Elements of a good story – conflict

One of the important elements of a good story is a conflict, a struggle, a problem that needs resolution. If we do not introduce the conflict early on in our story it may become drugged out and boring. Use the escalator approach to introduce and then develop the conflict. What I mean by that is don’t immediately go from introduction to the peak. Take a little time to build up the problem. Describe why it is a problem, how it affects our character’s lives and/or relationships. Invite your audience to reflect and relate that problem to their own issues and problems. It’s OK if talking about this conflict brings a little pain or discomfort. Sometimes it is necessary to introduce a little pain to get a desired result. Finally after we introduced, developed and peaked our conflict or problem or struggle we can introduce a resolution. Introducing the resolution or solution will be our next discussion. My suggestion will be to review your stories for the conflict and if you found it already you can develop it more and if you did not find it yet keep looking, it’s there.
Now go ahead and tell your story. The world needs to hear it.