Stories need conflict otherwise your readers will have nothing to cheer for, nothing to be worried about, and no mystery to figure out. Conflict drives a story and keeps the plot moving forward. And most importantly, the conflict provides the catalyst for the growth of your characters.
Here are few sure fire tips you can start using today to get your character into hot water and keep your readers invested.
1. Let every stroke of good luck change the plot so that your character's path to their goal is now littered with new and potentially worse obstacles.
2. Get emotional! Show your characters' motivation in each scene. Pack it with resistance. Everyone can't be going for the same goal.
3. Your character should have a major flaw that prevents them from reaching their goal.
4. Give your protagonist two motives. They must sacrifice one goal in order to achieve the other.
5. Let the action be created by the character's decisions and not because of coincidence. This is especially effective if they make the wrong decision for the right reason.
6. When faced with choices, there should be positive and negative consequences. But your character must use motivation that makes sense for the situation.
7. Make sure that any solution they come up with to solve a problem actually makes things worse until they get it right.
8. Make one character passionately opinionated, always ready for an argument.
9. Take away your main character's greatest source of support at the most critical time.
I hope this was helpful. Happy writing!
