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What is Conflict in a Story and How to Write One in 8 Steps

• on Jan 28, 2024
• in Writing Tips
• Last update: January 29th, 2024

Imagine you wake up, get dressed, make breakfast, and go to work without a single inconvenience. This scenario makes for a great stress-free morning, but not so much a gripping story to tell your coworkers. Now imagine you slipped on a banana peel and scratched your nose. Worse yet, you tore your expensive shirt. Now there’s a story to tell!

Very few stories can exist without some sort of problem. This is especially true for narratives written by authors and screenwriters because stories thrive mainly on conflict. So in order to write a great piece of fiction, you need to first know the answer to the following questions: what is conflict in a story, and how do I get it right?

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In this article, we will give you a comprehensive guide to the meaning and applications of conflict in fiction. So let’s dive straight in!

In this article:

• Conflict in a Story Definition
• Role of Conflicts in Stories
• Types of Conflicts in Literature
• 8 Steps of Creating Conflict in a Story
• Practical Examples of Conflict in Stories

What Is Conflict in a Story?

Simply put, a conflict is the problem that characters face which forces them to take action in order to solve it. By taking this action, they actively affect the outcome of the problem and the direction that the story takes.

Some works of literature, such as novels, may have one major conflict that lasts from the beginning till the end. Others may have minor conflicts that can be resolved in as little as one or two chapters. Most stories have a blend of both.

While some genres can have big, life-or-death struggles, a conflict can also be as simple as forbidding a child from eating the cookies they want.

What Is the Role of Conflict in a Story?

When you inject conflict into a scene, you challenge your characters by forcing them to solve a problem. Most of the time, characters have to grow or change in order to be able to solve that problem. 

Even the smallest of conflicts can have significant impacts on your story since a conflict can be any (or all) of the following:

• The main driving force for progressing the plot: Conflict is a vital component of storytelling. Without it, there is no substance to a tale. For instance, a fight that happens for no reason between the characters is not as meaningful as a fight over food or survival.
• A tool to explore themes or teach morals/lessons: If it’s relevant to your conflict, you can display themes like love, ambition, etc. through the lens of your story. Moreover, exposing your characters to situations that challenge their beliefs or lives offers a powerful opportunity for them to learn profound lessons. In fact, even fluffy slice-of-life stories can utilize minor conflicts to inject deeper meaning into their scenes.
• A major source of entertainment for your audience: People love drama, and the best way to deliver it in your story is by adding conflict. By integrating conflict skillfully into your story, you create a thrilling and emotionally engaging experience for your readers.

What Are the Four Types of Conflict in Literature?

The type of conflict you will be using in your writing will rely on your genre , your character archetypes (or lack thereof), the tone and setting of the story, and the medium you are writing in (novel, screenplay, comic, etc.). One more thing to note is that it’s common practice to combine types of conflict because it serves to flesh out your story!

Even though it’s hard to sort conflict into types, there are some common categories that describe different aspects and dynamics of a conflict. These categories help us understand the nature of conflicts by providing a framework for analyzing and addressing them. Below are some of the most common categories of conflicts.

1. Internal vs. External

We can categorize conflict based on the source of the problem into two types: internal and external. From the wording, you can guess that internal conflict happens inside a character’s mind, while external conflict is forced on them by a third party. We can highlight the differences between the two types as follows:

• Internal conflict centers on the character’s internal struggles against their beliefs, morals, wants, and/or needs. This conflict can be a question of emotion, philosophy, or logic. Examples include choosing a worldview, adopting a steadfast belief in an unstable environment, and embracing or rejecting their feelings.
• External conflict comes from any outside force that doesn’t directly relate to a character’s psychology. It can be caused by an event, a person, or even the forces of nature. You can think of a work demotion, a villain terrorizing the city, or natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes.

2 . Physical vs. Philosophical

In the realm of storytelling, conflict can appear in a physical form, like people or objects hindering the hero’s path, or in an abstract form, like religious conflict or mental illness. Both types tell us the nature of the conflict and how it affects the story and/or the characters.

