on the internal struggle to change, not the external action, so the specific tasks (the goals) aren’t as defined as they need to be. It’s like trying to bake a cake without putting it into the oven. The external heat is what turns the ingredients into dessert.

At its most basic, conflict (internal or external) is the challenge to overcome whatever is preventing the protagonist from doing what needs to be done — physically, emotionally or mentally — to resolve a problem and move forward.

Once you understand how conflict works in your fiction, you’ll know what each scene needs and how to best develop the different layers and aspects of your story’s conflict.

We tell as writers all the time, and most of it goes right past readers and doesn’t bother anyone.

The problems appear when the telling shoves readers aside and makes them feel as though they’re watching from a distance and not experiencing the story along with the characters.

Sometimes it’s OK to tell.

Telling is a perfectly valid technique for certain tasks, so you shouldn’t be afraid to use this tool when you need to.

If showing is going to detract from events unfolding in the scene, or draw too much attention to what’s not important, it might be better to tell. It’s also better to tell if showing is going to bog down the story or bore the reader, such as relaying every punch or kick thrown in a lengthy fight.

Here are some times when telling frequently works better than showing.

Telling to catch characters up

A great example of an acceptable tell is the “catching up another character” scene.

Something has happened to one character, and they reach a point where they have to inform other characters about a scene the reader has already seen dramatized.

Say your protagonist, Bob, has just been out scouting and found a huge nest of zombies acting very un-zombielike. Readers have read the scene, and now Bob is back with his group and needs to let them know what he saw.

Which would be better: telling a short summary, or showing Bob relaying the scene readers just read? Dramatizing it is going to bore your reader, so a quick telling summary works better to keep the story moving.

For example:

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Bob said, tossing back half his Scotch. He told them about the nest down by the river, the freakish way the zombies had moved, and the almost-organized way they’d worked together. His hands were shaking by the end.

“Wow,” Jane whispered.

He nodded. “Yeah. Wow.”

This doesn’t stop the story to relay information readers already know.

Telling for dramatic impact

Sometimes it’s also better to tell when you want to add narrative distance for dramatic effect, such as pulling away from the point-of-view character to convey that “dum dum dum!” sense of impending doom. This happens most often with the words wondered, hoped and prayed.

For example:

• She watched him ride away and hoped he’d never come back.
• He wondered if Lila had seen Chuck that night.
• They prayed it was the last time.

Pulling back from the point-of-view character in such cases actually increases the tension instead of lessening it. It’s common to find such tells used as hooks at the end of scenes or chapters.

Telling to convey necessary information

Let’s be honest—it’s impossible to show everything in a novel, and no one wants to read all those details anyway. But sometimes readers need to know certain information and there’s no easy way to convey it. Info dumps and backstory are the only way to slip that information into the book.

When you must dump, add the information as seamlessly as possible so it doesn’t jump out of the story and draw attention to itself. You want readers to enjoy the lecture and feel as though they learned something important, instead of being handed a brochure about the book.

There’s already a lot of telling in a novel, even if it’s not officially called that. You describe the setting, what someone does, what they say. It’s called storytelling for a reason.

The trick is to weave your tells in with your shows so readers never get the sense that the author is butting in to explain something to them.

Don’t be afraid to tell when you have to. Just make sure that when you do, you’re telling in a way that serves the story and keeps the reader interested.

Are there times when you prefer to tell versus show?

Because it’s so simple, it’s easy to overcomplicate the plot and get your manuscript into trouble (often right around page 50 or page 100).

If you’re struggling with a troublesome plot (or lack thereof) right now, take a look at these common plotting mistakes.

1. More premise than plot

A great idea is a wonderful thing, but it takes more than a premise to create a plot.

Many novels fail because all they are is a premise.

For example, “Four siblings go through a magical wardrobe into another world” is a concept with lots of potential, but there’s no plot to be found. It’s what the siblings do once they get to that magical world that creates the plot.

The characters’ decisions determine how a plot unfolds.

In contrast to the example above, “Four siblings go through a magical wardrobe into another world and must defeat an evil queen enslaving the land” is a plot.

Are you making this mistake? State your idea in one sentence. Does it contain what your protagonist has to do by the end of the novel?

If not, you might not have the core conflict needed to drive your plot.

2. Not enough choices

A series of scenes that describe how a character accomplished a task might technically be a plot, but it’s rarely a good plot.

Predictably watching someone do exactly what’s expected is boring. The more choices you give a character, and the harder you make those choices, the more unpredictable the plot (and the story’s outcome) will be.

Readers should feel that anything can happen, and they need to keep reading to find out how this story turns out.

However, choices won’t hold a reader’s interest if the outcome doesn’t matter. Each tough choice should have consequences attached to it: punishments for failure and reward for success.

Are you making this mistake? Look at the turning points in your novel. Are there tough choices at each point? Do the options have consequences?

3. It’s all in your protagonist’s head

Stories that are too internal and focus too much on how a character feels and thinks often lack a solid plot because there’s nothing for the character to actually do.

For example, if the protagonist’s goal is to “be happy,” there’s no direction to help you create the plot. But if the goal is to “find a higher-paying job and move out of his parent’s basement,” you have clear steps the protagonist can take and choices he can make to create your plot.

Are you making this mistake? Can you pinpoint what your protagonist has to do to be happy or achieve a goal? Can you list the physical or external steps needed to achieve that goal?

4. No reason to act

Plots often get derailed because the protagonist is only doing what the author told them to do. They have no personal reason to do it, no goals driving them, no stakes hanging over their heads.

They could turn and walk away and nothing in the story would change. Imagine the movie Die Hard if John McClane’s wife wasn’t a hostage in the building. He’d have no personal reason to risk his life and go to the extremes he does to stop the bad guys.

Are you making this mistake? What happens if your protagonist walks away? Could you use the second most-important character as the protagonist with little to no change in the novel?

5. No one worth fighting

Stories are only as strong as their antagonists, and a weak antagonist makes for a weak plot. The antagonist (be it a person, society, or nature) creates the obstacles the protagonist will need to overcome to succeed: the plot.

He, she, or it sets the conflict in motion and presents the first choice the protagonist will have to make. Which in turn makes the antagonist react and make a choice, forcing another protagonist choice, and another action and so on until the climax.

Are you making this mistake? Does your antagonist have solid reasons to do whatever it is they’re doing? Are they trying their hardest to defeat the protagonist, even if that makes it harder for you to get the protagonist out of trouble?

No matter what type of story you’re writing, if you remember to keep asking “What is my protagonist doing?” “Why are they doing it?” and “What happens because they did it?” you’ll rarely lose your way between page one and the end.

Have you ever made one of these plotting mistakes? Are you struggling with one of them now?

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