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120 Story Conflict Ideas and Examples

Creating conflict in your story is essential for capturing your readers' interest and driving your narrative forward. In order to reveal character motivations and examine deeper meanings within your story, the protagonist must be presented with a challenge derived from conflict. Here are 120 story conflict ideas and examples based on the most common types of conflicts in fiction . From character versus the self to character versus the supernatural, we cover all the major literature conflicts and offer ideas that can get you writing right away.

Need more help? Try out HubSpot's AI Content Writer , the AI Story Generator , or our own Writing Prompt Generator for additional conflict ideas and examples.

Character vs. self

• A soldier copes with post-traumatic stress.
• A surgeon's hands fail him, becoming unsteady and threatening his career and his patients' lives.
• A young man, determined to become a musketeer, is consistently pulled into duels due to his pride.
• A criminal seeks to make amends for his past crimes as his life draws to a close.
• A person is overwhelmed by grief when his lover dies.
• A parent finds herself repeating a cycle of abuse and strives to break the cycle.
• A conqueror realizes that he has become a tyrant but struggles to change course.
• A serial killer struggles to justify his crimes.
• A rapper stutters each time he gets up in front of a crowd.
• An evil wizard finds it difficult to make friends.
• A drug dealer becomes a drug user.
• A devout Catholic doesn't want to admit to herself that she is gay.
• A student who is an exceptional singer wants to try out for the school musical but has stage fright.
• A man's girlfriend gets pregnant, but he isn't ready to be a father.
• A child blames himself for his parents' divorce.
• An old woman wishes to reconnect with her family but is slowly losing her memory.
• A woman wishes to travel the world but is too scared to leave her home.
• A man is rich beyond his wildest dreams but has become increasing lonely in the process.
• A man wishes to reconnect with his high school sweetheart but is ashamed to talk about what he has done with his life after graduation.
• A woman is about to walk down the aisle at her wedding when she realizes that she isn't ready to be married.

Character vs. character

• An arsonist evades a detective determined to capture him.
• A wedding planner is at odds with a bridezilla.
• Road rage pits two drivers against each other.
• An author is kept from publishing his book by a publisher who wants to ruin his career.
• An unhappy customer demands to speak to the manager.
• An android confronts its creator, demanding to be freed from indentured service.
• A bully steals a kid's lunch money every day.
• A referee at a football game wants a quarterback to get hurt during the game.
• A knight swears to seek vengeance against his tyrannical king.
• A sailor organizes a mutiny against his captain.
• A marriage ends in a bitter divorce.
• Two political candidates campaign against each other.
• Two college students have a crush on the same person.
• An entrepreneur discovers that her most trusted employee is building a competing business.
• A new mother and her mother-in-law battle over the "right way" to care for a new baby.
• A man confronts the person who assaulted him.
• A man seeks to find the murderer who killed his father.
• A mother is unable to connect with her rebellious daughter.
• A teacher is being harassed by a particularly unruly student.
• Representatives from two warring nations meet to start peace talks.

Character vs. society

• A Marxist revolutionary attempts to take down a mega-corporation.
• A real estate developer faces town opposition to his proposed subdivision.
• A person with evidence that ghosts exist must convince the world of his findings.
• A person attempts to stop a fledgling fascist political party from taking over the country.
• A Franciscan missionary attempts to Christianize the indigenous peoples of the New World.
• A teacher struggles to convince a town to provide more school funding.
• A man chains himself to a tree in order to prevent it from being cut down by a new building development.
• A doomsday prophet attempts to convince others that the end is near.
• A private investigator must convince the media that a popular elected official is corrupt.
• A Mormon woman decides she wants to become part of the priesthood.
• A town shuts down your restaurant due to a health code violation.
• A woman in 1918 fights for her right to vote.
• A regime declares that a kindergarten teacher is an enemy of the people.
• A man is ridiculed online after a video of him is turned into an embarrassing meme.
• A painter creates controversial art that galleries refuse to show.
• A grocery store owner fights gentrification in his neighborhood.
• A famous actress is harassed by the paparazzi.
• A man faces discrimination.
• A person is permanently banned from playing a MMORPG.
• An undercover spy is exposed and hunted down by several governments.

Character vs. nature

• After a plane crash, a person must survive on a desert island.
• An orphan must scrounge and survive in a far-future urban wasteland.
• A man tries to escape a cattle stampede.
• A hiker is bitten by a poisonous snake.
• A man wakes up to find himself buried to his neck in sand.
• A kayaker becomes lost at sea.
• An android struggles to find sources of power during a nuclear winter.
• A camper becomes lost in the woods.
• A dream-walker finds himself trapped inside his nightmare.
• A hiker encounters a grizzly bear protecting her two young cubs.
• A vampire seeks shelter as dawn breaks.
• A school crossing guard works during a monsoon.
• A person flees his town during a forest fire.
• A person is buried alive inside a coffin.
• A man accidentally turns down a flooded road during a rainstorm, and his car starts filling with water.
• A person races to escape an erupting volcano.
• A person slips through ice while crossing a frozen pond.
• A person seeks shelter during a hurricane.
• A farmer's land is plagued by locusts.
• A person climbs Mount Everest.

Character vs. technology

• A skydiver jumps out of a plane, but his parachute does not open.
• A person is stuck inside a virtual reality game.
• A man is unknowingly brainwashed by his cell phone.
• An interpreter is replaced by translation technology.
• A lifeguard at a wave pool finds that the equipment is malfunctioning.
• A criminal is being hunted down by a police drone.
• A space pirate finds himself marooned on a derelict craft and must repair the ship.
• A person must disarm a bomb before it explodes.
• A person must fight robots in gladiator combat.
• A person is chased by an artificially intelligent car.
• A man must initiate an EMP surge before toasters take over the world.
• A video rental store owner competes with the rise of streaming services.
• A computer programmer has to destroy the AI she created because it is too powerful.
• A man is stuck on a broken roller-coaster.
• A person must stop a worldwide computer virus.
• A woman travels across the country with a faulty GPS.
• A woman discovers that her boyfriend is an evil cyborg.
• An old man must figure out how to use his newly gifted cellphone to call his grandson.
• A repairman is unable to fix a refrigerator.
• A broken time machine sends a person to the wrong time period.

Character vs. supernatural

• A person is possessed by a demon.
• A clown finds that children are being turned into circus attractions.
• A person is being hunted by a werewolf during a camping trip.
• A knight must slay a dragon.
• A photographer captures monsters by trapping them in photographs.
• A person is haunted by a ghost.
• A man gives his girlfriend a vintage engagement ring, but she soon discovers that it carries a terrible curse.
• A sailor discovers that his wife is a siren.
• A person is tricked into swapping places with their reflection.
• A vampire seduces a woman.
• A mom must find her child, who has been kidnapped by goblins.
• A man flees a group of zombies.
• A warrior must fight a dark wizard.
• A woman must trap the fairies that infest her home.
• A witch turns a person into a goat.
• An archeologist awakens a mummy.
• A boy confronts the monster under his bed.
• A farmer must deal with cursed vegetables the size of his tractor.
• A man is lost in an ever-changing maze.
• An old man must evade the grim reaper for as long as he can.
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7 Types of Conflict in Literature: How to Use Them (with Examples)

Gina Edwards

“Nothing moves forward in a story except through conflict.”

This is what Robert McKee, the author of Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting , calls the Law of Conflict, and storytelling is governed by it.

The finer details like story setting, character, and plot events all give the reader context and understanding, but conflict , according to McKee, is the “soul” of story. Every kind of story, every genre – novel, short story, science fiction , romance, mystery, historical , young adult , etc. – requires it.

In her book Writing Fiction , Janet Burroway says that, in literature, “only trouble is interesting.” It’s a bit ironic that in real life, we resist trouble; we shy away from conflict. Yet readers crave it in fiction.

First-time authors often find the idea of putting their characters into conflict an upsetting one. Just as they want to avoid conflict in their own lives, they don’t want to place their characters into uncomfortable, confrontational situations. They’ll focus on eloquent setting description or complex character development but then give the main character no conflict to resolve. Don’t make that mistake.

Why Conflict Is Key

7 types of conflict in fiction, how to create conflict in your novel, layered conflict makes compelling fiction.

Quite simply, conflict keeps your story interesting. Conflict is opposition – either internal or external (more on that below). Conflict is what comes from the challenges your protagonist must solve or resolve on the way to achieving his/her/their goal. It offers a teasing carrot of uncertainty about whether your protagonist will achieve that goal, keeping your readers engaged and turning pages to discover whether (or not) the conflict is resolved.

And that’s what every author wants, right? To carry the reader all the way to THE END?

Without conflict, your main character is simply experiencing a series of largely uninteresting slice-of-life moments. Without conflict, there is no story.

There are two basic kinds of conflict: external and internal, which have been further categorized and codified in many different ways over time. Here are seven different types to consider.

External Conflicts

External conflict pits the character against some exterior force or world-view and happens outside the character’s body. Five of the seven types of conflicts are of the external kind.

1. Person vs. Person

Also called man vs. man and protagonist vs. antagonist , this is the most common type of external conflict. It is clear and universally understood as a good vs. evil story in which an unambiguous challenger opposes the main character.

The heart of this type of story involves two characters with opposing outlooks, opinions, or goals. The story will become richer when both characters believe themselves to be right or when there is no clear right or wrong between their differences.

• In The Hunger Games , Katniss Everdeen must go up against other contestants in order to survive – her vs. them
• In The Wizard of Oz , Dorothy faces off against the Wicked Witch
• Murder mysteries with the investigator vs. murderer also are person vs. person stories

2. Person vs. Nature

This type of conflict counters a character against some force of nature, such as an animal or the weather.

• A classic example is Ernest Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea
• In Life of Pi , the protagonist must face a tiger trapped in the boat with him
• The drought is a formidable opposition in John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath , as is the setting in Cormac McCarthy’s The Road (read more about the use of setting here )

3. Person vs. Society

When a novel sets a character against a tradition, an institution, a law, or some other societal construct, it is a Person vs. Society story.

• Atticus Finch opposed his racist community in Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird
• Wilbur fights for his survival against a society that eats pigs in Charlotte’s Web
• In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale , the society treats women as property of the state; Atwood makes the story even more interesting by layering in environmental disasters (Person vs. Nature) to intensify the conflict

4. Person vs. Technology

When science moves beyond human control, conflicts of Person vs. Technology develop. Stories in this conflict type include:

• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

5. Person vs. Supernatural

Vampires, werewolves, aliens, and ghosts – any typically unbelievable, supernatural, or inexplicable phenomena – provide Person vs. Supernatural conflicts. Examples of such stories include:

• The Shining , by Stephen King
• The Haunting of Hill House , by Shirley Jackson
• The War of the Worlds , by H.G. Wells
• The Exorcist
• Jeff Vandermeer’s Southern Reach series
• Almost anything by Edgar Allan Poe

Internal Conflicts

The two remaining types of conflicts are internal – ones that happen inside the character’s mind or heart. When your main character has an inner turmoil that’s causing some emotional pain, it increases the tension of the story.

6. Person vs. Self

A character battling inner demons, one who has an inner moral conflict (think Hamlet ), or is simply striving to become a better person is in a Person vs. Self conflict.

• Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games (again!) must reconcile her need to survive in the battle arena with her desire not to kill another human being
• Daniel Scott Keyes's short story Flowers for Algernon has a main character struggling with losing his intelligence to a congenital mental disability, with the focus on the character’s feelings about his circumstances: the conflict between his intellect and emotion are central

7. Person vs. Destiny (Fate/Luck/God)

This is an ambiguous conflict type. Sometimes aspects of it get split up and parsed out among the other categories. For example, since accepting fate can be seen as an inner personal struggle, some define it as Person vs. Self instead. Or some might reframe Person vs. God as being person against religion and, therefore, would put it in the external conflict type of Person vs. Society. The categories don’t really matter as long as you understand the concept.

Examples of this conflict type include Star Wars , The Odyssey , and Lord of the Rings .

• Although Star Wars contains plenty of external conflicts, a major part of the storyline is Luke’s destiny to become a Jedi Master
• In The Odyssey , Odysseus encounters all sorts of mystical creatures
• Fate has made Frodo the ring-bearer in Lord of the Rings

When a character has a want or a goal and encounters some obstacle, the result is a conflict. The obstacle must be faced by a character readers care about. Additionally, the obstacle must oppose a want or a goal that’s meaningful to that character. The result? Conflict.

Conflict can vary in degree or intensity, but every conflict must have several key characteristics.

• The conflict must be clear, specific, and relevant to the character; it should not be an abstract or trivial problem – either to the character or to the reader
• It must exist within the character’s realm, not separate or remote from their world
• The conflict must not be overcome too easily
• Finally, the conflict must happen to a character(s) the reader cares about (not necessarily “likes,” but has some compassion for)

In summary, conflict results when a compassion-worthy character who wants something intensely encounters a significant obstacle. Add in relevant action and you’ll have a story.

Every novel needs a major conflict. More complex stories have multiple conflicts, as noted above for Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale , which has both Person vs. Society and Person vs. Nature conflicts. Furthermore, a story that contains external conflict can be made more complex, layered, and interesting by including characters who also have inner conflict (see The Hunger Games in the examples above).

