Activity

1) Great conflict is complex and purposeful. It’s complex in that there’s no clear-cut answer to it; any choice the hero makes will involve some kind of sacrifice or risk. (For example, in one of my current WIPs, Blood in the Snow, my MC can choose to stay safe and hidden and let her stepmother conquer and inevitably ruin two nations, or she can oppose her stepmother but risk her life in the process.) It’s also complex in that there are multiple sources of conflict, both internal and external. (In the book I’m currently reading, An Enchantment of Ravens, the characters must deal with the danger of their own feelings for each other, the treachery of the fae courts, the constant threat of the Wild Hunt, and the lurking menace of the Alder King.) And it’s purposeful in that the conflict doesn’t exist solely for drama; it contributes to the theme, the worldbuilding, the characters, or all of the above. (In Blood in the Snow, inter-character conflict between my MC and one of the secondary characters develops both characters’ personalities and tells us about a significant issue in that storyworld; in An Enchantment of Ravens, the danger of the characters’ feelings ties in with the theme, that the fae live hollow lives because they lack something significant.)

2) As others have said, weak conflict may be a conflict that’s too easily resolved, or that’s fixed throug a Deus ex Machina. Weak conflict is also purposeless conflict or conflict that occurs because people are acting out of character for no reason other than drama— for examples, see 99% of the variations That One Love Triangle.*

3) Conflict drives the story and makes it interesting; J.R.R. Tolkien said that “things that are good to have and days that are good to spend are soon told about, and not much to listen to; while things that are uncomfortable, palpitating, and even gruesome, may make a good tale, and take a deal of telling anyway,” and he was quite right. In addition, conflict helps develop characters (both in the sense of showing the readers who the characters are and in the sense of forcing characters to grow), it helps create a more realistic storyworld, and it contributes to the theme.

*Ask me about That One Love Triangle if you want a minor rant. Otherwise, just don’t.