on Writing Forward:
If a story were a bus, conflict would be the driver.
Conflict steers a story, moves it forward, reverses it, stops it in its tracks, and slows or accelerates the pacing.
More importantly, conflict keeps readers glued to the page. Readers want to see how the characters will deal with conflict. Will they find solutions to their problems? Overcome their challenges? Resolve their issues?
Stories contain conflicts large and small, from an impending threat that would wipe out life on planet Earth to minor scuffles in which characters can’t agree on what to have for dinner. When well-crafted and worked deftly into the plot, any kind of conflict can be interesting.
