Conflict is the Lifeblood of Captivating Stories
I went to the store, bought the stuff on my list, spent the amount of money I expected, then came home and put it all away with no problems.
Depending who you ask, that’s either not a story, or it’s a boring story. Either way, it’s not the kind of thing you want to write.
A sequence of events becomes a story when you add conflict. Conflict is at the heart of drama, the opportunity for feats of heroic action or deep empathy. It’s what drives the plot of your tale, and inspires heroes to change and grow. Conflict is one of the most important aspects of any fiction, and today we’re going to talk about it in detail, starting with…
What is Conflict?
At its heart, your story tells how a character meets their goals. If nothing stands in the way of those goals, like with the grocery story above, it’s not an interesting story. You make that story interesting by creating obstacles between a character and those goals. Those obstacles are called conflict. They can come from without or within. They can be defeated directly, or worked around. There can be one of them, or there can be many.
But there has to be at least one, and it has to be fascinating. Conflict keeps your story interesting. Without it, your tale is just a series of boring slices of life. It’s not fun to read, and honestly even less fun to write.
Types of Conflict
You may remember some of this from middle school english. Conflicts come in various types, with some of the most common and effective including:
Character vs. Character
When two characters in your story want different things, and act against one another, that’s character vs. character conflict. These can be classic tropes of battle, like a police detective facing off against a killer, or something more subtle like the conflicting desires of siblings in a family drama.
The character with whom your protagonist is in conflict doesn’t need to be the antagonist of the story. Conflicts between allies about how to defeat an antagonist can be just as interesting and important as the battle against the bad guy.
Examples
- Edward vs. Jacob in the Twilight series, each vying for Bella’s affections.
- Javert vs. Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, where the two are locked in both real and philosophical conflict.
- Ender vs. Colonel Graff in Ender’s Game. These two allies disagree, and the disagreement drives much of the novel.
Character vs. Society
In this conflict, a character struggles against the authorities, structures, rules, and assumptions of the world they live in. This might be against the agents of authority, against adults (for a teen or tween’s perspective), or against a corrupt or oppressive system itself.
Here, the pressures from society to conform vie against the protagonist’s individuality, desires, and willingness to make society fit their sense of right and wrong. We see this most often in dystopian novels, but a surprising number of tales set in the modern day have elements of this.
Examples
- Starr’s quest for racial justice in The Hate U Give.
- Montag’s rejection of the system in Fahrenheit 451.
- The various antics and shenanigans of Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Captain Underpants, which fly in the face of authority as represented by the Principal.
Character vs. Nature
Sometimes a protagonist doesn’t fight against other people, or even the machinations of a human-built society. They struggle (usually for survival) against the dangers of the world, or universe, itself. Those dangers might be the living predators or biological hazards of nature, or the uncaring dangers of weather, exposure, or natural catastrophes.
Very often, in the absence of a strong human antagonist, Character vs. Nature combines with Character vs. Self. The protagonist survives against the forces of nature, but also grows and fundamentally changes as a result of the struggle.
Examples
- Mark Whatney’s survival against all odds in The Martian.
- Quint, Hooper, and Brody against the shark in Jaws.
- The various protagonists’ early struggle to survive after the plague in The Stand.
Character vs. Technology
This conflict seems to be part of the human spirit. We love the conveniences of technology, but fear its power to control or even corrupt us. Some people view science and technology as a rejection of the natural world, and thus abhorrent. Others feel its presence limits our morality. Stories about this conflict explore those objections.
Sometimes the conflict is overt, with technology directly threatening humankind (or a small group of humans). Sometimes it’s much simpler, such as an older character trying to figure out how to use a cell phone under pressure.
Examples
- Sarah Conner against the robots in The Terminator.
- Dr. Frankenstein against his creation in Frankenstein.
- David Lightman trying to stop a computer from launching a global nuclear strike in War Games.
Character vs. The Supernatural
Supernatural forces are the crux of this kind of conflict, whether you’re talking about spellcasting witches, angry ghosts, legendary monsters, telepathic powers, or whatever else the depths of imagination, legend, and the human psyche fascinates your muse.
Sometimes the conflict is directly against the supernatural elements at play. Sometimes, a character vs. character conflict includes supernatural forces. Whatever works best for your story is perfectly okay.
Examples
- Ichabod Crane’s flight from the Headless Horseman in The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.
- The kids’ battle with various monsters in The Monster Squad.
- Van Helsing’s struggle against Dracula in Dracula.