James Scott Bell, in The Art of War for Writers , makes this distinction between inner conflict and inner struggle:

An inner conflict is plot-centric; it is an internal obstacle either triggered by or somehow directly connected to the story – the plot. Whereas inner struggle is something that plays against the character’s strengths; it’s something the character brings to the plot, usually from her past, either long ago or recent past (but before the first page). The plot will put the protagonist in situations where she has to deal with this inner struggle, and she’ll carry that struggle with her throughout the story. If the character is in a series, it will run throughout the book series.

To illustrate, let’s say you want your female main character to be assertive . Two qualities that might battle against assertiveness are shyness and indecision . Then consider what in the protagonist’s background could be a reason for her struggle between assertiveness and yet being shy or indecisive . Maybe someone important in her life told her she’d never amount to anything. Maybe she had a hard-scrabble, poor childhood she desperately wanted to get out of, but as a child she saw too many adults around her fail in every attempt to do so themselves. You get the idea?

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Olen Butler says inner conflict is a defining mark of a literary work. A book might also possess characteristics of a particular genre, but inner conflict can give a novel a sense of being the literary kind.

Whether or not you’re striving for a literary work, if you use two or more of the seven types of conflict identified above, making sure at least one is internal, your writing will be compelling.

How do you feel about using conflict in your writing? Let us know in the comments!

Do you know how to craft memorable, compelling characters? Download this free book now:

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Gina Edwards is a writer, retreat leader, certified creativity coach, and editor. Through retreats, group coaching, and the community Women Writing for CHANGE, she provides safe spaces for women writers—aspiring and published—to claim their voices, write their stories, and leave their legacies. Gina, her clients, and her writer-friends are on a collective mission to positively impact the world through their written words.

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Last updated on Jul 24, 2023

7 Types of Conflict in Literature: A Writer's Guide

In literature, conflict is any struggle that characters must overcome to achieve their goal. It can be a ‘real world’ obstacle or antagonist (external conflict) or some inner turmoil that our heroes must confront before getting what they want or need (internal conflict). 

As we mentioned in the previous section, all good stories are driven by conflict. By understanding what stands between characters and their goals, we can begin to grasp what their stories are about. The seven most common types of conflict in literature are: 

1. Character vs. Character(s)

2. character vs. society, 3. character vs. nature, 4. character vs. technology, 5. character vs. supernatural, 6. character vs. fate, 7. character vs. self.

In this post, we will analyze these types of conflict and provide examples from the world of popular fiction.

Before we get into some of the more abstract types, let’s first look at what most readers think about when they imagine ‘conflict’.

Pesky people: they cause trouble wherever they go! That’s the crux of this type of external conflict, which you’ll find in many, if not most, stories. "Character versus character" can mean both black-and-white struggles (cops vs. robber, hero vs. villain, etc.), but it can also cover subtler kinds of personal confrontations: romantic entanglements and familial disputes, for example. 

Character vs. character conflict is commonly rendered as the traditional “ protagonist vs. antagonist ” setup, where these two central characters will usually have diametrically opposing goals. For example, the protagonist might be a cat burglar looking to steal a priceless painting, while the antagonist – a corrupt gallery owner — wants nothing more than to stop them.

Examples of character vs. character conflict

Les Misérables: Former convict Jean Valjean restarts his life with a new identity, seeking to create a more just society for the underclasses. He is discovered and pursued by Inspector Javert, whose fanatical devotion to the law has blinded him to the actual injustices being perpetrated by the system.

The Great Gatsby: Self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby wants nothing more than to win over his childhood crush, Daisy Buchanan. Standing in the way of Gatsby’s goal is Daisy’s husband, Tom Buchanan, an old-money cad with a mile-wide mean streak. 

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Particularly prevalent in fiction these days, this type of external struggle pits the individual against the collective. In this case, “the collective” might take the form of something like: 

• an oppressive government, 
• adults (as seen from a teenager’s perspective), or
• systemic corruption.

In this type of conflict, society will put pressure on our character to change and fall neatly into order. On the other hand, our protagonist will resist this change and, in extreme cases, will try to bend society to fit their vision. Like the story of David and Goliath, our hero faces an uphill battle, but the reader holds out hope that ‘the little guy’ can overcome a seemingly impossible challenge.

Examples of character vs. society conflict

The Hate U Give: When her friend is shot dead by a cop, African American teenager Starr seeks justice, but finds herself up against a system of structural racism that stretches from the police and media, all the way to her private school and internalized racism.

The Devil Wears Prada : Idealistic university graduate Andrea “Andy” Sachs moves to New York and soon lands a highly coveted position as the junior assistant to Miranda Priestly, the tyrannical editor of a fashion magazine. A fish out of water, Andy enters into a world that directly conflicts with her principles but finds herself compelled to conform to the cut-throat world of fashion journalism in order to fast-track her career.

How do you fancy your chances in a fight against Mother Earth? In this type of conflict, that is exactly what our protagonists are facing. Whether it’s wildlife ( Jaws ), natural disasters ( The Day After Tomorrow ), the weather ( The Perfect Storm ), or a post-apocalyptic landscape ( The Road ), the antagonists in this type of conflict cannot be reasoned with. 

Stories that feature a “character vs. nature” conflict will usually center on a character’s survival. In the absence of a human antagonist, our heroes will often discover that “character vs. self” conflict (something we will touch on later) is at the heart of their narrative arc .

Examples of character vs. nature conflict

The Martian: Stranded on the Red Planet, astronaut Mark Watney must overcome its unforgiving environment and survive long enough to be rescued. Using his resourcefulness, he must overcome the obstacles that Mars presents by growing food and find a way to communicate with Earth.

Moby Dick: Ahab, the captain of the Pequod, launches a voyage in search of a white whale that previously took his leg. The crew faces many natural challenges on this ill-fated journey, including storms, harsh waters, and the titular whale Moby Dick.

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Since the dawn of the industrial age, humanity has had a turbulent relationship with technology. Some see scientific progress as a defiance of God and the natural, while others have used it to question the limits of our morality, patience, and greed. While the idea of ‘character vs. technology’ might summon up the image of a Terminator-like robot apocalypse, this type of conflict could also be as modest as someone struggling to teach their Grandma Millie how to use emojis!

Examples of character vs. technology

Frankenstein : A scientist brings to life a creature made out of spare human parts. This ‘monster’ quickly becomes sentient and exceeds his creator’s wildest expectations, leading to Dr. Frankenstein’s demise on the tundra. Subtitling her book “The Modern Prometheus,” Mary Shelly likened her hero to the mythic Greek figure who stole fire from Zeus, putting a fine point on the idea of humans daring to play God.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: In the distant future of 1999, bounty hunter Rick Deckard is given the task of retiring (read: killing) a group of androids recently escaped from a Mars colony. The only problem? These synthetic creatures are practically indistinguishable from real people. When Deckard falls for one of these androids, he begins to question the very nature of humanity.

When your hero finds themselves up against something that cannot be explained by logic or science, they are probably in conflict with supernatural forces! While some writers employ this type of conflict to tell rip-roaring tales, supernatural stories can also explore human fears and inexplicable everyday events.

In practice, character vs supernatural conflicts will often see the protagonist face off against the forces of fate, religion, ghosts, gods, demons or aliens.

Examples of character vs supernatural

Ghostbusters: Three disgraced scientists (and a guy they find on Craigslist) set up shop as supernatural pest controllers, ridding New York of hungry ghosts and spectral librarians. But when a Sumerian god arrives looking to enslave the world, our four heroes must answer the age-old question: does bustin’ make them feel good ?

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: A doctor in Victorian London creates a serum that causes him to become his evil alter-ego, Edward Hyde. Inspired by the real-life case of Deacon Brodie, an upstanding Edinburgh citizen by day and burglar by night, author Robert Louis Stevenson uses this supernatural tale to depict one man’s struggle against his inner demons.

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Similar to “character vs. supernatural,” this conflict deserves its own entry — if only for its historical significance. “Character vs. fate” can include dealings with God or the gods and their prophecies — where our protagonists desperately try to assert their free will. This is a common trope in Greek tragedies, where the characters can do nothing but endure the destinies befallen to them.

Examples of character vs. supernatural

Macbeth: In Shakespeare’s “Scottish play,” the Thane of Glamis receives a prophecy from three witches that foretells his rise to the throne of Scotland. However, the witches also reveal that his buddy Banquo will father a line of kings — which gets Macbeth more than a little worried. In his fight against this fate, Macbeth takes extreme measures that prove to be his undoing. 

Oedipus Rex: Boy meets oracle. Oracle tells boy he will marry his mother and kill his father. In an effort to defy the prophecy, boy kills a stranger (who turns out to be his birth father) and marries a woman (who turns out to be his birth mother). Boy plucks his eyes out in a fit of frustration. It’s a tale as old as time.

If these stories teach us anything, it’s that tragedies are almost always self-inflicted!

Until now, these types of conflicts have seen our heroes deal with external forces. For our final entry on this list, let’s look at what is perhaps the most important conflict of all.

Writer Maxwell Anderson once said that “the story must be a conflict, and specifically, a conflict between the forces of good and evil within a single person”. Though that might be an oversimplification, every interesting story will indeed, at some point, involve a character’s inner dilemma. That’s because, as James N. Frey points out in How To Write A Damn Good Novel , a reader experiences the most empathy for a character when that character is in the middle of some intense inner strife.

Internal strife will stem from a debate that occurs within a character. It might originate from any combination of the character’s expectations, desires, duties, and fears. To get what they want, they must make a choice that threatens to change the very fabric of who they are.

Examples of character vs. self

The Hunger Games : Kind-hearted teen Katniss Everdeen is drafted as a contestant in a deadly reality show staged by a totalitarian government. As per the rules of the game, in the end, there can be only one — to survive, it seems that Katniss must overcome her reluctance to kill. Will she stick by her principles, even if it ultimately results in her death?

Great Expectation : Pip, a poor Blacksmith’s boy, is plucked from obscurity by a mysterious benefactor and allowed to become a London gentleman. Seeing this as his only chance to ‘better himself’ and win the heart of his childhood crush, Pip finds himself torn between getting everything he ever wanted and protecting his ideals. Will he devote himself to becoming a callous member of the upper-middle crust or remain loyal to his family and authentic self?

Now that you’ve seen the many faces of conflict in a story, it leaves only one question: how does a writer use this knowledge to benefit their own writing? In the final section of this guide, we’ll answer that very question as we show you how to identify and accentuate conflict in a story.

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There is no character arc , deeper meaning, or satisfying ending without conflict in a story. Everything we love about fiction hinges on a protagonist wanting something that he or she cannot have, and doesn’t know how to get. If you’re looking to tell moving, relatable stories yourself, you must learn how to create conflict in a story.

Everything we love about fiction hinges on a protagonist wanting something that he or she doesn’t know how to get.

Think of the most memorable protagonists in fiction, or your favorite fictional character. Is there a story if they don’t have conflict? Sometimes, there’s a big showdown with an antagonist ( Harry Potter , Lord of the Rings , The Chronicles of Narnia , etc.). Or, especially in literary fiction , the protagonist might need to overcome their own deficits to grow as a person ( Jane Eyre , Things Fall Apart , Giovanni’s Room , etc.). Whether the conflict in a story is external or internal, it drives the story forward—otherwise, the protagonist would have no story for anyone to write about.

Although the story with no conflict exists (and we’ll look at examples!), most works of fiction require conflict to succeed. So, let’s examine conflict in literature. We’ll examine the different types of conflict in a story, providing examples of each and, for writers, offering advice on how to create conflict in a story.

What is conflict in a story? First, let’s define this crucial element of storytelling . 

What is Conflict in a Story?: Contents

What is external conflict in a story?

What is internal conflict in a story, examples of conflict in a story, the story with no conflict, how to create conflict in a story, what is conflict in a story.

At its most basic, conflict is the clash of opposing forces against a character’s own pursuit of a goal. The character must overcome these opposing forces to achieve the goal. These opposing forces might take on numerous shapes, and might even exist solely within the character’s own psyche.

What is conflict in a story: the clash of opposing forces against a character’s own pursuit of a goal.

Most stories begin with a basic premise: a character wants or needs something; there are certain obstacles standing in the way of that character’s goal(s); that character does not know how to overcome those obstacles. These are the elements of conflict in a story, because that character repeatedly encounters different obstacles as they try to achieve their goals, which culminates in the story’s plot .

For example, consider the novel Beloved by Toni Morrison, which has both internal and external conflict. Sethe, the protagonist, miraculously reconnects with her daughter Beloved, whom Sethe killed so that she would not endure the horrors of American slavery. Beloved soon becomes the antagonist of the story, feeding on all of Sethe’s attention and starving Sethe of her family, her health, and her livelihood.

Sethe’s external conflict is with Beloved, who drains Sethe of the life she’s built for herself. Sethe also has to contend with the horrors and aftermath of slavery. Internally, Sethe must overcome her guilt, shame, and self-hatred regarding the sacrifices she had to make for her family, and come to accept the loving embrace of the Black community that she forsakes for Beloved.

Before we move on to more examples of conflict in a story, let’s dive deeper into external and internal conflict.

External conflict refers to any conflict that a character has with another person, place, or thing. These are the conflicts Man Vs. Man, Man Vs. Society, or Man Vs. Nature, which are also common themes in literature .

