Creating Conflict in Romance Novels

Need some help with creating conflict in your romance novel? Perhaps we can help. Conflict is an essential part of any novel, as it's what moves the action forward to its conclusion. In a romance novel, the conflict is usually between the hero and the heroine and is resolved in time for the devoted couple to attain their happily ever after.

One of the hardest aspects of creating conflict is sustaining it through many thousands of words. Depending upon where you're submitting your novel, it could be anywhere from just 10K to upwards of 80K. Daunting, but not impossible.

Conflict Boot Camp can help you whip your conflict into shape through the vast resources of the internet and tips from authors, making muddling through the conflict jungle much easier.

THE TYPES OF CONFLICT

Source for this article: Creating Emotional Conflict and Tension in a Romance Novel.

This was a terrific source, because I learned there's more to conflict than just external and internal! Yet when I think about what I read, it makes sense. As we should all know, or at least have a nodding acquaintance with, conflict is what moves the plot forward and dogs the hero and heroine throughout the entire novel. Conflict is resolved at the end of a romance, finally removing all the obstacles that have until this point kept their budding romance from fully blossoming into that fairytale happily ever after.

According to Dummies.com, the types of conflict-in addition to internal and external-are intellectual and emotional, and personal and situational conflict.

Intellectual conflict is exactly what it sounds like. It's logical and reasonable. Emotional conflict is not logical and certainly not reasonable.

Simply put, an intellectual conflict is a conflict of ideas, while an emotional conflict is one that grows from feelings." (Citation: 2-19-09; Creating Emotional Conflict and Tension in a Romance Novel; http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/creating-emotional-conflict-and-tension-in-a-roman.html).

That really is simply put, and, in my opinion, well-phrased. This article gives two excellent tips for dealing with intellectual and emotional conflict:

Intellectual conflict can never be substituted for emotional conflict.
Relate any elements of intellectual conflict to the characters' emotional conflict as much as possible."(Citation: 2-19-09; Creating Emotional Conflict and Tension in a Romance Novel; http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/creating-emotional-conflict-and-tension-in-a-roman.html).

Personal and situational conflicts. Again, personal conflict is exactly what it sounds like: it comes from the our insecurities and issues. To me, this sounds like a component of internal conflict. Situational conflict "arises from place and plot."(Citation: 2-19-09; Creating Emotional Conflict and Tension in a Romance Novel; http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/creating-emotional-conflict-and-tension-in-a-roman.html). Like personal conflict strikes me as being internal, situational conflict strikes me as being external. Situational conflict can provide the opportunity for tension to grow, but shouldn't be substituted for emotional conflict. Personal and emotional conflicts should be at the core of a romance novel.

A final well-stated tip:

"The best romances are built around a complex emotional conflict that's played out in an equally interesting and tightly connected context - one that forces the characters to deal with each other and their issues." (Citation: 2-19-09; Creating Emotional Conflict and Tension in a Romance Novel; http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/creating-emotional-conflict-and-tension-in-a-roman.html).

Now that we've examined the different types of conflict, perhaps it would be useful to define the word conflict itself. According to Merriam Webster Online Dictionary,
conflict means:

2 a: competitive or opposing action of incompatibles : antagonistic state or action (as of divergent ideas, interests, or persons) b: mental struggle resulting from incompatible or opposing needs, drives, wishes, or external or internal demands
3: the opposition of persons or forces that gives rise to the dramatic action in a drama or fiction (Citation: 2-19-09; Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary; http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary).

So simply, conflict is the force that keeps the hero and heroine apart through the novel, moves the plot forward to the happily ever after, and is an intrinsic and very necessary part of any novel, not just the romance novel.

Conflict is an essential in every novel, not just romance novels. These links are to articles that are genre non-specific---hopefully useful to every writer. :D

How to Write Conflict: Understanding the Most Important Part of Writing Fiction © Elizabeth Richards This article discusses conflict versus crisis. Very informative, well worth the time. Excellent tips: "Conflict happens in your character, not to him." and "Struggle is part of fictional conflict." (Citation: 2-23-09; How to Write Conflict: Understanding the Most Important Part of Writing Fiction © Elizabeth Richards; http://writing-novels.suite101.com/article.cfm/how_to_write_conflict).

Elements of a Novel: Conflict by Peder Hill

The Snowflake Method by Randy Ingermanson

Building Better Novels Through Conflict by John Hewitt

Please note: if someone has said something I thought was well-stated and not worth rephrasing in my own puny words, I've quoted and cited them on this list--the tip will be italicized as well. It is not my intention to pass off all of these tips as my own, but they were too good to leave off the list. Please visit the website cited to see the quote in context.

1. Conflict is the driving force of the story.

2. "Romance novels live or die on conflict." (Citation: 2-19-09; Making a Minefield by Ellen Hartman; http://www.eharlequin.com/articlepage.html?articleId=1342&chapter=0). Making a Minefield by Ellen Hartman

3. "In setting out the apparent conflict of your novel, you must always keep in mind the underlying conflict. Just as the romantic relationship develops, the underlying conflict must be revealed bit by bit. In the apparent conflict lie the seeds for the resolution of the underlying conflict." (2-19-09; Conflict and Resolution in the Romance Novel by Linda Shertzer; http://www.writing-world.com/romance/conflict.shtml). Conflict and Resolution in the Romance Novel by Linda Shertzer

4. Take a different approach to creating conflict. Conflict and Resolution in the Romance Novel by Linda Shertzer---this author suggests making the hero and heroine's individual goals the SAME. (I really recommend you click on the linky and read this article for yourself. I found it very helpful.)

5. Keep the conflicts believable, and the characters' reactions believable as well.

6. If the conflict between the hero and heroine can be solved by having a nice, sit-down conversation, then it's not enough to sustain through the entire novel, and will be insufficient to drive the story to the happily ever after conclusion. That said, little conflicts add depth and texture to the story as long as they are pertinent to the plot and have good reason to be there (ie--drives the plot forward.)

1. Interview your hero and heroine together. Ask them what's keeping them apart.

2. Take it down a level or two. You know that your heroine has abandonment issues. Delve deeper into it. WHY does she have abandonment issues? What does the hero say/do that triggers her abandonment issues? What emotions are tied into her issues? Lay the foundation, then dig deeper.

3. Romance novels rely on emotion, so examine the emotional reactions of your hero and heroine. As in the tip above, delve deeper.

4. Decide what purpose you want the conflict to fulfill. Define how the conflict does that and list the reasons. Develop a list of steps you'll use to fuel the conflict, keep it believable, relevant, and to the point. How are you going to resolve the conflict in a way that is emotionally satisifying for the reader?

5. Research. Yep. Do some research. Who knows what you'll find?

6. Be specific about your characters' Goals, Motivations and Conflicts. Use a chart, if necessary. Be sure the goals and motivations tie into the conflicts and have an emotional, relevant impact.

7. Read.

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