Hello and welcome back.

Today I would like to talk about increasing conflict in your writing.

Conflict in many ways is the basis for fiction. The hero of the story wants something and the antagonist is trying to stop the hero from getting it.

But, it can’t simply be Shawna our hero wants to grab a pizza but the boyfriend wants to stay home. An over simplified example, to be sure, but start with:

1. Why does Shawna want the pizza? Maybe she’s new to the country and has never had pizza before. Maybe it’s because she’s tired of eating only food that’s healthy and wants to live a little.
2. Next question, why does the boyfriend want to stay home and not go for pizza? After all you’d think he’d want to make his girlfriend happy. Maybe he’s a virgin and wants to have sex right then and there.
3. Now we delve into what measures does Shawna take to get her boyfriend to agree to go for pizza? Agree to sleep with him after the pizza, or anything else a girlfriend might do to get her boyfriend to agree to do what she wants.
4. Then what measures does the boyfriend take to get Shawna to stay home?

The above was a simple exercise you can use to help increase conflict. Starting with Why does the hero want the goal? Why does the antagonist want to prevent the goal from being achieved? What measures does the hero take to achieve the goal and finally what measures does the opponent take to prevent the goal from being achieved.

Hopefully this helps, have a great day.