External conflict in a story: Any conflict that a character has with another person, place, or thing.

If a story has external conflict, then it must also have an antagonist. Even if the antagonist is not another person, it does present some sort of obstacle to the protagonist’s goals, and its interests directly counter the interests of the protagonist. It is an actively opposing force.

Internal conflict refers to the challenges that a character presents themselves. This is the conflict Man Vs. Self.

Internal conflict in a story: The challenges that a character presents themselves.

Often, the protagonist must overcome certain flaws to achieve what they want. Those flaws might be related to their personality—egotism or narcissism, for example. They might also have to overcome certain flaws in their way of thinking, such as self-hatred, insecurity, or fear of others. These flaws usually sit in the character’s blindspot, and their continued inability to address those flaws is what allows the conflict in a story to get worse and worse until the inevitable, explosive climax.

To further understand the relationship between conflict and plot, take a look at our article on Freytag’s Pyramid . For now, let’s look at some examples of conflict in a story.

The following examples of conflict in a story come from published works of literature.

“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Read it here.

Main character: The narrator and protagonist is unnamed, though the ending suggests her name might be Jane.

What she wants: Her freedom and health. The narrator is taken to a colonial mansion for the summer, where she is supposed to rest and recuperate from her illness. She wants to get better, but she also wants to make her own decisions and to write, both of which her husband forbids her to do.

External conflict: The narrator’s husband, John, does not take her wishes seriously. He is often patronizing, and assumes her sickness is simply a case of “temporary nervous depression.” John’s treatment of the narrator, and her refusal to be tied down, makes this story an early example of modern feminist literature.

The yellow wallpaper is also a source of external conflict, as the narrator finds it both hideous and mesmerizing, and it has a great impact on her mental health.

Internal conflict: The narrator does not know what’s best for her, on account of the many mixed messages she receives from her husband. She also fights against herself to be drawn into the yellow wallpaper: at first she finds it hideous, but the longer she stares, the harder it is to resist some weird magnetic pull in its design. This continues on until she believes that a woman is hiding in the wallpaper, trying to get out, only furthering her internal conflict, as she doesn’t know whether to help the woman or to question her own sanity.

Analysis: These conflicts drive the story forward: the narrator rejects the help of her husband and leans into her own mystical relationship with the wallpaper. At the end of the story, she thinks of herself as the trapped woman newly freed from her imprisonment. On the surface, it seems like the narrator has succumbed to her psychosis; but, considering how neglected she was by the people around her, it’s better to say that the narrator was forced into this psychosis, and could only find freedom in insanity.

“Sticks” by George Saunders

Main character: The unnamed narrator’s unnamed father.

What he wants: This is left open to interpretation, and masterfully so. Saunders presents a complex character in alarmingly few words. What we know about the narrator’s father is that he dresses up a pole in the yard based on his reactions to events. We also know he is an austere, ascetic person, who restrains himself and others from pleasure and is relentlessly economical. Could the pole represent his need for self-expression? Perhaps what he wants, more than anything else, is to be heard and understood—but he’s never learned how to accomplish this.

External conflict: While not explicitly stated, the story suggests that the father’s austerity gets in the way of his relationships. The narrator “found the seeds of meanness” from his own childhood within himself; before the father dies, he adorns the pole with the word “FORGIVE?” It seems as though the father’s behavior pushed away everyone he loves, and came to regret it after his wife had passed.

Internal conflict: This is also not explicitly stated, but the father has two competing behaviors. The narrator describes his father as being a mean, meticulous person; clearly, he seeks to control his household. But the father also has a need for self-expression, and to be loved. While this story does not have an antagonist, the father may be the antagonist of his own life.

Analysis: The narrator’s father is unable to express himself or show kindness. The reasons for this are never established, though much of these personality traits can be mapped to masculinity. Regardless, the father is conflicted between his need for control and his need for companionship. When his wife dies and he has no one around, his pleas grow desperate, but he can never express those pleas verbally, just adorn his pole in increasingly frantic attempts at human connection. The narrator’s reaction is one of indifference, because he only tells us that his father died and they sold the house, erasing any trace of the father’s mean-spirited life.

“The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury

Main characters: George and Lydia Hadley, parents to Wendy and Peter. They live in a Happylife Home, a house which automatically caters to their every need and comfort. The home includes a nursery, where the children can dream up anything they wish and experience it as though they were there—for example, the African Veldt.

What they want: George and Lydia want to feel more secure in their home. They are beginning to feel uneasy with every need automatically taken care of. They also worry about what the nursery might be doing to their children. Things are the most stable they have ever been for the Hadleys, but something still feels unstable.

External conflict: The Hadley parents and kids don’t get along. The kids have been spoiled with their every need being met instantly, and they’ve become very attached to the nursery—so much so, that the veldtland they spend so much time in makes the parents nervous. Additionally, the children do not like that the parents don’t give them everything they desire, so they’ve begun to view the house more like a parent than the parents themselves. The conflict reaches a boiling point when George decides to shut everything off.

Internal conflict: The Hadleys are at odds over how to run their own household. Are their kids spoiled because everything has been handed to them? Could it be that a life involving work and discomfort is more meaningful than a life in which everything is handed to you?

Analysis: The nursery’s animated veldtland drives the conflict of this story forward. The parents fear that the veldtland represents some sort of dark, psychological shift in the children, and what’s more, the land itself terrifies them. The children, it turns out, have indeed felt mothered by the house itself, to the point where they want to reject their own parents. Each character’s reaction to the nursery builds a slow-boiling suspense that results in a painful moment of recognition ( anagnorisis ): the lions of the veldt are feasting on animations of the parents’ bodies. And the parents themselves are next.

Can a story exist without conflict? It depends on who you ask. Most writers will agree that this is impossible: a story cannot exist without conflict, because a story exists to chart how people react to conflicts. The story with no conflict seems self-contradictory.

Indeed, most novels and short stories have tension and suspense. Otherwise, what else will pull the reader forward? Conflict in a story makes the story possible.

Nonetheless, there are at least two exceptions to this rule.

The first exception is microfiction and flash fiction . Now, many pieces of flash and micro do still have conflict. But, with so few words, and in such experimental genres, there are instances in which micro stories don’t have clearly defined internal and external conflict.

For example, read this micro piece: “Between the Earth and Sun” by Kalyn RoseAnne . Technically, there is conflict, but it occurs before the story begins. The narrator clearly has an internal conflict regarding their relationship to their hometown, but the story describes what happens after this has been resolved. In this instance, conflict isn’t driving the story forward, it’s the backstory—though, of course, it still makes the story possible.

The other example is the Eastern story structure Kishōtenketsu (起承転結). Kishōtenketsu is a story structure that does not necessarily rely on conflict and resolution. It is composed of four acts, each of which are embedded in the word Kishōtenketsu:

• Ki: Introduction
• Shō: Development
• Ketsu: Conclusion

The Ki is where we learn who the characters are. The Shō deepens our relationship to the characters: where they live, where they come from, what their dreams are, how we can relate to them.

The Ten complicates the plot. Now, this complication, or twist, might involve some degree of conflict, but it often relies on external circumstances that the characters simply react and adjust to. For example, a perfectly acceptable Ten would be that a man’s village is suddenly attacked, and he has to hide with his wife in a forest. Technically, this is conflict, but the characters are not struggling with anything internally, nor are they confronting their external situation.

The Ketsu shows us how the characters react to the Ten, usually involving some kind of growth and departure from the characters we met in the Ki and Shō.

This story structure can be found in East Asian storytelling, particularly stories from Japan, China, and Korea. Some Studio Ghibli movies exemplify Kishōtenketsu, such as My Neighbor Totoro .

Neither of these examples are perfect representations of the story with no conflict. A character is always reacting to a less-than-perfect situation. But, these examples showcase what a story can be when conflict is not the engine driving the story forward.

A great story builds conflict and tension in every line. Characters should always be pursuing something they desire and can’t have, whether because of external circumstances or their own internal flaws. As you write and edit your fiction, keep these 5 tips in mind for creating conflict in a story.

• Focus on motivation. What drives each character? Why do they get out of bed each morning? What goals do they pursue? Even small, simple goals, like “wanting a vase” or “being thirsty,” can lead to surprising conflicts.
• Think about fatal flaws. Most characters have some internal problem that prevents them from achieving their goals ( hamartia ). This problem sits in the character’s blindspot: they don’t realize they have this problem until it’s (almost) too late. What flaw does your protagonist have, and why can’t they acknowledge it?
• Link flaws to contexts. Often, a character’s flaws are the result of their upbringing and sociopolitical context. The narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper,” for example, cannot advocate for herself because of society’s sexism. Considering context adds more depth to each character.
• Let your characters make mistakes. Characters should not be perfect, and an author rarely agrees with every decision a character makes. A character’s fatal flaw should force them to make bad decisions. These bad decisions build tension and bring us towards the climax.
• Create relationships between internal and external conflict. Internal and external conflict are usually related to one another. In “Sticks,” for example, the narrator’s father is an unkind, miserly control freak (internal) who cannot communicate his feelings (internal, fatal flaw) and thus pushes away everyone he loves (external).

Tell Compelling Stories at Writers.com

The conflict in a story makes that story compelling to the audience. Write complex, well-developed conflicts at Writers.com. Our instructors have the tools to sharpen your prose, flesh out your characters, and make your story immersive—even if you try to write the story with no conflict.

Sean Glatch

I like your notes and you elaborate things very much

[…] Glatch, S. (2022, July 5). What is conflict in a story? definition and examples. Writers.com. https://writers.com/what-is-conflict-in-a-story […]

Conflict in a story is like the spicy ingredient that makes it interesting. It’s when characters face problems or challenges that they need to overcome. For example, imagine a story about a superhero trying to save the city from a villain. The conflict is the battle between good and evil, which keeps readers on the edge of their seats, wondering what will happen next. Conflict adds excitement and suspense to the story, making it more engaging and enjoyable.

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Techniques for Writing Compelling Conflict: Mastering the Art of Tension in Your Writing

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Writing compelling conflict is a crucial element in creating a captivating story. Conflict is the driving force behind any narrative, and without it, a story falls flat. Whether it is a physical altercation, a clash of personalities, or an internal struggle, conflict is what keeps readers engaged and invested in the story. However, not all conflict is created equal, and not all conflict is compelling.

To write compelling conflict, writers must understand the different types of conflict and how to effectively use them in their stories. There are four main types of conflict: man vs. man, man vs. nature, man vs. society, and man vs. self. Each type of conflict presents its own unique challenges and opportunities for a writer. By understanding the nuances of each type of conflict, writers can create richer, more complex stories that resonate with readers.

In this article, we will explore techniques for writing compelling conflict. We will examine the different types of conflict and how to effectively use them in your writing. We will also discuss common pitfalls to avoid when writing conflict, and how to ensure that your conflict is both engaging and believable. Whether you are a seasoned writer or just starting out, the tips and techniques in this article will help you create stories that are both compelling and memorable.

Understanding Conflict in Literature

Defining Conflict

Conflict is one of the most important elements of literature, as it creates tension and drives the plot forward. Conflict can be defined as a struggle between two or more opposing forces, whether they are external or internal. External conflicts are those that occur between a character and an outside force, such as another character, society, nature, or fate. Internal conflicts, on the other hand, are those that occur within a character’s mind or emotions, such as a struggle between right and wrong, or a struggle to overcome fear or guilt.

Types of Conflict

There are several types of conflict that can be found in literature. These include:

• Man vs. Man: This is the most common type of external conflict, where one character is pitted against another.
• Man vs. Society: This type of external conflict occurs when a character is in conflict with the values, laws, or customs of society.
• Man vs. Nature: This type of external conflict occurs when a character is in conflict with the forces of nature, such as a hurricane, flood, or earthquake.
• Man vs. Fate: This type of external conflict occurs when a character is in conflict with the inevitable, such as death or destiny.
• Man vs. Self: This is the most common type of internal conflict, where a character is in conflict with his or her own thoughts, feelings, or beliefs.

The Role of Conflict

Conflict is essential to the development of a story, as it creates tension, drama, and suspense. Without conflict, a story would be flat and uninteresting. Conflict also allows for character development, as characters are forced to face their fears, weaknesses, and flaws. Conflict can also be used to explore themes and issues, such as justice, morality, and power. Different genres of literature use conflict in different ways, but all rely on it to create a compelling story.

Creating Compelling Characters

Creating compelling characters is an essential aspect of writing compelling conflict. Characters are the driving force behind any story, and their actions and decisions create the conflict that propels the plot forward. In this section, we will explore some techniques for creating characters that are engaging , dynamic, and memorable.

Character Development

Character development is the process of creating a character that is believable and relatable. A well-developed character has a backstory, personality traits, and flaws that make them unique and interesting. To create a compelling character, writers must consider the following:

• Background: What is the character’s history? Where did they come from, and what events shaped them into who they are today?
• Personality Traits: What are the character’s defining characteristics? Are they brave, loyal, or cunning? Do they have any quirks or idiosyncrasies that make them stand out?
• Flaws: What are the character’s weaknesses or flaws? Do they struggle with anger, addiction, or insecurity? Flaws make characters more relatable and human.