With physical conflict , you have concrete obstacles in your characters’ paths. For example, villains, doomsday devices, and even opinionated family members are sources of physical conflict. Meanwhile, philosophical or moral conflict threatens their abstract beliefs , emotions , and/or state of mind . Non-physical dilemmas such as choosing between feeding an orphan or your own children is an example of a philosophical conflict.

3 . Primary vs. Secondary

Also known as the main vs. side plot, a struggle becomes a primary or secondary conflict according to its impact on the characters and the plot. The table below summarizes the differences between these two types:

4 . Resolved vs. Open-Ended

One final decision to make is whether or not you want to resolve the conflict of your story. This is not a type of conflict as much as it is a choice you make when crafting your plot. Leaving the ending up for interpretation might enrich your conflicts if your main plotline relies on abstract concepts or ideas. Meanwhile, resolving conflicts leaves your audience satisfied with knowing the ending of your story.

Making this decision will rely to a great extent on the genre that you’re writing your book in. If you are writing a cozy mystery , for example, it’s common to settle your main conflict and solve the mystery. This helps bring closure to the narrative and offers readers the gratification of seeing the detective’s efforts come to fruition. However, many genres—like horror—can benefit from an open-ended resolution to a story’s climax. This serves to keep the audience guessing about the characters’ fates. If the story is interesting enough, they might even create their own theories for how the story will unfold.

How to Create Conflict in a Story in 8 Steps

Now that you know the definition of conflict in a story, we can move on to creating one. But creating conflict isn’t always easy. It takes careful planning and execution to make your conflict believable, effective, and tailored to your characters. Additionally, your writing style must fit the genre you choose.

Here is a robust guide to creating good conflict in your story:

1 . Researching Your Genre

The first step in creating a believable conflict is to check out existing works in your genre. No two books are the same, of course, but there might be some broad patterns and trends to note down for inspiration.

For example, mystery books tend to have suspenseful conflict and lots of tension. Alternatively, fantasy stories usually have complex world-building, so the conflict can come from, say, fictional politics or ancient prophecies.

2. Picking the Theme(s), Tone, and Setting

A light-hearted comedy will have a completely different conflict from a dark, gritty tragedy. Just like your genre, the themes, setting, and tone of your story will greatly impact how you outline your conflict . Let’s talk about why below:

• Themes: Themes are abstract concepts that the writer wants to communicate through their story. They can lead to conflict in ideas , philosophies , actions , etc. Themes like familial love and ambition, for example, might lead to conflicts such as a struggle for power overruling a kingdom.
• Tone: The tone of a story is determined by your own attitude and perspective on the themes you are writing about. You can be sympathetic to a cause, critical, judgemental, ironic, and so on. Since your attitude shapes your writing style, your writing will convey a particular mood or message on its own.
• Setting: The setting is the physical place and time period in which the events of your story are occurring. You can have several settings if you wish, but make sure to properly establish each of them so you don’t confuse your audience. By choosing a particular setting, you are also defining the nature of your conflict and its implications on your characters. For example, a modern-day working woman will have completely different experiences and challenges from a poor maiden in the Medieval period.
• Mood: The story’s mood is the general atmosphere and feelings that the setting conveys. Determining the mood of your story will influence how light or dark your conflict and writing will be. For example, a Victorian-era manor may give off a romantic but gloomy mood, which can set the tone for a melancholic romance that ends in tragedy.
• Point of view: Another point you want to think about is choosing the point of view of your story. Generally, the first-person point of view helps your audience connect to the narrator (usually the protagonist) of the story. The third-person point of view, on the other hand, is better suited for following the plot .

You can use the first person for various reasons, among which is making your protagonist’s suffering more relatable for the audience. Alternatively, using the third person places some distance between the audience and the story, which allows you to focus on more than just one character or setting.

3. Determining Character Flaws

Since the conflict has to challenge your characters in some way, you have to know your characters’ strengths and weaknesses. As a result, determining their flaws is a very important step because the conflict they will face must challenge those flaws. So, the question now is, how do you design flaws for a character?

