Conflict in a story or installment?

Question

Is conflict always mandatory to use in a story?

What if most of the episodes in a book have different degrees of conflict in them, but one or two have none at all?

Is that appropriate?

(For example, I have a story that just focuses on 3 friends and there is no conflict...)

Answer 1

Plenty of stories have no real conflict. There's tension and stuff but no climactic focused conflict.

Answer 2

If you read my articles http://ajbarnett-story.blogspot.com/sear... you'll see that conflict isn't necessarily about quarreling or fighting. Conflict takes on many forms, but essentially it's what moves the plot forward.

You must have conflict, but that conflict might be, and often is, low key - just so long as the reader feels tension in the air.

Conflict is often internal, the struggle of a person's heart over soul, yet the reader must always be aware of why and how.

Without conflict, there is no story, but constant wham-bam simply drains a reader. You must pace and balance your work - a quiet (not boring) scene following a high conflict scene and so on.

Anthony James Barnett - author