Reddit reviews The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives (Kessinger Legacy Reprints)

Lajos Egri spends some time on that in his work (which is the bible for Andrew Stanton, who wrote the Pixar hits Finding Nemo, the Toy Story Trilogy and Up! as well as the recent flop John Carter), his take is things feel contrived/fake because they are not emerging from a character but a narrative need.

In other words, when you know your character you know what they will do and say to fulfill their motivation (their premise), in a way that is true to human nature. Wooden dialogue, flat characters and dead exchanges come from not understanding why the characters are there, and so instead of an emotional experience, there is just a transfer of information.

Flatness isn't quirkiness, it's boring. If the screenplay is boring, the film will be boring. No matter what. You can't turn an un-engaging script into an engaging film. Diablo Cody is quirky. Tarantino is quirky. And it's because their scripts are engaging, whether you like them or not.

Alright, you're character is antiscocial. That's not conflict. So what? Characters can be nice, mean, a social parasite, over the top, isolated, brave, devious, insane, etc. Conflict arises when a character makes CHOICES and they are forced to change. When they meet challenges that they actively do something to overcome. Your character seems to float around and everything happens to him. Instead, he should be forced to deal with these situations by doing something HIMSELF. This makes an active protagonist with a genuine character arc. Just because he's introverted doesn't mean he doesn't act. Doesn't mean he doesn't make decisions. It just means he enjoys being by himself. Don't have him be passive, the only way to make true conflict is by putting him in tough situations where he has TO DO something. Not just talk, not just ponder, but DO. Conflict is character in action.

Read this book, it'll help you understand what dramatic conflict actually is.