Creating a "Good" story by Nancy J. Parra   What makes a good story?  Conflict.  Tension. That should be easy, right?  For me, not so much.   When I first started, I wrote 500 page manuscripts, entire stories, yet when asked to define the conflicts, internal and external I couldn’t. To me the conflict was just there. I was told that if I could not state the conflict in a single sentence then there was no conflict and there was no story without conflict. But I had 500 pages of written story with a beginning, middle and end. Clearly there was a story, a good story, yet I was unable to express the conflicts.   Frustrated I poured conflicts into my story. There was a conflict on every page, all 500, which muddied the story and confused the reader. Ugh.  Too much conflict. Too Little conflict.  I couldn’t understand the problem.  It should not be that hard.  Should it?   The problem was not in the story.  The problem was in the concept. I often write stories based on a scene I’ve seen in my head, or an idea I read somewhere, like the article I read on small towns in Kansas offering free land. Concepts and scenes, as good as they might be, do not make good novels unless they have clear conflicts.   So, let’s start out at concept.  For a romance you have a hero and a heroine.  Both have to have an internal conflict. A conflict that is inside them – a line they won’t cross, or think they won’t cross and on the other side of that line is something they want very badly.  Internal conflict makes for tension. Tension keeps the reader turning pages and defines the reason for the story.   So, I have a story idea for a wizard and a psychic.  It began as a scene in my head. I see two strong people who challenge each other. What is the story conflict or external conflict? The wizard is on a quest to find an Oracle to save his brother who is under a spell.  To ratchet up the conflict, the spell is a death spell.  Time is of the essence or the brother dies.  The psychic comes from a family that has spent centuries protecting the Oracle.  It is her job to keep the Oracle safe from…random wizards. The hero and heroine have opposing goals, opposing problems, thus creating a clear conflict.   Now, when they meet sparks fly.  In their hearts they see their soul mates.  But he needs the Oracle and she must keep him away. Why? To remove the spell the Oracle must die something the heroine cannot permit.  Someone must betray themselves or their family if their love is to see the light of day.   Before a single scene is written the story conflicts are clearly defined. It makes me want to write the story.  Does it make you want to read it?