While the pattern of either conflict or connection may dominate in a given work, a story which is only about the conflict will be shallow. There must be some deepening of our understanding of the characters, which is achieved not just through conflicts between good and bad, but through conflicts of one good versus another: does a man join up to serve his country, or stay home to help protect and raise his children? The writer strives to bring art to a level where a story is not just about the inevitable trouble, and not just about the conflict of good and bad, but also about the conflict of loyalty with loyalty, honesty with honesty, love with love.

Janet Burroway, Writing Fiction, Tenth Edit…, loc. 434