Conflict

Happy Easter!
Happy Resurrection Day!
Happy Easter!
Happy Resurrection Day!
For the last few years I've experienced this bit of conflict whenever I wanted to or actually greeted someone this particular holiday season. I grew up knowing this day as Easter Sunday, and so I'd go around greeting folks with a hearty "Happy Easter!"  But lately my greetings have been met with corrections of "Happy Resurrection Day!" According to these folks Easter is a pagan holiday and the proper greeting should reflect the actual reason for the season. Hence the Happy Resurrection Day greeting. Do YOU agree or disagree? Does it even matter at this point? And therein lies the CONFLICT.
  Every story or novel should contain some sort of conflict. In fact, I daresay that it is conflict that ultimately drives the narrative forward. In fact, a story without conflict will be hard put to move at all! Let me offer this semi-scientific point as an analogy... You can own the best car in the world, and it might still get stuck on a patch of ice. The tires might spin and turn but the car goes nowhere, nor is it going anywhere soon unless you add some traction. You see, in order for the tires to move the car, no matter how great that car is, they must have something to grab onto, bite into... essentially rub against. It's also kinda what makes the "moonwalk" work, but that's a story for another time...
  Anyway, without traction or friction, in other words CONFLICT between the tires and the road, that car won't move. The ice is so smooth, so slick, that the tires just cannot grip the road. Conflict in a story or novel serves as the traction that's needed to move the story forward. It can take the form of some huge battle, or it can be something as intimate as someone's fight against a disease or a disagreement between lovers. Whatever it is, it must exist. Romance novels, westerns, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, whatever your poison, there has to be an obstacle to overcome, a problem to solve, or a conflict to resolve.
  So remember to add some traction to your story so it won't just sit there spinning its literary wheels. Oh, and Happy Resurrection and Easter Sunday!