Motivations and Goals

Motivations and goals are essential components of character development. A character’s motivations drive their actions and decisions, while their goals give them something to strive for. To create compelling characters, writers must consider the following:

• Motivations: What drives the character? Are they seeking revenge, justice, or redemption? Understanding a character’s motivations helps writers create believable and compelling actions and decisions.
• Goals: What does the character want? Whether it’s to save the world or find true love, a character’s goals give them direction and purpose.

Character Interactions

Character interactions are an important aspect of creating compelling conflict. How characters interact with each other can create tension, drama, and conflict. To create compelling character interactions, writers must consider the following:

• Relationships: How do characters relate to each other? Are they friends, enemies, or something in between?
• Conflict: What conflicts arise from character interactions? Do characters clash over goals or motivations?
• Dialogue: How do characters communicate with each other? Dialogue can reveal character traits and motivations and create tension and conflict.

In conclusion, creating compelling characters is an essential part of writing compelling conflict. By considering a character’s development, motivations and goals, and interactions with other characters, writers can create characters that are engaging, dynamic, and memorable.

Crafting the Plot Around Conflict

Crafting a compelling conflict requires careful plotting and consideration of the story’s obstacles, tension, stakes, and pacing. Integrating conflict into the plot is essential to creating a story that captures readers’ attention and keeps them engaged until the end.

Integrating Conflict into the Plot

The conflict should be an integral part of the plot and not a mere afterthought. The plot should revolve around the conflict, and the characters’ actions and decisions should drive the story forward. The conflict should be introduced early in the story, and the tension should build gradually to keep readers engaged.

Raising the Stakes

To create a compelling conflict, the stakes must be high. The characters should have something significant to lose if they fail to overcome the obstacles in their way. The stakes should increase as the story progresses, and the characters should face increasingly difficult challenges. This creates tension and keeps readers invested in the story’s outcome.

Pacing and Tension

The pacing of the story should be carefully considered to maintain tension and keep readers engaged. The conflict should be introduced early in the story, and tension should build gradually to keep readers invested in the outcome. The pacing should be varied to keep readers engaged, with moments of high tension followed by moments of relative calm. This creates a sense of ebb and flow that keeps readers invested in the story.

Crafting a plot around conflict requires careful consideration of the story’s obstacles, tension, stakes, and pacing. By integrating conflict into the plot, raising the stakes, and carefully pacing the story, writers can create compelling stories that keep readers engaged until the very end.

The Dynamics of Conflict Resolution

When it comes to writing compelling conflict, understanding the dynamics of conflict resolution is essential. Conflict resolution refers to the process of resolving a conflict between two or more parties. In literature, this process is often depicted through the climax and consequences of the conflict, as well as the resolution and change that follows.

Climax and Consequences

The climax of a conflict is the point at which the conflict reaches its peak intensity. This is often the most dramatic and intense part of the story, and it is where the consequences of the conflict are most apparent. These consequences can take many forms, such as physical harm, emotional distress, or psychological trauma. By highlighting the consequences of the conflict, writers can create tension and suspense, keeping the reader engaged and invested in the story.

Resolution and Change

The resolution of a conflict is the point at which the conflict is resolved, and the parties involved come to a mutual understanding or agreement. This resolution can take many forms, such as compromise, forgiveness, or reconciliation. The resolution of the conflict often leads to change, both in the characters involved and in the world around them. This change can take many forms, such as personal growth, societal change, or a shift in power dynamics.

By understanding the dynamics of conflict resolution, writers can create compelling and engaging conflict that resonates with readers. By highlighting the consequences of the conflict and the changes that result from its resolution, writers can create a sense of realism and depth that draws readers into the story.

Enhancing Conflict Through Writing Techniques

One of the most important aspects of writing a compelling story is the ability to create conflict that keeps readers engaged throughout the narrative. While conflict can arise from a variety of sources, including character relationships and external events, the way that conflict is written can often make or break a story. In this section, we’ll explore some techniques for enhancing conflict through writing.

Dialogue and Action

One of the most effective ways to create conflict in writing is through dialogue and action. When characters have opposing goals or beliefs, their interactions can create tension and drama that keeps readers engaged. By using dialogue to reveal character motivations and desires, writers can create conflict that feels organic and believable.

Action scenes can also be a powerful tool for creating conflict. When characters are physically threatened or put in danger, readers feel a heightened sense of tension and suspense. By carefully choreographing action scenes and using sensory details to immerse readers in the moment, writers can create conflict that feels visceral and intense.

Suspense and Drama

Another way to enhance conflict in writing is through suspense and drama. By withholding information from readers or creating a sense of uncertainty, writers can keep readers on the edge of their seats. Suspense can be created through a variety of techniques, including cliffhangers, foreshadowing, and misdirection.

Drama, on the other hand, is created by revealing information that raises the stakes of the conflict. By introducing new obstacles or revealing hidden motivations, writers can create conflict that feels complex and layered. By carefully balancing suspense and drama, writers can keep readers engaged and invested in the outcome of the conflict.

Thematic Layers

Finally, writers can enhance conflict by adding thematic layers to their stories. By exploring deeper themes and ideas, writers can create conflict that feels meaningful and resonant. For example, a story about a family feud might explore themes of loyalty, betrayal, and forgiveness. By weaving these themes into the conflict, writers can create a story that feels rich and multi-dimensional.

Overall, there are many techniques that writers can use to enhance conflict in their stories. By using dialogue and action, suspense and drama, and thematic layers, writers can create conflict that feels compelling and engaging. Whether you’re writing a thriller, a romance, or a literary novel, these techniques can help you create conflict that keeps readers invested from beginning to end.

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Conflict is not a secret sauce to telling stories; it’s the basic ingredient. It moves the plot forward and makes characters more engaging. Without genuine conflict in your story, it’s just a narration of events where nothing exciting happens. So, let’s find out how to create conflict that is engaging. We also have some examples of conflict in literature to ease the process!

Enhance your conflict with perfect editing! Learn more

What is conflict? 

Before you learn how to create conflict, you need to learn what it is.

Simply defined, conflict is an element of struggle. It’s the barrier that a (central) character must overcome in order to achieve what they want or need. Essentially, it’s what goes wrong in the novel.

Let’s take the most basic example: In Little Red Riding Hood , the conflict is the Big Bad Wolf. Without the wolf, Little Red Riding Hood would safely reach her grandmother with no threat to her life. If this happens, there is no tension in the story. Now, what reader would want to read a story like that?

There has to be some scandal in the industry, some turmoil in the family, or some personal enmity between characters. These are the big and small issues that amount to conflict in a story. Conflict can be major (societal problems like sexism) or minor (familial struggles, personal enmity). A story becomes more interesting if characters have to solve a series of minor conflicts before they combat the major one.

For example, Arya and Sansa’s enmity in A Game of Thrones is a minor conflict while the same between Ned Stark and Cersei is a major one.

Did you know that there are five important types of conflict? It’s impossible to know how to create conflict in a story when you’re unaware of the different shapes it comes in! Let’s tackle that head-on.

Types of conflict

There are two major types of conflict: external and internal. These can be further divided into five important types of conflict, as follows:

External conflict

External conflict is the tussle between a character and an outside force. This force can be another character, or nature, or even the situation they’re in.

Yes, it’s that simple. There are four types of external conflict:

• Character vs. character
• Character vs. nature
• Character vs. society
• Character vs. technology

Internal conflict 

This struggle happens within the mind of a character. Internal conflict in a story is a character’s battle with their own emotions, opinions, or ambitions. The most popular example of such a conflict is Shakespeare’s Hamlet .

There is only one category under internal conflict:

1. Character vs. self

We can now take a deep dive into each type of conflict, and visit a few examples along the way!

1. Character vs character 

This is the most common type of conflict in all stories. A classic example: Hero against the villain.

Superhero comics and movies are entirely based on this conflict. The heroes are out to uphold the law while the villains are out to break it. This conflict of values and interests leads to their clash. The origin stories of both the protagonist and antagonists are rooted in such conflict.

Conflicting values

Most often, character vs. character struggles have the basis of a conflict of values. Often, this works with or alongside a conflict of interest to make different storylines. For example, what if Batman and the Joker together want to stop the Riddler? Here, Batman and Joker have conflicting values, but their interests are the same. This makes for an engaging story, doesn’t it?

Therefore, the character vs. character conflict can take any shape based on the surrounding circumstances. It’s the most common conflict because it’s that versatile: you’ll find it everywhere!

2. Character vs. nature 

Popular in both books and movies, this is when characters have to face the wrath of nature in different forms.

The unpredictability and immense power of nature makes for a strong challenge to the characters. Often, this conflict is quite difficult to overcome.

While every apocalyptic movie comes to mind, forces of nature don’t always mean geographical occurrences like a tsunami or a volcano. A disease like cancer is also a force of nature. So, stories like The Fault in Our Stars and The Normal Heart are also examples of character vs. nature type of conflict.

3. Character vs. society 

When a character feels out of place in the social life around them, their struggle amounts to this type of conflict. Cyberpunk and dystopian novels often feature a conflict where the character stands up against unequal or oppressive social structures.

This conflict is well represented in Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 through the protagonist’s struggle against his dystopian world . Another notable example can be Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale .

Most tragic plays feature this conflict in some capacity. The protagonist’s inability to overcome their conflict with the surrounding society eventually leads to their death.

4. Character vs technology 

Common in sci-fi stories, this conflict usually unfolds in a future where technology has become highly advanced. Technological advancements then reach a level where machines and A.I. begins to pose a threat to humanity. Naturally, the human characters then have to battle technology.

In Isaac Asimov’s The Evitable Conflict , machines in the far future decide to take control of humanity and break the first law of robotics. This is a pretty typical example of conflict between character and technology.

This conflict is appealing because it brings back the Renaissance-era questions of intelligence, creation, and divinity. The next time you watch a Terminator movie, you’ll know exactly what we’re talking about!

5. Character vs self 

Hamlet can’t arrive at a decision about how to exact revenge upon his uncle. He struggles with his own self, and not any outside force. This is an example of the sole internal conflict, which is character vs self.

This type of conflict often brings forth themes of mental instability and madness. Often, characters succumb to this struggle and lose their grip on reality.

This also features as a minor conflict in many stories. In this case, it helps the characters become better or more able versions of themselves, allowing them to evolve.

How to create conflict

Conflict is embedded in every story. If you have a story to tell, it will naturally have a “situation”, unfolding from a beginning to an end. The question is, how do you refine this situation into an exciting battle between different powers?

How to create conflict from the base elements of a story like character and setting? This is nothing short of a craft, and we’re here to help you master it.

Here are our five tips for writing conflict like a pro:

1. Create conflict with a purpose

Remember, the conflicts in your story aren’t just hurdles that your characters need to cross. They need to serve a thematic and literary purpose.

Basically, it should make sense why character A is against character B. Or, for that matter, how character A battles against a robot uprising. The place to do this is in your characters’ backstories and character traits.

Ground your conflict in your characters, and show your readers how it affects them. Conflict, external or internal, is only effective if it has a purpose.

2. Set differing goals and agendas

Remember the scene in Marvel’s The Avengers where the six superheroes interact for the first time? Why is this scene so effective?

No one likes to watch people agreeing with each other. Dialogue gets interesting only when people disagree, and the plot becomes gripping when they try to find ways to counteract each other.

Make sure to set different, opposing goals for your major characters. It’s a given that heroes and villains will be set against each other. But your story becomes more engaging when friends or allies also have distinct, clashing viewpoints.

It’s like Batman and Joker working together to defeat the Riddler. A narrative is entertaining when not just the characters, but also their agendas are in conflict with each other.

3. Define the problem 

The easiest way to set the narrative in motion is to start with a problem. It can be a mystery, a theft, or an old secret being revealed. How many times has a movie begun with a gimmick being stolen?

Give your characters simple goals like getting back the stolen item, rescuing the kidnapped child, or searching for the lost treasure. This helps you develop the plot, and provides a chance to complicate or deepen the theme of your story.

4. Play on setbacks and failures 

A way to make the middle of your story is to fail your characters. Make them lose the battle, or fail an exam, or get negative results in a crucial experiment stage.

Your protagonist’s struggles with their emotions and mental health help the readers get to know them better. How they deal with failure may also lead to other conflicts you can explore. So, don’t be afraid to let your characters get defeated.

5. Keep your genre in mind 

There are certain conventions about how different genres feature conflict in a story. Take cues from the types of conflict you observe in other works. When you sit down to watch an apocalyptic movie, don’t you expect to watch humans struggle against nature?

If you’re writing a story in fifteenth century England, your conflict is likely to feature the Wars of the Roses . If it’s  romance you write, the main couple’s struggles to be together will form your central conflict.

Your characters’ struggles need to align with the generic conventions your audience will come to expect.

To enhance your novel further after writing an engaging conflict and completing your piece, you can consider taking our editing and proofreading services . 

Still have doubts about how to create an engaging story? We’ve answered a few in the next section. Keep reading!

• How to Write Dialogue: 7 Rules, 5 Tips & 65 Examples
• What is the Setting of a Story? Meaning + 7 Expert Tips
• 5 Elements of a Short Story & 6 Stages of a Plot

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The Secret to Creating Conflict

by Joe Bunting | 59 comments

We often think that to create conflict we need to show major conflict or fight scenes. For example, a car chase, an argument between lovers, a fistfight, or the threat of a nuclear explosion. Or we think of conflict as some kind of internal suffering: depression, longing, or pain.

