Basic Story Line:
- Girl meets boy.
- Girl gets the boy.
- They live happily ever after.
That is fairly straightforward and boring, to be honest. It’s missing something and that is conflict. Without something happening to create tension, we have a dull story that doesn’t fulfill our readers’ needs. The barriers or conflicts in the story have to be intertwined throughout. It ebbs and flows, just like the characters and story progression does. As an element, it is a very big one and won’t stop until the end.
Warning: Spoilers Ahead
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The Barrier or Conflict-Everything that tries to stop the heroine and hero from reaching their goals and their Happily Ever After (HEA). Super vital! Must have inner and outer conflicts.
A normal person would just escape, especially if they have a pair of perfectly good wings to fly away. Maurice is not normal, very hungry for power and as evidenced by their initial introduction, he likes the taste of KC. Here’s the rub, KC is fighting an unshackled demon that wants to eat her. As the Damu of New Orleans, she is to protect the city and its reigning voodoo family, the LaVeau’s. If this sexy demon renders her powerless, she can’t do her job.
The next step is to fight! Maurice is fighting for a big payout and will do anything to get what he wants, even if that means taking a hostage. Making agreements is a big deal in this society and it is best to listen to reason when making them. When KC breaks her seal, Cassandra LaVeau tries to act as that voice of reason, but Maurice is not having it. He makes the agreement with no clarifications or counters and has to deal with the consequences.
Off with is wings! KC has taken off the gloves and grounds Maurice. Up until this point, she has been playing with him, gauging his power. Since he put Cassandra in danger, she becomes calculating and serious. The release of her power made her just a bit more destructive and Maurice isn’t prepared. That’s a bad situation if I do say so myself. How can Maurice ever forgive KC for this indiscretion in the future? Does it even matter considering he breaks her sealing armlet and endangers the whole city?
At this point in the story, we’ve only gotten a taste of Maurice’s internal conflicts. He has a disdain for humans in general and seems to only see them as an inconvenience in life. Greed for power is also a big motivation for him, but it creates even more conflicts. Even the decisions he makes are fueled by power and it makes for bad results.
That’s a lot of conflicts to deal with, right? We have some big questions and our readers will want some answers. Are there any fantastic conflicts in romance stories that keep you coming for more?