In my travels this weekend, it came to my attention how we all love conflict. It can be either reciting a personal experience or viewing a sporting event, i.e. the Paris Olympics.
Granted, some of my conversations this past week have been boring. They were told me to impart information and help my understanding. However, the more interesting conversations were centered around conflict.
I became part of one conflict. In a friendly game of pool, my opponent and I trashed talked each other. Our goal was to unsettle the other and get them to lose the game. My trash talking didn’t work. I lost.
At this point, I must emphasize that there are individuals who thrive on conflict. Their negativity and being in constant conflict make it difficult to be around them. Being in an environment of constant conflict loses the draw of a story or event. Too much conflict like too much coffee is not good for you.
Looking back in history, we see societies thriving on war and conflict. Ancient kings and rulers would actively seek with whom they could go to war for the sake of winning their subject’s praise. Why else was the Roman Colosseum built? But to feed the people’s lust for conflict that brought about the death of the loser.
As an author, I am told I must have conflict in my stories as soon as possible. Otherwise, my readers will get bored and go read another author who has conflict.
I have read successful authors who don’t. They imply the coming conflict or impending doom. I recently read James Patterson’s book Eruption. It wasn’t until the last several chapters did the volcano erupt. The way he wrote the book, it kept me reading to until I read the entire book in two days.
What kind of conflict do you like in the stories you read or the movies you see?