But the truth is that if events and emotions were the only elements of conflict in our stories, we'd have some pretty flat stories.

Conflict, in good stories, is not always about spectacular events or painful emotions. Good conflict is about values.

Conflict is at the heart of good fiction. Our characters have to face opposition in their pursuit of a worthy goal to keep us interested. It's conflict that shows us who they really are. Let's look at how to develop good conflict story ideas from values.

What is a Value

When you hear the word value in this context, you might think of “family values,” or in other words, morals. While morality is crucial to storytelling, morals aren't what I mean by value.

Let's simplify it. A value is something you admire, something you want. If I value something, it means I think it's good .

Here are some examples of things you might value:

• Money / Wealth
• Your little brother
• Getting good grades
• Organization
• The Environment
• Productivity

Think about a few of your favorite protagonists. What do they value?

For example, Elizabeth Bennet, our heroine from Pride & Prejudice , values honesty, humility, intelligence, kindness, and her family (am I missing any?). The source of conflict with Mr. Darcy was on the basis of these values. She thought he was dishonest, prideful, rude, and worst of all, he “ruined the happiness of a most beloved sister.” She believed he acted against her values.

Types of Conflict

Once you know what a character values, you can decide how to put that value at risk for strong character development . There are different types of conflict.

One is external conflict, meaning that something outside the character gets in the way of what they value. If a villain tries to stop the superhero, that's external conflict. If a terrible storm keeps a character from reaching the person they love, that's external conflict.

Win Pride and Prejudice, when Mr. Darcy convinces Bingley that Jane doesn't love him, he's creating external conflict that gets in the way of Jane's happiness (even if this is a secondary conflict in the novel).

Another type is internal conflict, where the character is at war with themselves. Elizabeth Bennet holding onto her own pride is an internal conflict—she has to overcome something in herself to find love.

When Good People Create Conflict

You don't need a villain to create narrative conflict. Most conflict comes about between two positive values that conflict.

In our example of Pride & Prejudice , looming above the whole story is the value of marriage and love . Mrs. Bennet wants all her daughters to get married. The daughters want to get married too, but only if they're in love… and preferably in love with someone wealthy (another central value in the story).

Marriage, love, and wealth are all positive values. They're values most of us would agree with! However, figuring out how to adhere to all of those values at once is incredibly difficult, and in Pride & Prejudice , we get to watch the characters try, fail, and then finally succeed at achieving all of these good but conflicting values.

There can even be conflicts within a single value.

All of the Bennet daughters value love, but what does love even mean? Does it count when the object of your affection isn't respectable? Is foolish passion still love? What if you love knowledge and books more than people? What if you make a marriage of convenience and end up loving your lifestyle but not your spouse? Is that okay? Those are all conflicts raised within the single value of love.

How To Create Conflict in Your Story

To create conflict within your own story, ask yourself the following questions:

What does your main character value? Do any of his values potentially conflict? How can you reveal the conflicts in those values? Do any of his values conflict with themselves ? How can you delve into the complications of that single value?

A Note About Villains

While your story may not need a villain to have conflict, it's always fun to have one. A villain is a character who has the opposite values as those of your main character.

For example, Batman values justice and order. Joker values crime and chaos. Frodo values his friends and the peace of the Shire. Sauron values power at the cost of relationship and beauty.

To create the perfect villain, figure out what your main character values. Then, twist those values into some hideous shape and set the characters loose on each other.

Who are some of your favorite characters? What do they value and how are those values tested? Let us know in the comments .

Write a short scene showing one of your character's values. Then test that value, either with another positive value or by negating that value.

Write for fifteen minutes . When you're finished, post your practice in the practice box below. And if you post, please be sure to comment on a few fellow writers' work too.

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

59 Comments

Emilee’s lips moved but Jim couldn’t hear what she said. He leaned over and put his ear so close to her mouth that he felt her breath.

“No,” she said.

“All.” Her sentences were impossible to piece together.

“I know it’s scary, Em, but you’re in good hands. We’re going to take care of you.”

“Look at me. You are not going to die.”

Jim hesitated. He had a personal rule never to make promises he couldn’t keep, especially not to patients about treatment. After all, Emilee would die someday and it could easily be on the operating table that afternoon. “Promise.”

Great way to show two positives , honesty and compassion, clashing. Good job Katie!

Well said, Jeff. That’s what I was thinking.

Short and to the point. Excellent!

I loved that! Are you an author by any chance?

I believe in extra-terrestrials. Not that there is life on other planets or worlds beyond our own. That’s a given. It’s like saying you need lemons to make a lemonade. People know lemonade is made up of lemons. What I’m saying is I believe aliens are here, on Earth, flying around in circular craft.

I usually look up at the sky, hoping that one day I’ll see that elusive silver disc. Maybe it’ll be close enough for me to see it in detail. I’ve heard many stories, including one from my aunt, where they saw a colorful star-like object in the sky. That says nothing. I want to see one up close. Heck, I want to see the aliens. So fascinated by little gray men that I can’t help buying every book on alien abductions I lay my hands on.

Just imagine you’re in bed and wake up in the middle of the night. Your bedroom door is closed but you see the doorknob turning. The door slowly creaks open and peering through the small opening is a large pear-shaped gray head with two large almond shaped eyes. I can’t possibly imagine what alien abductees have been through. I’d imagine it’s scary, but nonetheless a revelation in and of itself. Something most of us would never get the chance to experience.

But there is something sad in all this. No matter how much I believe aliens exist, whenever I ask a friend or family member, they try to shoot me down. Last time I brought up the topic of aliens and flying saucers, a friend of mine shook his head and said it could be anything. I found a video on YouTube which shows a disc shaped object hovering over the Mediterranean sea and when the camera zooms in you could see two figures with large gray heads and black eyes. Eager to convince my brother and his girlfriend, I show them the video. But my brother jumps to another website showing a drone fighter used in Afghanistan and makes the claim that the disc is not a flying saucer but one of the drones.

“How about the aliens?” I ask him.

“Anyone could’ve Photoshopped the image.”

He doesn’t convince me. Even though the video could be one of many hoaxes, out there somewhere, aliens are flying the skies and making their presence known to a select few. How I’d like to be able to see one of them someday.

As a big X-Files fan, I really like this.

I love the concept of aliens (Except if they go all XCOM on us)

Nice practice, Marc. So what’s the value? Aliens? Or the belief in aliens? And the negation of the value is his friend’s lack of belief?

You got it. It’s belief in aliens, the excitement at the thought that aliens might be here. The negation is the narrator’s friends saying otherwise. I came up with this on the fly, right after reading your post so it doesn’t go too in depth as to why the narrator has those values. It’s also lacking more action, which I tried adding some in the end.

Interesting. Belief or faith, in other words, is an interesting thing to value, especially in our skeptical culture. I wonder how this would change if the character valued the aliens themselves, and the belief in them was a given. So rather than, “I believe in extra-terrestrials,” it would be, “I love extra terrestrials.”

There were only two sounds: the persistent high buzz of the half-dimmed lights dangling from the chrome light fixture and the repetitious sloshing of the dish-washer droning in the kitchen.

I sat on the fading, tan couch with feet tucked to the left. My right elbow braced my weight against the threadbare arm of my current dais. Book in hand, I was stoically poised for the long, afternoon read. I was a monk in meditation.

Five minutes into my trance, the door connecting the kitchen to the garage met the refrigerator for the eighty-third time. Trust me, I’ve counted the dents. A young, squeaky voice rattled along the walls and crumbled my resolve. Consoling the child whose friend wouldn’t share a stick became a priority.

Time dissolved without notice, and as I was chopping onions for a stew, I looked up and saw the scarlet book spread open, face-down on the couch, soaking in the feeble rays of electric light. I smeared a tear with the back of my hand and resumed my work, not knowing when another monastic moment would find me again.

Nice job showing the conflict between what we value and what must be done.

Wow, beautiful. Very poignant, and I know a lot of people can relate to this feeling.

Thanks. I hope I can one day give them hope that they are not alone.

This is funny, Jason. Poor guy. He just wants solitude and contemplation, and he’s stuck in the messiness of modern life. It’s a little hyperbolic (monk in meditation, the tear), although I’m sure that was the point. 🙂

My life is one cliched hyperbole after another, Joe. And the tear is from the onions. Maybe.

Duh. Don’t know how I missed that. Very funny, señor.

He stood looking at the gun, staring at it silently. He didn’t want to fight this battle this way, but there was no other choice. There were people’s lifes at stake, people that he cared about, especially Krista.

“I can’t even be sure this is the right guy. Maybe you got it wrong. You know, you helped me.” He said aloud as he shifted from his silent reflection into a nervous pace.

His target didn’t see him. Outside Governor Douglas was relaxed in a lawn chair out back with a half of can of Coke watching his two little girls attempt to do cartwheels, courtesy of their new friends at school.

“Watch me, Daddy.” Tara said.

“No, Dad. Watch me” her sister yelled back as she tried to wriggle in front of Tara to get her father’s attention. “I can do it better”

Inside Governor’s Douglas house, Alex was still pacing. Something had to be wrong. There was no way that this man could have been dangerous as the omens had said he was. Perhaps he needed to check them again.

He reached in his pocket and pulled out the all too-familiar wreath made of bone. He sat down and crossed his legs and closed his eyes. Within seconds, he began murmuring the chant.

Moments later, he awoke on the Other Side. Once his consciousness settled, he saw the last person he wanted to see, Hypno.

“:I can’t do it” Alex said resolutely, “I won’t.”

Very nice, Charles. So the value is the people he loves (and wants to protect), on one side, and compassion on the other side. Two positive values put into conflict. Very nice.

This part was backstory: “There were people’s lifes at stake, people that he cared about, especially Krista.” In a normal scene, you’d want to get rid of that and show it instead. But for the purposes of this practice it’s fine.

Great job! 🙂

Loneliness. It could happen to anyone. Lately, it had overwhelmed me. Weighing me down. Barnaby’s warmth is the only thing keeping me sane, I know, but it’s just not the same. Today, though, I have dragged myself out of bed, tugged on my clothes, and opened up to the crowded world.

“Our new friend is coming over today,” I say, “So, we have to be good.”

He answers with a toothy grin and a wagging tail.

A rapid knocking and he jumps about my feet excitedly.

“Hi,” I say, only a bit nervously, as I pull open the door. “Come on in.”

“Thanks for inviting me over,” is the reply. Dusty flip-flops on the newly-mopped floor. Shiny hot-pink fingernails.

“Yeah,” I say, stepping back and closing the door. “I’m really glad to hang out with you.”

“Oh.” A sudden hint of disgust. “What’s that?”

“That’s Barnaby.” I reply with an affectionate glance. He offers his lolling pink tongue and enthusiastic wiggling.

Then, “I don’t like dogs.”

“…Oh.” Hesitantly, I glance down at the huge brown eyes that just can’t understand, and I give up.

Wow, that is a great way to leave it, just introducing the conflict and knowing that things are not going to go well from there.

Awesome. Conundrum central! Man’s best friend must prevail.

I really like how you introduced the conflicting character. It gives you a sense that she might be a bit disagreeable. Nice job!

All alone in the vestibule of the Papal palace, the Duke of Barcelona was sitting on a richly decorated french divan.. or fauteuil.. or whatever those buffoons called a chair. The power of the Vatican was unabashedly flaunted all over the room, everywhere there where colourful tapestries, ceremonious arms and glorious statues, as if to awe visitors into the greatness of the kingdom of God. Personally, Ramon did not believe that an all mighty deity would bother with all those boring decorations, but he wasn’t the one who was going to tell them that!

Since it did not seem like he was going to be granted an audience for some time still, he decided to take the time to review the mission that took him here, to this most holy of cities. His royalness, King Sancho Jimena of Aragon had asked him to go to Rome and plead for the military and religious support of the Pope in his war against the Muslim emirates that plagued his beloved Spain, a war that was bringing so much hope that some nobles had started to call it the ” Reconquista de Hibernia ”. The Duke knew that his mission was of the utmost importance, because without that support, the war would fail and any hope of ever being free from the heathens rule would be lost forever. But if he managed to succeed, then Spain would once again be free and united under a real Castillian king!

Spotting the arms of Frankfurt on a tapestry, he immediately thought about the flaw in his King’s plan, the Kaiser of the Holy Roman Empire, spotting an opportunity to expand his power, had been sending envoys all over christian Europe, shouting far and wide that he would take care of the Muslim menace if only the puny castillian Kings would accept his help. If the Kaiser managed to bring enough nobles to support his claim then his King and his allies would have no choice but to bow down to his authority and then everything would have been for naught, instead of being Moorish, Iberia would be German!

As that black cloud hung over his mind, a page arrived and told him that his Holiness would see him now. The big curved doors of the courtroom swung open and as Ramon entered he crossed a man in rich black and gold robes. « Why, hello there dear Duke! My Kaiser will be glad to hear that you seek the council of the Pope as well.. » The man said, before slowly leaving the room. The smile on his face sent a shiver down Ramon’s spine, what had just gone down here? Was he too late?

This is complicated! So the value in the first paragraph is wealth, and then it’s negated by phoniness. The value in the second paragraph is freedom. Then, it’s negated by lack of freedom. Would you say that’s right? I wonder if it would be more powerful if you just focused on one for this scene?

