Conflict: Interal/External

Conflict! It's a very important word when you are a writer. We need conflict on every single page to move our stories forward. Our hero's and heroine's have goals, or at least they should. Conflicts are the obstacles that prevent them from reaching their goals immediately. It's a bubble in the road so to speak. At each bubble, your hero or heroine should have to make a choice. This creates more suspense, more conflict. As in every day life, we all make choices. Our choices always have consequences. They consequences may be good or bad. The same goes with our writing. Our characters too will have consequences for their choices that they must face.

Internal Conflict is something which occurs when your H/H is confronted with a problem that presents difficult choices. It's the dilemma facing the H/H inside of themselves. It is a problem and your character will have two difficult choices to choose between, but they have to choose. Each choice will lead to consequences weather good, or bad. By the end of our novel, this will show us how our character has grown and changed.

External Conflict is a problem outside of our character's control. Most times it is a struggle between our Main Character, (protagonist) and our Villain,(antagonist) but it can also be something else. Perhaps it's nature. An avalanche has occurred or an earthquake. Perhaps there is a fire and they need to get the H/H out of that burning building. What choice did your H/H make? What happened as a result of that choice? Did it create more bubbles in the road? More obstacles for them to overcome? In the beginning it should. If all the conflict is resolved immediately, you book will be finished. That is why we need conflict on every page until our story is complete. The conflicts are mounting, each having a more severe consequences than the other until we reach our climax, or black moment.

Whatever is standing in your Hero or Heroine's way is what is creating that conflict and tension. Your should be asking yourself, What is going to happen if they DON'T reach their goal?
Conflicts will keep your story moving. If your are writing suspense, you will need many conflicts. Suspense should fast paced. In order for your story to keep moving, there needs to be more and more obstacles, some small and some large. They all don't have to be resolved right away, but by the end of your novel, all conflicts are resolved.

Conflict is the excitement that makes your story move forward, the reason the H/H can't immediately reach their goal. It propels your story onward, therefore you need plenty of it! Give your characters trouble and lots of it!!! Make things hard for them. Your readers will love you for it.