Alright, so we’ve covered two of the crucial things every story needs:
Now we’ll cover the third and final element:
A story without a conflict is not really a story. Otherwise the story would end on page 2, because after you introduced the protagonist and the goal, you would simply say “and he won.”
(Which, obviously, would be very boring and there’d be no point in telling it.)
So you need conflict. It’s what people like to read.
Now perhaps you remember all this from high school (I can completely hear Mrs. Kirby in my head covering all this.) (Hello, Mrs. Kirby! Thank you! You too, Mrs. Zukoski and Mr. Drummond!). But for those of us who were passing notes to our friend Dawn, or who were busy drawing hearts on our PeeChee folders, or who were running in late to 6th period every day, here are the four basic types of conflict: Continue reading →