While setting can enhance conflict, it can also be the source of the conflict itself. After all, external conflicts are often the hero and heroine struggling against outside forces that threaten to tear them apart, such as a war, surviving the aftermath of an earthquake, or a long trek through a jungle following a plane crash.

Choosing a setting that will create conflict for your characters is another way to add depth to your story. The result means more questions for the reader to answer … and more reasons to keep turning the pages of your book.