I’m about to head out of Brussels, where I’m living at the moment, to return to the U.S. for a few weeks (I’m going to be giving a talk on self-publishing in Culpepper, Virginia, you can sign up here if you live in the area).

As I’m sure you’re all aware we’ve had some “exciting” happenings here—both the airport and a metro station were bombed a few weeks ago by terrorists. Happily, the airport has gotten flights running again as they rebuild. This is such a relief for me since I was not looking forward to having to travel to a strange city to catch my flight to the U.S. But just as I had figured out how to get to the airport when the train that normally goes there is no longer running (because they haven’t figured out how to make it secure), the air-traffic controllers decided to strike to protest changes to their pensions.

So many people see this as a kick in the teeth to all those who worked so very hard to get the airport functioning again after all they’ve been through. The air-traffic controllers are worried about their pensions when others are doing all they can to create a safe, terrorist-free travelling experience?  This is sad, and definitely makes my life much more difficult. It adds a lot of conflict!

I’m just like that! A little off balance.

But I love conflict! It’s what makes my books so interesting! It’s what drives all novels! Without conflict our books would be boring blobs of ordinary life.

Now, wait, this is my ordinary life that I was just complaining had too much conflict in it.

Well, yes. We love to read about conflict. We love to experience it vicariously when it happens to fictional people (since we really don’t want it happening to real people, that’s no fun). The thing is, we don’t want it in our own lives. That’s normal.

So, how do we add more of it to our books?

Start by knowing your characters well. Know what they don’t like to do (travel, in my case). Know what they want and what will get in their way (okay… I want an easy, safe flight. Standing in my way is how to get to the airport when no trains are running and traffic isn’t getting through because of security checks, also the air-traffic controllers who might make it so my flight is cancelled). Then blend that all together in your handy-dandy plot blender (your brain, silly), and come up with a plot line—and then make it worse (believe me, my imagination is running wild with all the things that can make my trip worse!).

On my way!

Still having problems? Make a list. Honestly! Make a list of all the ways your character can solve their problem and a list of everything that stops them. Voilà! Conflict.

Get to the airport — no trains, no taxis
Get through security — I and my luggage will be checked at every turn
Hope that my flight is still flying despite the air-traffic controllers –they’re running a reduced schedule of their already reduced schedule! My original flight was cancelled. Will this one be cancelled as well?

Yikes! Conflict! Conflict! Conflict! And, really, all I’m trying to do is get home. Maybe I should write a story about it. Actually… it doesn’t have enough conflict to do that–thank God! But now you’ve got an idea as to how much conflict you really need in your story.

Keep your fingers crossed for me!