You gotta have friction

How do you give your story purpose and presence?  Friction, that's how.  We often talk about a story having conflict at its heart, but this conflict needs to create some kind of friction for your story to have any depth.

Friction comes from forcing characters to make difficult decisions under pressure.  How they respond to such pressure reveals their inner self, the real character, which could be totally opposed to the benign everyday self people usually see.

 Friction can exist on different levels.  Relationship conflict is key to many stories.  One character wants to do one thing, the second another.  Or it could be a conflict with a third party, say a meddling mother-in-law, that is driving your characters apart.  What that friction forces your characters to do will define them.

Much friction comes from the internal dialogue of a character.  Someone who knows they've got to muster the courage to do something but is paralysed by fear is in conflict with his or herself.   Or the friction could come from the necessity of the character acting against their moral beliefs,or struggling with his heart over his head.

And then there's the friction caused when a person tries to get a powerful organisation to see her point and change things.  Coming up against a jobsworth who flatly refuses to look at your case can spark massive friction that might be played out through the courts with legal challenges.

External events can cause friction too.  Being subject to an Act of God, trapped in a place because of a machine failure, an accident, or severe weather, can force warring characters to occupy the same space, with lots of opportunity for friction between them.

The way characters deal with friction is a key way of defining them.  The pressure can force them to grow when they'd rather not, and in the end produce satisfying character growth or a new understanding of life.