Writing help

Key to effective conflict

If readers care about the result of your story conflict, they will keep reading to find out what happens.
What makes readers care?
1) The result of the conflict matters a lot to your character.
2) The readers identify with your character -- in other words, readers imagine themselves in your character's place.
A *viewpoint character* is a character whose perspective is used to tell the story. Readers see the story through that character's eyes, experiencing what that character experiences.
Readers tend to identify with the viewpoint character and feel as if they're resolving the story's conflict along with him or her. They're frustrated when the character encounters obstacles and relieved when the obstacles are overcome. They're triumphant or in despair at the end of the story when the character either succeeds or fails.
When writing a short story, it's generally best to have one viewpoint character and develop a conflict that matters to that character. This gives your reader, who identifies with the character, a stake in what happens.
If the starting point for your story idea is the conflict instead of the character, then come up with a viewpoint character who will be directly affected by the result of that conflict.