When writers reach this part in the outlining process, they make a common mistake: writing quirks as flaws. As you will see below, there is a huge difference between the two:

• Flaws are fundamental aspects of your characters’ personalities that can have a negative impact on themselves or their surroundings . These can include narcissism, greed, anger management issues, and insecurities. These flaws are essential to building a complex and believable character, so they often become the target of a conflict.
• Quirks are unusual or strange things your characters may say, do, or think about differently from others. For instance, they may eat ice cream with a fork, have a catchphrase, or refer to themselves using the third person. Quirks can be positive, negative, or neutral, but they are shallow representations of your character’s behavior and don’t say much about character depth on their own.

A good story will have a good mix of flaws and quirks, as quirks are the icing on the cake that truly brings a character to life and can make them more memorable. However, the conflict must challenge flaws rather than quirks in order for the story to have high stakes. A character with many quirks but no real flaws does not contribute to the stakes of the plot.

4. Giving Your Character(s) an Initial Goal

Now that you have your main character(s) figured out, now is the time to give them a goal they want to achieve at the start of the story. For instance, your character might want to start over in a different career before she finds out that she’s having a baby (conflict). Here, the initial goal is the desire to switch careers, which may or may not change because a conflict is challenging it.

Sometimes the initial desires your character has will stay the same, but sometimes the character will adjust or even completely change them because of the conflict they are facing. By adapting this idea to your story, you are making your character more believable and raising the stakes of your conflict at the same time.

5. Assigning External Obstacles

An obstacle is a physical or non-physical object that stands in the way of characters solving a problem or achieving a goal. Obstacles are perhaps the most well-known element of a good story conflict because they are usually obvious and tend to directly affect characters’ lives.

Naturally, there is a broad range of creative potential that even experienced writers may underestimate when designing obstacles in their characters’ paths. One good example is using simple inconveniences as powerful catalysts for a greater conflict. For instance, your main character might run out of milk and get kidnapped on their way to the store. In that example, the obstacle was running out of milk, and the conflict was getting kidnapped.

This step goes hand-in-hand with your character’s starter goal and the main conflict they will face. If the obstacle makes your characters pause to think of a solution, it counts as an obstacle that causes conflict.

6. Aligning the Main Challenge to Character(s)’ Flaws

If there is any growth for your characters to achieve, it can often happen when their flaws are challenged in an unavoidable way that forces them to think or act differently. More importantly, the conflict must relate to your character profile; if your character has insecurities about their appearance, for example, the conflict can come from participating in beauty contests or having a cruel parent who is obsessed with vanity.

When matching conflicts with character flaws, you have a number of routes you can take. Most authors like to change some aspects of their main characters’ personalities over time, but this is not a strict requirement for resolving story conflict. Some authors use what is known as a “flat character arc”—where the main character does not change fundamentally, but they do create such changes in the people around them. But even then, the conflict still has to challenge the characters in a way that impacts them and their environment.

7. Using Atmosphere and Writing Style to Liven Up Conflict

Now that you have your main conflict outlined, why not add some flair to it? The most common piece of writing advice of “show, don’t tell” applies best here. This is where you take advantage of language, style, and character dialogue to fully immerse your audience in the story. Your ultimate goal is to transport readers to your fictional world, making them feel as if they’re experiencing the characters’ struggles and triumphs firsthand.

Here’s how you can use atmosphere and writing style to enrich conflict as you write your story:

• Atmosphere: As you’re writing your story, you are also creating an atmosphere that fits the conflict, be it dull or somber, full of intense action, or comedic and light-hearted. You can do this by describing the areas your characters visit, the weather , and other aspects of the setting . Another way to establish atmosphere is to have character dialogue that reflects their environment and setting. For instance, you can set up a dark, scary atmosphere by using stormy weather, an abandoned cemetery, and whispered dialogue.
• Writing style: Using certain words and phrases can turn a bland argument into a showdown, witty banter, or funny dialogue . Short sentences and simple words add more punch to your writing, while longer sentences and poetic vocabulary can paint pretty pictures in your audience’s minds. As such, your writing style will greatly influence how your audience feels about the events of the conflict.

8. Resolving Conflict vs. Leaving It Open-Ended

Most stories include resolutions to their main conflict. It is the best way to bring relief to your characters and your audience after a long struggle. And yet, many writers take the risk of leaving conflict unresolved or open to interpretation.

