Here's a story:
Jess
was a very pretty baby. Everyone admired her. As she grew, she made
many friends. At school she was always top of the class. She left
university with an excellent degree. She got a well-paid and
interesting job and rose to become a director of the company. She
married her childhood sweetheart who loved her to bits and they had
two beautiful perfect children, who also did well at school and were
perfectly sweet and well-behaved. They had a perfect house which
never needed repairs, a car that never broke down. Nobody had a
moment's illness. The story ends with Jess and her husband
celebrating their silver wedding, surrounded by loving family and
friends.
A
good story? Interesting? NO!
All
the way through such a story you're waiting (hoping!) for the Big
Foot Up There to stamp down on them and disrupt their perfect life.
You
can't sustain interest in a story or novel without introducing some
form of CONFLICT, something to upset the status quo. It can take any
number of forms. Here are some of them:
Another
character, or characters, who is jealous, envious, hostile, more
ambitious, unfaithful, dishonest.
A
health problem, a crippling accident - to your main character or a
loved one.
Loss
of wealth, loss of job, loss of home, loss of a loved one.
External
events - a terrorist attack, a murderer on the loose, floods,
storms, war.
These
are just a few suggestions.
Whichever
you choose (one or several) your story will then show how your main
character struggles with, and hopefully overcomes, the problem(s),
becomes stronger and regains that perfect life.
A
much more interesting story.
It
doesn't have to be melodramatic. Here's a very simple and homely
example:
Two
newly-weds move into their first home, a ramshackle cottage on the
outskirts of a village. They renovate it and live happily ever after.
Where's the conflict?
a)
Husband falls through the bedroom floor and breaks a leg
b)
They find the cottage has dry rot and they have to move back in with
Mum and Dad while it's being sorted - and while husband's leg is in
plaster.
c)
There's Japanese knotweed in the garden
d)
Their planning application is turned down and they have to rejig it.
e)
The work goes on and on and they become so exhausted they begin to
squabble.
And
so on, and so on.
This
can be a warm and funny story, and the reader expects and knows
there'll be a happy ending, but it's how your character(s) struggle
with and overcome conflict and problems that will hold their interest
to the end.
