Give your novel layered conflict

When writers talk about the origins of their novels,

readers are often surprised that the idea with which the author began.

A manuscript is a living organism continually responding to the environment its author creates. And, as a writer, you must be open and responsive to what it becomes before it gets to your reader.

In the early stages, the seed of a novel is often so small it’s impossible to predict what the finished manuscript will look like.

The author may have discovered the ideas that will drive his or her novel, but there are a lot of decisions that occur between discovering the plot and creating a gripping manuscript.

More needs to happen than your character simply getting trapped in the mountains. What if your protagonist is not just lost in the mountains? Ramp it up by having his/her leg pinned under a boulder.

Creating Layered Conflict

Conflict in a story is the clash of opposing forces. It is the challenge main characters must solve in order to achieve their goals.

Types of Conflict in Literature:

I. Internal Conflict in a Story: 

Conflict within the character; their opposing beliefs and desires and their struggle with those beliefs. The character has to act on his instincts, longing, agony, or any triggering emotion to move ahead. Such conflict develops the character from within and affects their actions. Simply put, it is a struggle within a person’s mind over their problem.

II. External Conflict in literature: 

Make the conflict beyond the character’s control. External conflict stands in the way of their motivations, goals, and desires. It could be a villain stopping them from reaching their goal, or the characters’ family keeping them from being with their beloved, etc.

Real-life attacks you both internally and externally. Deeper the layer of the internal and the external conflict.

The journey from beginning to end is an endless flowchart of choices that will take you far from where you started. Enjoy the ride. Be open to changing directions, and you just might wind up at a destination one thousand times better than you had planned.