"9 Tips for Creating Conflict"

1. Introduction: Every novel needs conflict. Without it, your characters have nothing to disagree on and no arc to develop. Without it your plot will flatline.
2. Source of Conflict: Your protagonist should face conflict from lots of sources, but the main barriers should always come from your antagonist
3. Make the Conflict Specific: Don't be broad and start a war because your hero and villain dislike each other. Start a war because your villain killed your heroes wife
4. Target the Conflict: If you want your hero to invest in saving the world then give him a specific reason. Make the conflict personal to him.
5. Make It Emotional: Make the conflict mean something to your hero. If it means something to them it will mean something to your reader too
6. Realism=Believability: Make sure your conflict is plausible to your world/genre/plot. If it's plausible, it's realistic which makes it believable
7. Time Is Of The Essence: Add time pressure to your conflict raises the pace and tension in your novel
8. Go All In: Don't just raise the stakes once with your conflict. Add layers, keep raising the stakes and throwing barriers in your protagonists way until winning seems impossible. Only then does he become a hero to win
9. Torture Your Hero: Conflict is there to torture your hero. In order to win they have to suffer and lose something.