Character Conflict
Conflict is the essence of drama. If a character gets up in the morning and achieves everything they want to without encountering a single obstacle, that’s great for the character, but the audience will be bored to tears. If, however, they struggle, encounter obstacles, and must fight to achieve their goals, then the audience is usually riveted.
Conflict is not, however, simply the presence of fighting, argument, anxiety, or tension. Characters can intensely dislike each other, but they may not necessarily be in conflict. Conflict occurs where there is competition and one character (or character-goal) stands to “win” while another stands to “lose”. An argument or fight where nothing is at stake is not conflict.
There are two types of conflict, external and internal, and these can be further broken up into sub-types.
External conflict occurs where there is direct or indirect conflict over external resources.
Direct conflict occurs where characters compete for a limited resource.
If two characters want to go skiing and they can both take such a trip there is no conflict – even if they don’t like each other much.
If two characters want a free skiing holiday and only one of them can win it, there is a direct conflict over the one resource – in this case the free skiing holiday.
Indirect conflict is another kind of conflict. It occurs where characters goals conflict and interfere with each other.
All things being equal, if our characters are siblings and one wants to go to university while the other wants to go into the family business, there is no conflict.
If, however, one character wants to attend university while the other is unable to run the family business without the ongoing day to day help of the first, then there is indirect conflict.
Conflict can occur between characters and inanimate things (forces of nature, etc.) but tend to be more interesting when they involve people.
Internal conflict occurs where two goals within a character are competing.
Let’s suppose that Bill wants to stay after work and complete a project before tomorrow’s deadline. Let’s also suppose that Bill wants to attend an anniversary dinner with his wife tonight.
Bill has two competing goals that are creating conflict within him.
To demonstrate the conflict we need to reveal the character trying to accomplish each goal, moving first one way, then the other.
First, Bill arranges access to the accounting records.
Then Bill books the restaurant.
Later Bill arranges for secretarial support for his after hours project.
Bill also calls his wife and wishes her a happy anniversary.
Throughout the day Bill works like crazy at the project but is starting to sweat. The boss asks if everything is on track. Bill says yes.
Later Bill’s wife calls to confirm that all is on track for their dinner. Bill says yes.
Bill is in real trouble now and we can clearly see the conflict he is enmeshed in.
Generally speaking, the best (most interesting) conflicts are both internal and external.
Understanding Stakes
Stakes are what the character has to gain or lose. The higher the stakes the greater will be the level of an audience’s interest. A competition over a bottle cap has very low stakes. We may be interested, but we probably won’t be on the edge of our seats. If, however, it is being played to determine which of a pair of suitors will withdraw from pursuing fair maiden, the stakes are higher. The stakes are always raised when a character stands to lose or gain something of special value – such as love. If, to clear the field effectively, each has vowed to commit suicide if he loses, the stakes are about as high as they can get. But they can be raised further if the characters have an emotional connection with one another – say, perhaps, when the antagonists are brothers.
It is important to remember, however, that stakes matter only when the character feels a real hope of attaining them (preventing the loss or achieving the gain).
If one of the brothers playing the game knows he has no real chance of wooing the girl, then the stakes of a competition over a bottle cap to decide which of the brothers can take a pass at her has little importance. Likewise, if the girl knows nothing of either brother and is unlikely to respond to either, the game is of little consequence.
Here is a different example. In this case the conflict is indirect and the stakes are high enough to matter.
Jenny loves Bart but John has asked her to marry him.
Bart is poor and, while he adores Jenny, he doesn’t feel worthy of her
John can provide for Jenny’s security but is a long way from being her soul mate.
She meets with Bart in the hope that he will propose.
Her future hinges on whether Bart will take the initiative or not.
The Character Event
There is an element of stage drama referred to as the character event.
The event in drama is the realisation by a character that they will or won’t get what they want, perhaps in accompaniment with a realisation that they didn’t want it in the first place.
It occurs internally (in the character’s mind) before it is enacted externally by being shown to the audience.
The event needs to be brought about by character action (or inaction) but never by a third party (deus ex machina).
To illustrate, let’s return to the most recent example above. We know that Jenny loves Bart and wants him to propose. We know too that Bart adores Jenny but is intimidated by his lack of funds. And we also know that John is waiting in the wings to scoop Jenny up with an offer, already on the table, of financial security through marriage.
Bart just needs a day or two and he will have secured a deal that will make it possible for him to pursue Jenny without financial embarrassment.
Jenny, however, must give her answer to John tonight.
Let’s imagine, then, that Bart is too focussed on the future and the deal he is about to make to realise he must seize the moment.
The event is Jenny’s realization that he is not going to declare his love and ask her to marry him. This is internal to the character of Jenny (and invisible to the audience).
It is revealed (made visible) by Jenny’s bitter departure.
The Story Beat
When characters want something, engage in conflict, and realize that it is or is not in their grasp, we have a basic element of drama, known as the beat. This atomic unit should be repeated throughout the story in such a way that each beat leads to the next. The realization that a want has been met (or not) should give rise to a new want that drives into the conflict of the next beat, and so on.
Copyright © 2019 Philip Craig Robotham – All rights reserved.