Possibly, what I was trying to do is establish that wealth and power meant nothing to the character if they took away his freedom, the wealth of the church made it vulnerable to decadence and the ambition of the Empire established it as a possible actor of that decadence.

Nice. I like that.

I sat at the bar, nursing my third beer of the night. The television on the far wall was showing some football game between two teams I wasn’t familiar with. Patrons sat at most of the tables talking animatedly about their weeks, or their love lives, or whatever came to mind. Waitresses slipped between the crowds, expertly keeping their drink trays horizontal, not spilling a drop. Music drowned out almost everything, creating a miasma of noise that made it hard to think.

I looked at the bartender, a tall brunette dressed in a red t-shirt with the tavern’s logo on it and tight-fitting jeans, smiling as she took orders from the customers who shared the bar with me. Her long dark hair was pinned up nicely, exposing her neck in a very attractive manner. Some of the guys sitting at the bar around me were staring at her too, some with thinly disguised lust and others just wanting their beer.

As she took an order from one of the guys who was leering at her, she leaned in so she could hear him. She laughed, poured two glasses full of beer, and placed them on the bar in front of him. He said something else and she had to lean in again. His eyes darted to her chest before moving back to her eyes as he spoke. She smiled again and said something in that matter-of-fact way that I was intimately familiar with from my time trying to pick up women in bars.

The “that’s sweet, but I’ve got better things to do than go home with you” way.

I downed the rest of my beer in one gulp and stood up. I waved to her and her startled smile lit up as she noticed. The love in her eyes was evident as she waved back, even to this misguided man. I put on my coat and walked out the door.

She would be coming home to me when the night was over. And home was a much better place to work on overcoming this pointless jealousy than actually sitting there and watching her work.

That smile had been all the evidence I needed.

I really enjoyed this, how you totally fooled the reader. Great!

Thank you! I really appreciate the feedback.

I like. It could go so many places too. In fact, I was kind of imagining that brass chime sound and the start of a Law & Order episode. Enter frantic husband who’s wife went missing after her shift…of course it’s almost always the husband and an insurance scam…

Joe, I *love* this post. Along there with the different parts of story (action, dialogue, etc) which adds new insight into my writing. Thanks!

Firelights cracked through the sky like gunfire. Jessy looked at the side of Wayne’s face and in the reflection of the blasts, there was something sinister about his high cheeks. She covered her shoulders with the dainty evening shawl she’d bought from Woolworths especially for tonight.

‘That’s pretty impressive,’ Wayne said, slipping his arm around her waist.

She wanted to say no it’s not, that it’s too loud and I’ve never liked firecrackers since one lopped off my neighbours’ little finger. That they remind me of war and arrogance and men who carry their guns in their holsters because they need everyone’s jealousy.

But instead she took his finger in hers. ‘Mmmhmmmm.’

She averted her eyes from the blaze by trying to focus on the food in front of her. It was a man’s picnic – a hulk of chicken in the middle of the red and white checked table cloth (that was a nice touch, she had to admit), a tomato and cucumber in case she wanted to make her own salad and a six pack of Castle. In his haste not to miss the opening, he’d forgotten to bring the wine along, and the two plastic cups lay on the frayed edges of the blanket.

‘Wow, look at that one!’ Wayne said, pointing at the gaudy sky.

She glanced up and then quickly back down. It hurt her eyes so she closed them and leaned against Wayne’s chest. There at least he couldn’t see that she wasn’t watching. If he knew how she hated this, he’d be gutted. Her aversion would be a personal assault against Wayne, a vote of no confidence in his taste, his personality and his ability to seduce not only her but any member of the female race. So she shut her eyes and let the lights flicker against her eyelids as she pretended that Smudge was sitting on her lap on the rainbow patchwork quilt her grandmother made for her when she was six.

I love this Zoe – I think you expressed some innate male/female conflicts really well.

Thank you, Juliana!

Thanks Zoe. I’m glad this helped. 🙂

I love how you’ve shown the conflict between masculinity and femininity here. I think it’s interesting and clever to think about those as values, since so much of it is about cultural norms. Men value explosions, meat, inspiring envy in other men, beer, and seducing women. Women value daintiness, salads, cats, grandmothers, and… the feelings of their men. 🙂 So much conflict in so little space. I love it.

Thanks a lot Joe! Haha, the salad/meat conflict still rages in our house… although I’m finding an inroad through roasted vegetables!!! 😉

I do love roasted vegetables. 🙂

Cory knew the bathroom needed to be cleaned. She also knew that once she started the bathroom she’d notice the baseboards that needed cleaning, the dirt on the walls and the carpet that needed vacuuming. I’ll get back to that she thought, can’t forget to take the salt dough ornaments out of the over.

She looked disappointingly at the swollen dough. She’d hoped to make beautiful handmade ornaments as gifts this Christmas. This was now looking unlikely. She surveyed her “to do list” for the day, grab a coke, chocolate bar and some gummy bears. She began typing y..o..u.. then pressed enter once the auto-fill completed her destination. Maybe after this, she though, I’ll take a nap.

Cory knew the bathroom needed to be cleaned. She also knew that once she started the bathroom she’d notice the baseboards, the dirt of the walls and the carpets that needed vacuuming I’ll get back to that, she thought… can’t forget to take the salt dough ornaments out of the oven.

She looked disappointingly at the swollen dough. She’d hoped to make beautiful handmade ornaments as gifts this Christmas. This was now looking unlikely. She survey her “to do list” for the day, gabbed a coke, a chocolate bar and some gummy bears. Settling into the office chair, she begins typing y..o ..u then presses enter once auto-fill completes her destination. “Maybe after this I’ll take a nap.”

Excellent post! I would go further to say, think about what values are changing in your characters. You need Pre- and Post- values. Then, prioritize the values, which values does your character think are most important at the beginning. Contrast this with what they think is most important by the end of the story.

Just to let you know, I just love the name of your website. It’s so cool!

Thanks Danielle!

Joe Bunting joebunting.com

Just found this site recently and worked on your advice about values. Very helpful and this is what I came up with.

Zander Cole valued his freedom. He valued his freedom so much; he knew he had to fight for it. Enlisting in the Army at Seventeen, he was so ecstatic and could not wait to get his first deployment. However, when he came home with the news, his father did not share his excitement. His father had plans for him and Zander knew that. But Zander did not like those plans. He felt he needed to do this. This was what he was put on this earth for. As he arrived home after enlisting, he ran through the house and called everyone down to the living room for a meeting.

“Everyone, I have an announcement.” He stated as his mother Sharon, father Martin and sister Zara, sat on the leather couch in the family room.

“Oh, what is that son?” Martin asked as he raised a curious eyebrow at him.

“I’ve just been accepted in the army!”

“Congratulations son!” Sharon said with a warm smile.

His sister Zara rose from the couch and hugged her older brother, “Congrats bro! When do you leave?”

Zander would not answer them until he got approval from his father as well.

“Dad, why are you so silent?” Zander asked.

“After everything I have done for you, this is how you repay me?” Martin asked with a bitter tone.

Zander cocked his head at him.

“Zander, how did you get permission to join? You need at least one parent’s consent and I did not allow this.”

Martin glared at his wife.

Zander gulped hard, he hoped this would not turn into a huge argument.

“I allowed it Martin.” Sharon informed him.

Martin tossed his hands up in the air. He grabbed the papers from his son and began to tear them up.

“You are not joining the army! You are going to U of M in the fall. You are going to be a doctor!” Martin demanded.

“This is what I value dad. I value our freedoms. I feel I must fight for them. You know I have always supported our troops ever since I could understand. This is what I want. You cannot control me anymore!”

“I have worked twenty years to save every penny, so you could make something of yourself. How could you do this behind my back?” Martin yelled.

“Because I knew this is how you would react.” Zander replied back.

“Yeah, well, now you are throwing all of that away. I worked so hard to set money aside for you and Zara! At least Zara used it wisely.”

“That’s right, daddy’s little girl, who is always the princess around this house. What is she sucking your dick?”

Zander’s father smacked him hard across the face as Sharon walked in the foyer.

“How dare you use that kind of language in this house? Out, get the hell out!”

“I guess so!” Zander smirked.

Zander grabbed his Army gear bag and tossed it over his shoulder. He hurried out of the house. He saw his sister hurry to him, but Martin held her back.

“You’re not even going to let me say goodbye to my big brother?”

“No, he is throwing his life away.” – Martin looked harshly at Zander – “If you leave, I will disown you!”

Zara looked at her parents and Zander. She shrugged her shoulders. Zander came back in and Martin grabbed Zara. He held her tight.

“You touch her and I will press charges Zander!”

“I have a right to see him go!” Zara said.

“No you don’t! You better take a good look at him, because he is never allowed back here again!” Martin said.

Zara broke free from her father and ran after Zander.

“Hey bro, here, this will always protect you. Hold onto it tight. Never let it go.”

She handed him a black jewel bag.

“What’s this?” Zander asked her.

“It will you protect you and always bring you back to home.” She said with a bright smile.

He opened the bag and pulled out the rosary, made from true mother of pearl beads strung with black silk string. The sun’s rays caught the beads and glistened with a magnificent glow. Her and their mother made it for him. They always knew he was troubled by bad spirits. They hoped the rosary would help him find his true way home.

Zander smiled at his sister as she grabbed his hands and closed them together.

“Remember this Zander, “The angels grant thee, the angels rescue me, angels please set me free, free me from my hard day, free me in every way, as I lay down to sleep, the angels guard my keep.”

“Thank you sis.”

Zander held his tears.

Zara did too.

Zander looked back at the house and gulped.

lonliless sucks BIG PENUS

Zoey’s cracked pale lips moved but Natasha couldn’t make a word out of it. So, she leaned in closer. Zoey’s mouth formed the words, but no sound would come. In order to grasp what actually she is trying to say in her drowsy state of disarray, Natasha leaned in closer so near to Zoey’s mouth that she could feel her respiration.

“No”, she said.

“No what?” Natasha asked.

“Him” she mumbled in a weak voice.

“Who?” Natasha asked absentmindedly only to regret what she asked. Because suddenly it hit her. Netasha became perplexed. She hesitated at the thought of it. She was suddenly in a state of confusion. She was unsure how to break the news to Natasha, her patient and an old friend, who went into a comatose for four years, surviving miraculously to a massive brain injury after a car accident.

She wondered how hard it might be for Zoey to hear that her husband abandoned her in the state of coma and went off with another woman.

This was excellent, succinct advice. I’ve been working on an idea for a novel in my head for quite awhile and this has been one of the major sticking points for me. I haven’t yet felt that I had sufficient conflict built into the world I’m creating to give the whole thing legs. This has helped shape my idea of what conflict should be, and that it doesn’t necessarily have to be overt melodrama to work. Thanks!

Camille’s enthusiastic hands shot up to her forehead to emphasize her disbelief in the news she had just delivered. To stress the gravity of the announcement, she followed up with a melodramatic pause.

Her theatrical demonstration was acknowledged only by the soundlessness of the room.

Annoyed, she rolled her eyes as her arms forfeited their zest. They drooped heavy with the weight of disappointment to her sides. His dismissiveness still stung a little, even though she knew better than to take it personally.

Her eyes widened with suggestion as she heaved a loud, pathetic sigh.

She began to grow restless with the disinterest that floated aimlessly on the other side of the room. The information bubbled inside of her with an uncomfortable pressure, similar to the highly compressed contents of a confetti cannon before the trigger is pulled. She couldn’t contain herself for another moment. Excited anticipation rose from her fidgeting feet, defied gravity, and finally exploded from her fervent mouth.

“DID YOU HEAR WHAT I JUST LEARNED,” she blurted, rather than asked, considerably louder than she had intended to. She couldn’t help that she was passionate about politics, although everyone else her age seemed to be.

“Hmm?” Her boyfriend reacted flatly, unconcerned. He didn’t look up from the computer screen.

She recognized Holt’s complete disinterest in what she was about to tell him, but she hadn’t the time to clamor for his attentiveness. Especially not now that so much unnecessary silence had ensued.

Camille reconsidered her eagerness. At this rate, it wasn’t likely she even had the time to explain the story in the first place. She chuckled to herself under her breath for only just realizing this logic, then she took one last moment to evaluate the possibilities.

He had wasted enough of her time, she concluded.

And with that, but without further explanation, she grabbed her bag and marched out the door. A purposeful sense of determination was the only thing on her mind; Holt’s inattentiveness a vague memory of the past. A past that, to her, already felt like it belonged to somebody else.

Now, all of her focus needed to be rooted in the future. Her future.

Samuel sat in his kitchen looking across the several nick-nacks he had found or made over the years. A wooden spoon he had made by the river, a basket formed of twigs, and a table he had spent several weeks figuring the exact values for. After finishing his tea and walking to the door his pet ferret Jack jumped atop his shoulder and pressed his furry face against Sam. Jack knew it was time for their daily walk and was very excited. Sam threw on his overcoat when the sound of falling trees overwhelmed the atmosphere. With terror on Sam’s face he blew through the door and leaped off his porch. Sam and Jack raced through the forest and bush until reaching a horrid site.