There is no clear answer or method of instruction for resolving conflict. With that said, you might see some genres leaning towards one or the other due to their unique traits. For example:

• Cozy mysteries , high fantasy , and other genres that require detailed worldbuilding might favor resolving the main conflict. The more elaborate the world and its story, the more likely that multiple loose ends will remain after the story’s climax. Leaving too many of those loose ends unresolved might leave many readers dissatisfied with how you ended the story.
• Literary fiction , slice-of-life stories, horror , and other genres that rely less on worldbuilding might work well with an unresolved ending. Since these genres tend to have introspective writing styles, the conflict can then be abstract enough that it makes more sense to leave the ending open to interpretation.

That is not to say that fantasy stories must have satisfying endings, or that you cannot resolve conflicts in literary fiction. At the end of the day, whether or not you settle your conflict will rely on every part of your story and your outlook on its themes.

Need to print out this checklist? Download it here !

Examples of Conflict in a Story

Now that we are aware of the different types of conflict in literature and how to create one, let’s explore how this knowledge can apply to real-world media. Here are some examples of popular stories making use of conflict and what you can learn from them in practice.

1. Short Stories/Novellas

Short stories and novellas usually limit conflict to one main struggle and maybe another minor one that is resolved quickly or does not affect the main plot. Let’s take A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens as an example of a novella.

• Overview: The main character, a gnarly, bitter old man named Scrooge, hates Christmas and mocks any who celebrate it. However, the ghost of his late business partner, Marley, visits him on Christmas Eve and explains how his greed and selfishness have led to an endless existence as a chained spirit. After each Christmas spirit takes him on a journey, Scrooge realizes that his perspective of life is very different from reality.
• Conflict analysis: Scrooge is a lonely man who lives in fear of unpredictable human interaction. However, the other characters thrive on it and live happily, believing that the best way to live is to share your life with others. In the end, Scrooge’s journey motivates him to make a conscious effort to honor Christmas and share his wealth with those who truly need it.
• Types of conflict: The novella’s main conflict is split into two categories: internal and external. Scrooge’s external struggles with Christmas celebrations and the visions that the spirits show him reflect his internal conflict and his twisted, fear-fueled outlook on life.

What makes this story truly successful is how well the conflict aligns with Scrooge’s character and his flaws. Whether it’s internal or external, Scrooge suffers through many world-shattering realizations that force him to reevaluate his outlook on life and thus grow as a character.

Novels have the privilege of being lengthy, which helps authors explore conflict and characters in more detail. Since the minimum length of a novel is fifty thousand words, it’s much easier to flesh out conflict and expand character arcs . We will take a deeper look at conflict in novels by examining Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo.

• Overview: Throughout the novel, a group of misfits and thieves called the Dregs band together to perform an impossible heist by breaking into a foreign fortress. Along the way, they face external conflict in the form of physical enemies, like the soldiers of the fortress and the merchant who hired them. They also face an internal conflict between their innermost desires for love and redemption and the beliefs they’ve adopted as they struggle to get by.
• Conflict analysis: At the end of the novel, each character has undergone some form of growth. While it doesn’t change their grey morals, this maturity does give them the incentive to take down the corrupt merchant and save their captured friend, Inej. Kaz Brekker, the protagonist, appears to have been the most changed, going as far as to strike a deal with his arch-nemesis, Pekka Rollins, in order to save Inej.
• Types of conflict: There are several types of conflict present in the novel. While the whole gang shares a common goal of obtaining money, each individual has their own thoughts and beliefs that clash with their true desires. This inner clash generates a significant degree of internal conflict among them. For example, Kaz’s harsh upbringing has made him emotionally distant and unable to cope with his feelings for Inej. Plus, infiltrating an enemy fortress is a good example of physical external conflict .

3. Screenplays/Movies

Conflicts with more structure shine best in screenplays as most of them are segmented into three acts, each with its own side conflict. Most screenwriters will structure their main and side conflicts very clearly so that the script translates well on the screen. Let’s take a look at the first Hunger Games movie to see an example of a screenplay conflict in action.

