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 

The post Conflict appeared first on Host Your Own Old Time Radio Drama.

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.

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