Flames roared as smoke soared. A putrid scent filled the air as heat like the aired deserts blasted Sam and Jack. Giant creatures trek across the land coveted in ash while stopping for nothing other than to push trees down in groups of three. Trees fell with great sound only to stoke a great inferno of terrible measure. There were none who could put it to an end.

Sam turned around to run to the nearest city and warn of the danger when a dark figure approached out of the wood.

“Can I help you elf?” His coarse voice created tension in an already gloomy atmosphere. Sam took steps backwards only to trip upon a log, falling on his back he looked up to the giant centaur.

“Who are you?” Asked Sam with a shaky voice.

The centaur chuckled as he rose a dark ax to the smoke filled sky.

“I am Terimal the great!”

We run across the beach, laughing and yelling. Asha catches up and pushes me over.

“Tag! I got you Shaw!”

She collapses on the sand next to me, both of us giggling hard. Up above is a beautiful, infinite stretch of blue. My twin turns to face me.

“Wow… pretty, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I reply, still looking upward.

Suddenly, a stream of water collides with my face. I jump up and shake the drops out of my eyes, spluttering in shock.

“Gotcha!” Asha sticks out her tongue, daring me to strike back.

“Well, if that’s the way you want it,” I say, grinning mischievously and summoning a huge wave, “Come and get some!”

A mass of water flies out of the ocean and soars right toward her, as if of its own accord. She screams with delight and transforms into a small gull. A moment later she is flying over the water.

Tears sting my eyes as I remember the happy memory from our childhood.

Oh, what I wouldn’t give to bring her back.

Thanks, this helps. Writing conflict is my greatest challenge. (I’m really good at dialogue, though.)

Taylour pulled up to the Krispy Kreme in a hurry. She needed to satisfy her inner cravings for calories as she had a long day of lawyering ahead of her. As she drove up to the window, she handed the bored teenager acting as the cashier a $20 to pay for her order of $8.25. She quickly took the box of glazed donuts and creme stuffed, put them on the seat next to her, and then extended her hand to receive the change from the cashier.

The reach through the window was awkward, and when the change was handed to her, the three quarters slide off the dollar bills and onto the ground. Clink!

She heard one of the coins roll under the car, but when she pushed opened the door, she felt it bang against the tall cement post that was positioned to protect the building from being run into from inexperienced drivers blinded by their need for sugar.

“I hate those posts!” she said out loud, and then realized that the teenage cashier was still looking at her. Obviously Taylour was going to be her entertainment this morning.

Taylour decided to pull the car forward enough to clear the post, and then she tried again with the door. It opened wider this time, but now the quarters were out of reach behind her. She heard the girl at the window chortle at Taylour as she contorted her body behind her. They were mere inches from her fingertips, but no matter how she twisted and turned, Taylour just couldn’t reach the coins.

Honk! Honk! The car behind her showed its displeasure at having to wait a few seconds for this obsessive patron to get her change, and then Taylour heard a door open and close behind her.

Still reaching, this time with her right hand on the ground to give her more leverage, she thrust herself out, and with a yelp, she fell out of her car and onto the greasy pavement.

A masculine hand reached out, gathered the coins together, and then handed them to her.

She looked up, embarrassed, and then froze as she recognized the person trying to give her the change.

“Uh, good morning, judge.”

“Ms. Dixxon, I believe these belong to you.”

Hon. Davidson surpressed a grin as he helped Taylour up. She dusted herself off, wiped the hair from her eyes and then nodded sheepishly as she took the change.

“Thank you, sir. And let me apologize –”

“No need to apologize, Ms. Dixxon. The value of a dollar is not what it used to be.” He wiped his hand across his mouth as if to hide a smile. “I know how difficult it is to make ends meet as a small-town lawyer. Every penny counts!”

He turned to go, and then said over his shoulder, “I look forward to seeing you in court later this afternoon.”

Taylour couldn’t get back into her car fast enough. Her tires squealed as she sped out of the parking lot.

It took her a half hour to climb the stairs. I watched, spider black from my black window, death with a view, in its spider eyes, all eight of them. I measured her from right across the road we shared. Now. she paused, as much as a drunk can pause, on the porch. She teetered, I could tell, by the way she tried to cling to things that weren’t there; then at last found the trunk of the potted palm. Now was my chance.

The pistol was in my wet and nervous grip. It was not the season for long coats. Though I was never adverse to pastiching the traits of the famed murderers. My hand shook as I attempted to slide the pistol into my pocket – again; again; gone from view.

I don’t remember whether I left the door behind me open, or not. My mind was all on her, my teetering drunk. I crossed the road (and, dear fellow murderer, had no idea whether I checked for traffic or not ). Why did the chicken cross the road? To kill. To kill.

Upon her porch, my drunkard had attained the supernatural brilliance of her kind – and though I was noiseless, a spider at the final loom – about to end her, send out a silver thread and render my prey dead, dead, end her – she turned. Her eyes were dark – porch light gone – and dared crack her face to smile – at me!

“Oh, Tony! My gad -” the rest, incomprehensible. Some blather that like scared or scarred, skis, skies, tease or tees – then the wicked bitch ambled to me and threw her arms around me and tried to- well; you know – and then tried to again! Her breath was already death, I winced, the murderer winced from her gin and vodka breath!

I wrestled free from her supernatural strtength, and all her joints were fluid in trying to draw me back into her arms. I felt a clawing, flawing strong paw on my coat sleeve – and was forced to pull away a second time, as she muttered something about “my god, shoulders.” I stood far off from her at the end of the porch, in the darkest shadows. She at once tried to lumber after me.

“What’s wrong, darling?” Blurry speech.

“Just stop there. Not a move more and, my darling,” note well – this was said with a caustic pitch of sarcasm. “Darling, I want you to know something.”

“Oh gad!” She teetered and wavered and found her palm tree again. “There’s no time for talk!”

“I beg your pardon?” I reassured myself that the pistol was still in my grip, in the sweaty warmth of my pocket.

“No time for talk. I feel like dancing – GAD you’re handsome, Charlie! Come a little closer- strike up the band, C sharp, band man!”

“It’s Tony; and no.” I was more adamant with a second, “No!”

She seemed dumbstruck. At length, she got it out. “Why not?”

“Because!”

“Because why?”

“Not ‘why!’ Just because – and because, you must understand-! Is, because, I came here to kill you, tonight!”

Her shoulders slumped. “Oh gad.” She leaned like all of Pisa against the locked door to her house. “Gad.” Then, the horrible hag straightened right back up. “Well, Tony. To hell with C sharp. That would be G minor!”

(Rough first draft, with apologies… from Karma Ray, who was locked out of her FB acct).

This book is named” The Outsiders”

Ponyboy is one of the main character, he is a smart person, I don’t know his character trait…! Ponyboy values his buddies. He don’t want to keep hating the Socs and have peace. No more label between Greasers and Socs or fight.

I know my writing isn’t good but I’m out of ideas for more. It took me about 8 min to think sooo……O_O…..

Hi Joe, I linked to this page from an article I wrote, here: http://practicemanagement.dentalproductsreport.com/article/3-ways-attract-new-patients-within-3-months

I’d like to invite you as an expert guest on http://www.youtube.com/dentalmarketingguy where I interview experts that can help dentists attract new patients to their practice. Let me know if you’re interested. I’ve had marketing thought leaders in all areas EXCEPT writing.

Andrew clenched his fists and leaned over them in a weak attempt to hide the shoe on his face. He had lost control, he had almost killed his friends, his family. The night had dragged on for what seemed like hours before he attempted to sleep. He moved his stiff legs and shuffled from the desk chair to the bed, the sheets cold, he slipped between the covers and curled into a fetal position trying to gather whatever warmth he could.

He listened to his breath, in and out before actually letting himself relax into the bedding. The constant thoughts of what could happen next clouded his mind as he pried his eyes open over and over again not letting himself sleep in fear. In fear, fear of what he can do, fear of the result, fear that he might wake up and everyone he loved would be gone and it would be his fault.

Painfully he released his mistake but it was too late, the door opened and footsteps came closer to his form, Andrew had left the light on. The light had alerted a certain person that a certain boy was not getting the sleep he so desperately needed. The footsteps stopped and a hand was placed on his head.

“I know you’re awake” His soft voice made Andrew stiffen, without a response the intruder opened the sheets widely letting the cold air hit his exposed skin and climbed into the bed. Adding another warm body to the bed. Andrew despite his mental protests leaned into the heat.

He was thankful that the body was warm.

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Great, you do not know how helpful This is. This is exactly what I was looking for, I was not sure what makes conflict but you perfectly explained it with exact detali, great. Thanks Joe Bunting.

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What is Conflict?

A struggle or clash between opposing forces., the pinnacle of plot: understanding conflict in creative writing.

Conflict is the driving force behind any great piece of literature, propelling characters into action and keeping readers on the edge of their seats. Whether it be a physical struggle between two characters or a deeply internal battle within one's self, conflict in creative writing creates tension, emotion, and ultimately, a gripping story.

Without conflict, stories can fall flat and become uninteresting. There must be something at stake, something to be gained or lost, in order to engage readers and keep them invested. Conflict can come in many forms, such as man vs. man, man vs. society, or even man vs. nature. It can also be emotional, stemming from within a character's own beliefs or desires.

When crafting conflict in creative writing, it's important to understand the motivations behind each character's actions. Why are they fighting? What do they stand to lose? How can they potentially overcome this conflict? These questions must be answered in order to create a rich and engaging story that connects with readers on a deeper level.

Ultimately, conflict is the pinnacle of plot in creative writing. It creates stakes, raises the emotional intensity, and compels readers to keep turning pages. So the next time you sit down to write, think about the conflicts your characters will face and how you can use them to create a captivating story.

Conflict is a crucial element in literature that drives the plot and engages readers on an emotional level. Here are two examples of how conflict has been skillfully used in great works of literature to create compelling stories:

In the novel, protagonist Scout Finch is faced with many conflicts, including the trial of an innocent black man and the discrimination she faces for being 'different' in her small Southern town. These conflicts create tension and emotion throughout the story, while ultimately imparting messages of justice and morality to readers.

This novel follows a group of young boys who are stranded on an uninhabited island and must confront various conflicts, including leadership struggles and the temptation to give in to primal instincts. The conflicts between the boys ultimately lead to tragedy, highlighting the dangerous consequences of a lack of order and morality.

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Developing Your Story Conflict

• A character struggling with her relationship with a difficult parent (the struggle is the problem).
• An argument that takes place at the dinner table (the argument is the problem).
• A character’s romantic interest in a man who is interested in another woman (his lack of interest in her is the problem).
• Identify something that your character really wants, the character’s goal in the story.
• Identify a problem or an obstacle in the character’s path, which the character MUST solve in order to reach his or her goal.
• Think about what actions the character will take to try to overcome the problem or obstacle and reach his or her goal. And think about what new problems or complications might arise as the character takes these actions. The character’s actions to deal with the problem, and the consequences of these actions, will be potential events or scenes for your story.

More help with developing a story plot

• Our eight-week online course on story structure
• What is plot? An introduction
• List of articles on how to write a story

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Character and Conflict

Learn how richly drawn characters are the key to fostering compelling conflict in this reading- and exercise-based workshop.

What you can learn.

• Develop unique and interesting characters whose traits trigger conflict in your work
• Explore how successful writers craft characters by studying published works
• Build rich inner and outer lives that make your characters realistic and relatable
• Learn how conflict in your work is intrinsically linked to who your characters are

About this course:

Summer 2024 schedule.

Enrollment limited to 15 students; early enrollment advised. Visitors not permitted. Internet access required. 

This online course is conducted through Canvas, a secure website that allows students to log in to access lectures, discussions, and other course materials on demand. There are no required live class meetings. Each course is structured with weekly assignments and deadlines. Lectures and coursework are accessible throughout the week. Workshops are conducted in writing via discussion boards with your instructor and classmates.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE PUBLIC SYLLABUS FOR THIS COURSE.

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Enrollment limited to 15 students; early enrollment advised. Visitors not permitted. Internet access required.

This course meets in person at the designated class meeting time and location. Students must be present at the course meeting time as each student’s final grade may include scores for participation. Please inform your instructor if you will miss a class meeting. You are responsible for any class information you missed. We suggest you arrange with a fellow classmate to share their notes when feasible.

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Jerz's Literacy Weblog (est. 1999)

Crisis vs. conflict: engaging a reader with the protagonist’s “inner” story.

Jerz >  Writing >  Creative >

Good storytellers differentiate between a  crisis (an emergency, such as a car crash or an illness) and  conflict (a clash of wills, a difficult moral choice, or an internal mental struggle). Beginning authors often focus on the exciting crisis rather than the conflict that makes readers care about the characters enduring the crisis. (See also Short Stories: 10 Tips for Creative Writers , Show Don’t (Just) Tell , and Developing Ideas for Short Fiction .)

Lara Sterling cites Christopher Vogler’s explanation of a character’s “outer” problem (getting from point A to point B, beating the clock, beating an opponent, etc.), and the “inner” problem (learning to trust someone else, believing in yourself, maturing enough to handle new responsibilities, etc.).

The conflict that makes a story worth reading (and re-reading) involves the reader in the humanity of the characters involved in the crisis.