• Overview: The protagonist, Katniss Everdeen, volunteers in her sister’s place to join a barbaric televised competition in which teenagers, adults, or even children fight each other to survive. While fending off other contestants, she toils in the dangerous arena to defend herself from natural hazards like predatory animals as well as search for food and water.
• Conflict analysis: Katniss faces conflict every step of the way, from her fear of violence to physical fights against kids from other districts. She must also try to survive without compromising her morals. By the final arc of the movie, she does win the competition alongside another contestant from her district, but at the cost of making up a love story to win TV viewers’ sympathy.
• Types of conflict: Throughout the movie, you see external conflict in the characters fighting for their lives (character vs character) and a dystopian governing system (character vs society). Even if Katniss’s main focus is on staying alive during the Hunger Games, she is also fighting for freedom and rebelling against the dictatorship of her nation. Plus, she is internally torn between her hatred for violence and her will to survive against all odds.

4. In Comics

Finally, comics strike the middle ground between novels and screenplays when it comes to conflict; they usually follow structural plot arcs like the Three-Act model, but these arcs can vary in length from a few pages to several volumes. Additionally, conflicts in comics can rely on images and also on dialogue, just like scripts. They can also appear in world-building texts or explanations that are usually written in the form of footnotes. To illustrate those points, we will look at the plot of Death Note , a Japanese manga by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

• Overview: A genius high school student named Light Yagami finds a strange notebook called the Death Note. By writing a person’s name in it while imagining their face, Light can kill anyone he pleases. This plants the idea of a savior complex in his mind as he strives to rid the world of criminals and create a utopia in which he will rule supreme. When the authorities catch onto Light’s actions, the world’s greatest detective, a mysterious man who goes by L, demands to work the case alongside the National Police Agency in Japan. He becomes the biggest antagonist to Light’s quest, and the duo starts to run in circles around one another, each trying and failing to uncover the other’s identity.
• Conflict analysis: While the manga does have a very clear philosophical conflict between Light and L, the main emphasis is on the physical conflict between the two as they each try to catch the other. However, both of them do experience internal conflict throughout the manga.
• Conflict types: In terms of internal conflict, Light initially doubts himself and his actions because those actions contradict traditional ideals of human life. On the other hand, the more involved L gets with the case and with Light, the more conflicted he feels. He struggles to balance his duty as a law-abiding detective with his own morals and beliefs about justice.

Final Thoughts

Conflict is a vital part of any story, and it is important to carefully align your character’s traits with the struggles they will face. With that said, if you’re a writer who has a hard time brainstorming conflicts, then you can use the tips in this article to make the process easier for yourself. Writing conflict can be a loaded task, but it can also be fun!

Keeping the Suspense Alive: 5 Tips to Write a Perfect Cliffhanger

How to Write a Compelling Story Outline: A Step-by-Step Guide

Elements of Fiction: A Quick Guide to Writing the Perfect Story

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What is Conflict in a Story? Definition and the 4 Types of Conflict Examples

by Fija Callaghan

As we saw in our article on plot , all story is driven by actions, reactions, and choices. And all choices are driven by conflict.

Conflict can be something as simple as choosing a brand of cereal at the supermarket—do I buy the one I know I really want, or do I get the one that’s on sale? Or it can be a socio-internal quandary—do I risk moving across the country to take a fantastic job opportunity, or do I stay in a place where I already know I’m comfortable and safe?

Your character’s conflict can also be a direct opposition to another person, or it can be a fight against an impersonal, external force, like a big storm.

The type of conflict your protagonist faces and, more importantly, how they deal with it, can reveal a lot about their character. It’s also what causes them to begin making choices that form the backbone of the story.

Let’s look at some of the major types of conflict you can use to propel your story forward.

What is conflict in a story?

In a story, conflict is any moment where the protagonist wants something, but someone or something is standing in their way. Often this is another character who either wants the same thing as the protagonist or wants something that’s in direct opposition. Conflict can also come from the natural world, society as a whole, or from within the protagonist themself.

For example, if your character wants a promotion at their job, their conflict could stem from another character who also wants that promotion, or a family member who doesn’t want the protagonist to apply for it so that they can spend more time at home. Maybe even both!

