A Simple Way to Add Conflict to Your Next Story

🗞️ Rwanda-backed M23 rebels have captured Goma…
🗞️ Technology stocks dropped sharply yesterday…
🗞️ Holocaust survivors and world leaders gathered at Auschwitz…

These are the headlines glaring at me as I prepare for the day.

They pull me into their stories not because I’m interested…

But because of the magnet of any good story:

Conflict.

Conflict grabs our attention. It appears when two forces meet: rebels disrupting peace, high stocks plummeting, a somber reflection on a terrible history.

Conflict doesn’t always have to be dramatic to be powerful, though.

• Red and blue.

• Sour and sweet.

• Christianity and atheism.

Regardless of its nature, conflict keeps us engaged.

And here is the secret recipe of conflict every storyteller should know.

Conflict comes from two things.

Obstacle & Intention.

• Obstacle: What’s in the character’s way?

• Intention: What does the character want so badly they’ll stop at nothing to get it?

You can’t have one without the other.

Intention alone is boring. Obstacle without intention is frustrating. Together? They create a magnet that draws in readers.

Take Moana:

• Intention: Moana wants to save her island and her people.

• Obstacle: She has to sail an ocean, battle self-doubt, and convince a stubborn demigod to help her.

Or Apollo 13:

• Intention: The astronauts want to return home.

• Obstacle: They’re trapped in space with limited oxygen and a failing ship.

When your audience feels the impact between intention and obstacle, they lean in.

Why? Because we foam at the mouth to know how conflict will resolve.

This is a psychological principle (oooh, science) called “The Zeigarnick Effect.” Unfinished tasks occupy our minds more than completed ones.

And it’s right in that sweet spot that magic happens.

Conflict creates tension. Tension gives people a reason to care.

WE DEMAND RESOLUTION!

That resolution comes through Promise, Progress, and Payoff…

…but we’ll save that for another day.

Back to the headlines.

In seminary I was told to prepare my sermons with a newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other.

My professor was right. What’s happening around us shapes our stories.

I used to hate the news.

Reading it felt like a terrible Jenga tower of bad headlines stacked on bad headlines, ready to topple over.

That’s why I love The Pour Over.

It’s a politically neutral, Christ-first news source covering the biggest stories of the day in a way I understand. There’s no other way I read the news.

The Pour Over is a sponsor of today’s email and worthy of space in your inbox.

Here’s the bottom line: your story, copy, email, and sermon need conflict.

Every great story needs conflict.

And conflict happens when Obstacle and Intention meet.

And you can find it ANYWHERE…

• In the news headlines.

• In your customer’s pain points.

• In the next fight scene of your epic space novella.

Conflict appears when something is in the way of what your character (or audience) wants.

This suspense pulls people in. Use it.

Write on 🤙
Payton

P.S. The best stories come from the world around us. The best way to stay in the know is through a Christ-centered lens. I recommend The Pour Over. It’s a politically neutral, Christ-first news source trusted by over a million Christians. Check it out here.