• The  Enterprise encounters the slime monster.  It attacks the ship. ( Crisis! )  Kirk kills it by freezing it. ( Resolution )
• The  Enterprise encounters the ice beast.  It attacks a peaceful planet. ( Crisis! )  Kirk kills it by melting it. ( Resolution )
• The  Enterprise encounters the crystal demon.  It attacks a strategic Federation base.  The only way to stop it is to shatter it with sound waves — but doing so will deafen an entire city of the galaxy’s finest musicians.  Doing nothing would mean that the Romulans  might occupy the planet, shatter the demon and deafen the city anyway.  Kirk has to  decide what to do.  ( Conflict!! )

The first two scenarios might be exciting to watch.  Imagine the screams of the slime monster, the howls of the ice beast, the tension on the bridge as the Enterprise closes in for the kill.  Sounds like fun, but it is only  action , like a video game.

The last scenario has the same potential for action, but in addition, it lends itself to  introspection , to the  exploration of values , to the  examination of choices .  For example, we might see the tearful pleas of the city dwellers, the belligerent boasting of the Romulans, and an argument between Spock and McCoy.  We might even  see the hero change in some way, too, as he tries to negotiate a moral path that takes into account what all parties have at stake.

This is true  dramatic conflict .

Drama in Writing

According to a dead French guy you’ve probably never heard of, drama involves “the spectacle of the will striving toward a goal, and conscious of the means which it employs.” (Ferdinand Brunetière; quoted in Lawson 59).  (The immediate context was actually discussing theater, but the concept applies equally to other genres.)

The spectacle…

The word  spectacle , like “spectacles” (eyeglasses) or “spectacular” (something worth looking at), implies that the author is  showing what happens, rather than simply telling about it.

My handout, “ Show, Don’t (Just) Tell ,” reminds us that some of the most expressive and interesting writing re-creates for the reader the very experience that the characters in the story are living.

…of the will…

The  will is the human capacity to desire, and to make decisions accordingly.   If you describe the progress of a disease, or if you do a wonderful job recording the aftermath of an earthquake, you haven’t necessarily written a good story.  You may have created a great medical textbook, accident report, or historical document, but  a good story hinges on the will of the protagonist .

…striving towards a goal…

The reader should know  what is at stake .  Characters, whether they are fictional or real, need to pursue a clearly defined goal.  It can be a complex and sweeping goal, such as “to boldly go where no man has gone before,” or simple and specific, like getting a kiss from your date.  The story describes the actions of the characters as they try to achieve these goals.

Just as it’s possible for Captain Kirk to explore the universe and pursue space women at the same time, complex interplay between the “outer” story (where most of the action takes place) and the “inner” story (where most of the character development takes place) can offer the mix of spectacle and sentiment that makes the most complex stories rich enough to reward re-reading.

…and conscious of the means which it employs.

What this means is that the hero can’t simply stumble his or her way towards the resolution.  The hero has to make choices (or deliberately refuse to choose) in order for the story to work.  If your main character is simply along for the ride, then something is missing.  You can still have a great story about an ineffective main character, or one who fails to reach his goal, but the story should still be about the struggle.

For instance, your protagonist might initially desire to survive a catastrophe at all costs. During the course of the story, when it becomes clear that survival is not an option, the character might shift to a new strategy — do as much good as possible before dying.  The character may die, along with all the people that he helps, but we still saw the spectacle of the hero’s will striving towards his goal.   We also saw the character change.  The change could be for the better, or for the worse; or, the story could end with the hero’s failure to learn anything at all — but perhaps your reader will be a little wiser.

Types of Conflict

The dead French guy (Brunetière) goes on to list several different ways that authors represent conflict:

• the individual vs.  fatality (that is, a fight for survival)
• the individual vs.  social law (justice, morality, etc.)
• the individual vs.  another person
• the individual vs.  himself
• the individual vs. “the  ambitions , the  interests , the  prejudices , the  folly , the  malevolence of  those who surround him “

Other resources:

• Brunetière, Ferdinand Brunetière.   The Law of the Drama . Trans. Philip M. Hayden. New York: Columbia University, 1914.
• Lawson, John Howard.  Theory and Technique of Playwrighting. New York: Hill and Wang, 1969.  Reprint.   Putnam, 1936.

18 July 2011 — minor tweaks 21 Mar 2022 — fixed a typo and a broken link

23 thoughts on “ Crisis vs. Conflict: Engaging a Reader with the Protagonist’s “Inner” Story ”

Your tips were very helpful.I can now understand why my writing always feels immature ans stale.It would be very helpful if could explain the types of conflicts.

I really want to know the difference between conflicts and crisis thanks Amadi

You have come to the right web page, Amadi.

Using Star Trek to explain crisis vs. conflict is brilliant. You also touch upon the star trek goal, “to boldly go where no man has gone before,” and correct hint that underlying story is Kirk’s quest for space poontang! The man truly goes where no man has gone before!

I found this essay on “Kirk drift” really interesting. http://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/columns/freshly-rememberd-kirk-drift/

Riker pursues a lot more of the extra-curricular action.

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Pingback: 6 Story Conflicts Possible in Your Book | Now Novel

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My flash fiction, (less than 200 words) usually involves internal conflict.

RT @DennisJerz: Crisis vs. Conflict: Engaging a Reader with the Protagonist’s “Inner” Story #writing #fiction http://t.co/aryzXpwlB0

RT @DennisJerz: Crisis vs. Conflict: engaging a reader with the protagonist’s “inner story” #nanowrimo http://t.co/u9uULiFOyQ

I am working on my MA in Creative Writing and I am copying all of your pages on the site. I am so glad I found this and I will share it with the people in my class.

I truly enjoyed reading this article. I have always wondered how we were supposed to show, but not tell. This opens a new pathway in which the mind can stroll on showing while telling.

wow. this needs to say more about internal conflict

Thank you for writing about the enterprise. LOL that is an old tv show!!

My Short Story called “Anne and the 12 seedlings” create a nice image in our town… thanks for the help wish you could teach us the right way of writing novels and short stories by also the use of live chat… thank you!!!

Thank you for the help, it really means a lot for me. At my age of 12 create my first novel by the help of yours., thank you!!!

thank you soo much

I hope I get a level 5 or 6. :) my story has to include suspense. do you know any important tips to achieve this level?

Thank you so much for this. I wrote a novel and thr feedback was that it was difficult to connect with the characters. This really helped.

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Creative Writing Lesson 4: Conflict, Conflict, Conflict

Writing is about fighting.

Conflict isn’t important for what it is but for what it tells us about your characters. Your character isn’t what you tell us they think or feel. Your character is what they do. Action is character: what they do shows us who they are. A lot of writers make the mistake of trying to tell us who their characters are, when 100% of the time they would be better of sticking them in a tricky situation and showing the reader how they get out of it.

So, what does conflict mean, and how do we right good conflict?

Remember the Basic Structure

So, we’ve established our wounded character is unhappy in their life but a personal flaw stemming from their wound. Then something happens to interrupt their normal like and confronts them with obstacles that force them to confront their flaw.

Desire + Obstacle + Flaw = Conflict.

Without desire why would the protagonist attempt to overcome the obstacle? The greater their desire – their need to succeed – the greater the emotional impact of the scene.

Without the obstacle there is no story: “Fred wanted be loved. He met Eddie and they fell in love. Now Fred is loved.” See what I mean?

Why do we need the flaw?

Lots of stories skip flaws and are worse for it. Our retired-CIA assassin wants to avenge his murdered wife (please don’t write this story again), and there are a room full of hired thugs in his way. Okay, desire, obstacle, followed by an action scene where you know exactly what will happen. Now, give him a drug addiction he’s trying to overcome – he wants to get off the drugs, but when he stops taking them his reflexes are slowed and his fight with the thugs results in injury. It’s immediately more interesting. I’m sure you can think of better wounds – incorporate them into your conflict, and your story will illuminate.

Thus, good story we are locked into a cycle of conflict, action, and resolution, until they overcome their flaw or succumb to it.

Good Conflict Challenges Flaws – Bad Conflict is Boring

We’ve established that the conflict must a) directly link to their wound and b) require a difficult decision (otherwise it isn’t a real obstacle.) Ideally, the reader should be thinking “Oh my God, what are they going to do now?”

And this is how conflict reveals character. Because conflict requires action. And action tells us more about a person than any number of words.

So, what makes good conflict. Here are some easy examples:

Theo is about to break up with his girlfriend when she tells him she is pregnant.

The engine room door must be sealed to contain the fire, but two of Rey’s team are still inside and shouting for help.

Sandy pops out for a quick cigarette when through the window she spots her wife giving her best friend head.

See what I mean? Oh my God, what are they going to do?

Here are some bad examples of conflicts:

The adventurers need to get into the dungeon, but a group of goblins bar the way.

Riley is scared she will lose control if she summons the power of the void to defeat the reapers.

Tom must give his first lecture to 100 students but fears public speaking.

Why don’t these work? Well, first, there isn’t a hard decision. We’ve told the reader there is danger/emotion, but the decision seems obvious: fight the goblins, summon the void, go out and give the speech. The third is the best, but even if Tom decides to run away, we don’t get the emotional identification because it seems so obvious what he should do.

Can we fix the three bad conflicts? Maybe…

Elarius is badly wounded. If he lets his comrades fight the goblins alone, they may die, but if he joins the battle he certainly will.

Does Riley wait for the refugees to escape and risk the Reapers breaking through, or gamble she can control the void to protect the refugees and strike the Reapers at the same time?

Tom, a biology professor scared of public speaking, has been told that if he doesn’t emphasise in his first lecture that evolution is only a “theory” he will lose his job.

These are better, although still not as good as the first three. How do we improve them? Make things worse! Elarius is thinking of his husband and kids at home. He is also having an affair with one of his comrades. The more your characters suffer, the more your reader will enjoy the story.

Write a 200 word Scene Driven by Desire and Weakness

Having established this notion: conflict = desire vs obstacle + flaw, and that a story is constructed from a cycle of conflict, action, and resolution (until the character overcomes their flaw or is destroyed by it), your job is to write me the most powerful conflict scene you can manage in 200 words.

Here are your criteria.

1) Following on from the last exercise, give me a protagonist and antagonist who are both wounded and have a strongly justifiable (and contradictory) desire.

2) Show me they have a REALLY good reason for wanted to overcome the obstacle.

3) Make the obstacle as BIG as possible. If your characters aren’t suffering, they should be.

4) Have both the protagonist and antagonist’s actions informed by their flaw.

5) Resolve the conflict WITHOUT resolving EITHER’S flaws – give me an outcome that is a) unresolved but b) raises the stakes.

If you’re stuck, here are some starting points:

• A breakup where neither partner wants to break up but feels they must
• A battle where a controversial artefact might be best preserved or destroyed
• A seriously ill person for whom the best treatment is not clear
• A secret that must be preserved, but the parties cannot agree how best to do so.

These are just suggestions. If you have your own idea, use it! Remember, you only have 200 words, so get to the point and hit all the bases.

Post your response in the comments below or join the AU Forum .

Find out more about my (totally free) writing lessons here.

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How To Create Story Conflict

Learning how to create conflict in your stories is crucial.  Imagine reading a story that begins where the main character has no flaws or fears, lives in a great environment, has happy well-balanced relationships, a great job and boss, has fantastic hobbies, plenty of money etc.

In other words I am asking you to think of a story that gets better and better. A character starts off happy, remains happy and gets happier. Does this sound interesting?

Then imagine reading more and more pages about this wonderful person and their wonderful life. How many more pages do you think you will turn before you put the book down? The same goes with films and television – conflict is everything.

I think a good book is one you are dying to get your friends to read so you can discuss it and one where you have to bite your tongue not to tell them what happens in the end.

None of us want to know the end of a story before we have read it because we are aware that the enjoyment of ‘finding out’ will be spoiled. What is the point of reading a book if you are not the least bit curious to know both what happens next, and how it happens?

CONFLICT – A JOURNEY THROUGH OBSTACLES

This is why, whether we consciously realise it or not, we all want something to happen to the characters in a story. By this I mean something that affects the character enough to change their path and set them off on a journey through obstacles. Simply put, this is what makes a story differ from a straightforward report or list of events. This is conflict. If we want to create a story we need to create conflict.

Some people like to see characters overcome all the obstacles and end up at the proverbial happy ending and some of us like an ambiguous ending where the reader gets to project their own thoughts and imagination on to an undefined future and are left with something to think about.

The question of story versus character is one that has provoked much debate among writers. There are those who argue strongly that it is character that matters most and that character development should take priority over story. The argument goes that it is the revelation of the layers of character underneath the initial observation of looks and personality that make the story.

LET CONFLICT REVEAL CHARACTER

I would argue that we need both to create a character.

Conflict is change and this is what forces hidden and therefore interesting characteristics to the surface. We are aware of this in our lives. There are people who surprise you by their response to conflict or crisis and those who don’t – who are the most interesting?

Are people who do exactly what you expect all the time interesting? We might like them but sometimes it takes a crisis to learn ‘the truth’ about a person.  The events, obstacles, etc. in a good story inform this crisis. Crisis is crucial when you create a plot for your story.

In real life crisis is something that varies from person to person and so it is for stories. A crisis doesn’t have to be huge to be interesting – it just has to cause conflict – problems and obstacles for our characters to overcome. Without this there is no story, just description and no matter how wonderful your description is, it is not what turns pages.

Best of luck with your writing.

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