Character vs. Fate
Nobody likes to believe they have no place in deciding their own destiny. A character might know a prophecy everybody believes is about them, and not want to play their part. Another character might suffer profound family or societal pressure to fill a certain role, and choose not to.
This conflict centers on the character’s struggle against that fate, be it literal or assumed. They might defy gods, battle supernatural influences, or merely disappoint their father, but in the end it’s all about free will. Does anybody truly have it?
Examples
- Macbeth’s attempts to thwart the fate cast by the witches.
- Whether or not Annikin Skywalker will fall to the Dark Side in the Star Wars prequels.
- Oedipus Rex and his futile attempt to avoid the prophecy laid on him by an oracle.
Character vs. Self
A character’s internal dilemma is part of most stories. In a character vs. character tale, the protagonist must overcome their own weaknesses and fears to confront their antagonist. In a character vs. fate story, they struggle with their assumptions about themselves and their place in the universe.
Some stories focus on this conflict as the core conflict of the tale. Many literary novels follow this line, but you can see it throughout all genres.
Examples
- Hamlet trying to make a decision. Any. Darn. Decision…
- Pip struggling between opportunity and his ideals in Great Expectations.
- Detective Matthew Scudder’s struggles with alcoholism throughout his series.
Note: you might have learned these as Man vs. ________ when they taught them to you in middle school, but it’s the 21st century. Character vs. _______ is the better way to go.
Seven Ways to Make Conflict Shine in Your Fiction
It’s not enough to just have a conflict if you want your stories to truly grab readers’s attention and emotional involvement. You have to make your conflict matter. That’s not easy, but masters of the craft have this to say about how to make it happen.
1. Draw it Out
Conflict works best when it’s more than a single cycle of encountering difficulty and overcoming them. Set up multiple stages of obstacles in the conflict. Only by gaining power, confidence, position, or other advantage during these earlier victories can your protagonist hope for victory in the conflict as a whole.
2. Make Conflict Escalate
As the story progresses, make the conflict grow along with the character. You might do this by making the conflict itself larger and more difficult than it at first appeared. You might instead do this by raising the stakes for failing to overcome the conflict. You might do both.
3. Create Variety
Look for multiple ways the opposition in the conflict can impact your protagonist’s life, multiple ways that impact can raise the stakes, and multiple ways for your protagonist to approach overcoming the conflict. The more variety you put into a try-fail cycle,the more interesting the story will be.
4. Introduce Multiple Conflicts
Never settle for just one conflict. Introduce several conflicts. Your protagonist might be in a character vs. character conflict at the heart of your story, but if the antagonist represents power and authority, you can add character vs. society. Add a dash of additional character vs. character conflicts between your protagonist and his allies, then cap it off with character vs. self as she overcomes her own limiting beliefs.
5. Build and Leverage Flaws
A conflict between your character and anything can be interesting, but what’s even better is a conflict that calls for something your protagonist is really bad at. As long as you build the weakness early, it creates a natural escalation of the entire story and humanizes your protagonist along the way. Very often, this adds a character vs. self conflict as they work to overcome those flaws.
6. Give Characters Conflicting Goals
This is important in two ways. First, by giving allies conflicting goals you create tension and conflict even between people working in the same direction. Second, remember that any character working against your character doesn’t exist just to be in their way. They have reasons to work against your protagonist, reasons that conflict in some way with what your protagonist wants. If you understand those reasons, you create a more vibrant antagonist, and a better story.
7. Create Microtension
Microtension comes from emotional friction between whatever two characters are on the page at any given time. This may or may not have anything to do with the core (or smaller) conflicts of your story, but find something to create that friction between them and have it play out in their actions and dialogue.
The Power of Conflict in Fiction
Conflict is the lifeblood of any compelling story. Without obstacles and challenges for the protagonist to overcome, a narrative becomes little more than a series of bland, uninspiring events. As we have explored, there are many different types of conflict that writers can leverage to create gripping, page-turning fiction.
The key is to not settle for a single source of conflict, but to layer multiple forms of opposition that force the protagonist to grow, adapt, and overcome in increasingly high-stakes ways. By drawing out the conflict, escalating the stakes, and introducing a variety of obstacles, writers can craft stories that truly captivate readers and leave a lasting impact.
Ultimately, mastering the art of conflict is essential for any aspiring storyteller who wants to craft narratives that resonate and inspire. With these principles in mind, writers can elevate their craft and deliver unforgettable tales that keep audiences hooked until the very end.