I’ll answer for Becca as she’s just getting her house all set up after a move – absolutely there can be too much conflict. Two things will happen if we see conflict piled upon conflict: first, the writing will become episodic (this happens to the character, then this, then this, then this) to the point where it ceases to be believable. The second thing that happens is that it will exhaust the reader and they will shut the book because it’s all too much.

Conflict is an ebb and flow. We want to challenge our characters, but constant challenge is like a car chase that never ends – after a while, we skip ahead to get to something else. So it requires a lot of understanding of what makes good pacing and judgement as to why the conflict is there. Is it pushing the story forward? Helping to reveal new layers of the character? Forcing them to stretch themselves and adapt and change? Or, is it just there for flash? If the latter, it just doesn’t belong.