That stories don't need to center conflict.

Ironic, i suppose, given how much i embrace and talk about the many other possibilities for fiction stories.

But it really took me years to work through, where I fought with my own stories, which mostly weren't working because I tried to force conflict into them, because stories 'have' to center conflict, and when I'd go to friends and mentors they'd read it and say the problem wasn't enough conflict or the conflict wasn't central enough, so I'd try to fix it by embracing the conflict, but that just made the whole thing worse.

Eventually I said 'fuck it, I'm writing stories my way, and if that means no central conflict, then that's all good.' But it took me years.