Too often, beginning writers hear is, "Story must have conflict." The later understanding is that the conflict can come in many shapes and sizes. Conflict can be a direct interpretation of the word, like someone being chased by a knife-wielding crazy person, or an argument or a quest like you have in Lord of the Rings. But it can be, and often is, more subtle -- a man with ADD's struggle to appear normal. Hrm...too close to home, perhaps. The point is that every effective story has to have some reason to have been written. A story about a man standing, walking across the room, pouring himself a glass of water and sitting down at a table isn't a story at all. It's a description. It might even be written poetically, but to be a story, there needs to be some...conflict. Dammit. Possible conflicts in this simple scenario: The man would need to have some difficulty in moving. He has made a bet that he could go a whole day without drinking water, so he knows th...

read more: Everything (in your story) happens for a reason