Understanding Conflict
Conflicts grow out of character and setting. The classical formulation of conflict is as follows…
- Person vs. Person (protagonist vs. antagonist)
- Person vs. Self (protagonist vs. addictions, weaknesses, and flaws)
- Person vs. God
- Person vs. Society
- Person vs. Nature (plague, storm, drought, etc.)
Conflict is the engine that drives stories. A conflict is gripping. When conflict ends, the story ends.
The primary conflict must be big enough to carry the weight of a story for the length of the play (or series).
With regard to stories the inward journey of the character is as important as the outward journey.
Every story should try to have at least two conflicts (external conflict(s), AND internal conflict(s)) and a possible third (romantic conflict).
Conflict with Society
We have complex relationships to and within our society. Society attempts to place limits on the achievement of our goals in many ways; requiring qualifications for jobs, passing laws that restrict our behaviors, and placing informal expectations on us that we often wish were not there. Conflict with society is very powerful. The family that wants an individual to fulfil a very specific niche, sharing all the values and prejudices of the dynasty can be a great source of conflict. Likewise, a group of thieves and outcasts trying to make their way in the shadowy world of illegal commerce is solidly at war with society.
Conflict with Nature
Nature can become a complicating factor even in a primarily person vs. person story. A character must prove their value to their hostile boss by getting a package across town? A storm blows in, shutting down lots of major roads and adding to the jeopardy.
Interior Conflict – Conflict with Self
Characters should always be, at least a little bit, at war with themselves. Audiences love to see a character battle their inner demons while dealing with the major conflict of a story.
Conflict between Characters
The protagonists comes into conflict with the antagonist in the midst of dealing with other issues. This antagonism is increased as each engages in a cycle of action and reaction where, via the clash of their goals, they are pitted against one another.
All characters must experience conflict (even if it is only minor).
External conflict arises where a character’s goal is being thwarted in some way. Sometimes characters come into conflict because they want to achieve the same goal but only one can succeed (fighting over the last biscuit on the plate). Other times the goals are different but mutually exclusive (siblings fighting over whether to sell or run the family business they’ve inherited).
Stakes
The higher the stakes in a conflict, the more invested the audience becomes. Stakes are what the character risks losing or winning in a conflict. A conflict that results in satisfaction or disappointment (winning a trophy, for example) is less involving than one where the trophy has a significant impact on the protagonist’s life (where, for example, the trophy must be won to secure a financially lucrative sports contract that will prevent the family from being evicted) and less involving still where winning is a matter of life or death (where the family is being held at gunpoint by a crazed fan who will only let them live if the protagonist wins the trophy). Where possible, raise the stakes by making the relationships between the characters close (family, or friends).
It can also be helpful to make the characters conflicted in regard to each other. The audience finds it hard to guess what will happen (uncertainty is increased) if the characters can sympathise with each other (in conflict) to a degree.
Romantic Conflict
Romantic conflict involves the gradual alignment of opposed goals in relationship (again through action and reaction). Characters are attracted and repulsed by each other. Internally, they harbor hidden prejudices and misunderstandings, while externally their relationship is opposed by various forces (family, friends, culture, society, even nature if a flood, for example, separates the couple).
Internal/Identity Conflict
People have complex conflicts over identity. Some people see you as a jerk. Some people see you as a good friend. You, yourself, might be changing and be a little of each. Ultimately you rebel or conform to the expectations of those around you. Conflict occurs where identity is unformed and potentially opposed and the character must choose who they will be (revealed in how they will choose to act).
Internal conflicts are revealed in action. When a character is being forced to choose between his job and the anniversary dinner he intended to spend with his wife, we see him agreeing to do overtime, confirming his reservation at the restaurant, updating his boss on the progress being made, calling his wife to reassure her that he won’t be late, etc. His action back and forth between the two mutually irreconcilable goals reveals his internal conflict.
Variation
Vary the conflict so that characters form strange or unlikely alliances because their goals align while remaining rivals where their goals ultimately diverge.
Vary the conflict so that it is a matter of differing opinions regarding means rather than ends.
Avoid repeating the same type of conflict over and over (boring). Alternate types of conflict and intensities.
Sources of conflict
Diametrically opposed options tend to be presented as a choice between two alternatives. However, such choices are rare in the real world. Look for a third option. Alone vs. in a relationship. What about trapped in a loveless marriage? Alive or dead? What about permanently disabled? Free or incarcerated? What about parole/community service/a good behaviour bond?
A primary point of conflict is competing goals – internally wanting two mutually incompatible things at the same time, externally wanting competing goals or wanting to control a limited resource.
Researching conflict
Historical research of conflict is essential, but we should also research the psychology of conflict (prejudice, resource control, personal antipathy etc.). For historical writing this is (relatively) easy but for fantasy fiction, we need to find historical analogues to study.
Mapping the major conflict
It’s often helpful to construct a map of the conflicts between characters.
To map the primary conflict between our protagonist and antagonist determine the action and reactions that follow from discovery of the protagonist’s problem…
- Inciting incident – how the protagonist recognizes the problem
- Try fail 1 – protagonist’s first attempt to solve the problem
- Antagonist’s response
- Try fail 2 – protagonist’s next attempt to solve the problem
- Antagonist’s response
- Climax – protagonist’s third attempt, reversal, and final success
- Denouement – snapshot of life with the problem resolved
Try to develop similar maps for all the major relationships in the story. (protagonist with antagonist, contagonist, minions, temptation, sidekicks, love interest; antagonist with contagonist, minions, temptation, sidekicks, love interest). Conflicts with self, nature and society may also apply for major characters.
Copyright Philip Craig Robotham © 2022
