What do we mean by conflict?
When a character has a goal, but something prevents them from achieving it – conflict arises. Conflict is regarded as the ‘primary’ problem that the characters in a story face, but it can also be used in sub-plots.
Why use conflict?
It influences the turn of events in the plot. It’s what drives you to keep those pages turning; tension is key. Without it, there is no engaging story arc and character development. Can you think of a story without conflict? There are types of narratives that don’t have conflict:
Slice of Life – Narrative structure showing the actions of a person who is living their life. It may be what they’re thinking, doing, not doing, etc. It can be a single moment, to a few years, and there’s no need for conflict.
Kishōtenketsu – An eastern Asian narrative structure that does not require any type confrontation whatsoever. It’s a four-act plot, unified in the fourth act to show the correlation between the first, second, and third.
Stories without conflict are still stories with plots, but they’re not as engaging as stories with conflict.
(Sentient) Being vs. Self
Conflict takes place within the mind of the protagonist. The focus is on a psychological struggle that the character is having. This includes:
Moral choices: Your character makes a decision between right and wrong.
Mental health: Your character has depression or anxiety, or anything that mentally/psychologically prevents them from achieving their main goal.
A person’s struggle with his or her own prejudices or doubts or character flaws.
Examples:
Call of the Wild by Jack London: The protagonist (a dog) is torn between a domesticated self and wild self.
Esther in Sylvia Plath’s The Bell Jar struggles to overcome depression and define her identity as she transitions into adulthood.
Being vs. Being
This is the most common form of external conflict / interpersonal conflict.
Examples:
Sherlock vs. Moriarty
Batman vs. Joker
Characters thrive on conflict – is on-going conflict necessary for a character’s purpose? Can there be too much conflict? When does it go too far?
Being vs. Society
A character is placed at odds with a government or cultural tradition / societal norms. This can be something as simple as a teenager getting into trouble with their parents for sneaking out of the house at night – they are in conflict with the societal tradition that children are expected to obey their parents. Alternatively, conflict can arise due to ideologies that exist within society, such as patriarchy. The end goal for your protagonist is to become a catalyst for change.
Examples:
George Orwell’s Animal Farm: A story driven by rebellion against a society, as the characters struggle against a corrupt power structure, create a new society, and continue to experience struggles within the new society.
The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Poems with messages that rebel against societal expectations and ideologies:
“Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou
“Too Much” by Andrea Volken
Being vs. Nature
Humankind comes up against nature, battling for survival against its inexorable and apathetic force. Characters may be forced to confront nature, or they could be seeking conflict, trying to exert dominance over nature. Conflict includes the forces of nature, such as natural disasters. Borders on literary naturalism (where nature is indifferent to humanity). In stories that pit beings against nature, the conflict usually reveals something about human nature, such as a person’s fight for life or his perseverance in the face of chaos.
Examples:
Life of Pi by Yann Martel: A boy is stranded with a tiger in a lifeboat after being shipwrecked at sea.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville: Tells the story of a man’s obsession with overcoming nature – specifically, a whale.
Being vs. Fate/Unknown
Being vs. Fate can be found in any story where a character is struggling against a god or gods, or some sort of inevitable destiny. Freedom and free will often seem impossible in these stories, resulting in tension and conflict. Being vs. Unknown involve characters battles against an entity that isn’t entirely known or comprehensible, whether it is extra-terrestrial or metaphysical or supernatural. Antagonists include malevolent spirits with character-like personalities, or a more abstract evil forces.
Both are sometimes considered part of “Being vs. Self” type when the focus is on an internal, moral struggle – considered separate in the narratives in which the gods are presented as antagonists; or when it’s a known fact that supernatural entities exist.
Examples:
It by Stephen King: A group of children is terrorised by a shape-shifting being that uses the fears and phobias of its victims to take its shape, most often a clown.
Odyssey by Homer: An epic poem of Odysseus’ ten year struggle to return home after the Trojan War that includes battles with mystical creatures and facing the wrath of the gods.
Useful Tips
Give your characters clear goals: Set a story goal for your characters — the things they are striving for, seeking, wanting, going after, however you define it, really is the lifeblood of your story. Get these goals right, place them in opposition to each other, and the plot almost takes care of itself.
Let your characters fail: While we all want success from life, watching a character step out and immediately succeed doesn’t always make for the most gripping story. Watching them fail, get up and try again and again does. Think about your own failures in life. It’s how you’ve learned, right? It’s how you’ve gotten better. That can work for your characters, too.
Make your characters opinionated: What is a huge source of real-life conflict between strangers and family members alike? Opinions. About everything. Sometimes we see stories where we have no idea what the character really thinks about anything. Sure, you’ve managed to give them clear story goals, as well as their principles and values, but that doesn’t tell us much about what they think of, perhaps, the complexities of life. Shape your character’s thoughts about the things in their world. When they interact with someone with differing views, BOOM. Instant conflict, instant drama.
Consider the genre you’re writing about: By considering the genre, you can consider the types of conflict you’d like to throw in. For horror writers, you can think about including spirits or evil forces to mess with your characters. For romance novels, you can include the most common type of conflict – the love triangle or perhaps have your couple face trials and tribulations that test their relationship, or a ‘will they or won’t they make it’ vibe.
Betray your protagonist: While that may sound terrible, by outlining your character’s fears and boundaries, you can place them in situations that forces them to act on their fears; break those boundaries. This sets up the potential for them to fail, thereby creating conflict and tension. Don’t feel too bad about giving them hell – you can celebrate their victories with them when (or if) they succeed in the end.
Look in the mirror: Characters deal with conflict much like how humans encounter conflict, so what better way write about conflict than by thinking about the conflicts you encounter. Interview yourself: how would you resolve or create conflict? Implement and maybe even subvert your answers when writing about your characters – this creates realism and makes your characters relatable.
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