Alternatively, your character’s conflict might come from within. For example, maybe your character is struggling because the promotion would ease their financial troubles, but it would also involve doing things that compromised their own personal ethics.

The central conflict might be a matter of the protagonist balancing their needs and desires, choosing what’s worth fighting for and what’s worth sacrificing. It’s for you as the writer to decide which choices are the right ones for the story.

Why does conflict matter in storytelling?

In a compelling story, creating conflict is what powers the events of your plot. Without some sort of inner or outer opposition (and we’ll look closer at internal conflict and external conflict down below), your characters would go on living their lives exactly as they always had.

If you don’t give your characters something to struggle against, your story won’t have any deeper meaning or create an emotional response in your reader.

All stories begin with a change in circumstance that we call the inciting incident . You may have heard this mentioned before as a moment early on in the story where your protagonist’s world is forever, irrevocably, altered. What’s talked about less is that this moment, the inciting incident, cannot exist without conflict .

For example, one of the most famous types of inciting incidents in storytelling is the formula called “a stranger comes to town.” This is where a new character arrives in the protagonist’s world and knocks it squarely off center. This could be something like a traveling theater coming to deliver a very special one-night performance, or a troubled new kid arriving at the main character’s school.

While these are both great places to begin a story, neither is a story in and of itself —not without conflict. If the traveling theater delivers an enjoyable family-friendly show before moving on, or if the new kid settles into a productive routine and does their homework on time and is quickly forgotten, then nothing has actually happened .

We don’t just need these strangers to arrive at the beginning of the story—we need them to arrive and start messing things up!

The same is true for each pivotal plot point. Throughout our story, the protagonist and the characters around them will face conflict, make choices in response to that conflict, and resolve the conflict (or not); and the choices that they made will lead them into other plot points, other conflicts, and other layers of story.

This is useful to remember if you’re ever stuck in your writing and not sure how to move forward; the answer is almost always more conflict .

The 4 types of conflict your characters will face

As we saw above, opposing forces in a story can present itself in many different ways. It can be overt, characterized by ticking time bombs and villain monologues and hostages tied to railroad tracks; or, it can be subtle, stemming from deep psychological shadows and moral uncertainty and primal human weakness.

All types of conflict have their place in storytelling and, in fact, very often several types of conflict in a story will be layered one on top of the other. Let’s look at the different types of classic storytelling conflicts in literature.

1. Character vs. Character

The character vs. character conflict (also called the interpersonal conflict) is a situation in which two people, or groups of people, find themselves fighting for contrasting desires that are absolutely exclusive to each other.

This is the classic “hero vs. villain” story that we all learned to recognize as children: Spiderman vs. Doctor Octopus, Peter Rabbit vs. Mr. McGregor, the Pevensie children vs. the White Witch. This can also be a conflict between two otherwise good characters, such as two best friends fighting for the same wedding venue, or two business owners competing for customers in a small town.

In these stories, your characters will fight tooth and nail for what they want,; they may question why they want what they want (this ties into internal conflict, which we’ll look at next); and by the end of the story one or both of your characters will either end up with nothing or they’ll learn to want something different.

You may close your story with the defeat of one character—usually your antagonist—or your two opposing forces may come to some sort of peace with one another.

2. Character vs. Self

Also called the internal conflict, this is where a character struggles with two conflicting desires or needs—such as whether to do something against their personal ethics in order to succeed or survive, or whether to alter a deeply-ingrained set of beliefs when faced with new information or a new circumstance.

In most cases, these conflicts come from flaws that are already present in the character when the story begins: fear, greed, addiction. Then, when the rising action of the story introduces a need to overcome these flaws, the character begins making difficult choices that propel the story forward and ultimately make them a very different person than when they started out.

You’ll often find the interpersonal and internal conflicts used together quite effectively, as the antagonist of the story causes the protagonist, or hero, to begin making choices that aren’t entirely comfortable and examining their own internal weaknesses.

Your protagonist may also consider why their initial goal was so important to them in the first place, and they may discover that what they’ve actually been chasing is something much deeper.

3. Character vs. Society

The society conflict sees the protagonist pitted against a collective, impersonal antagonistic force such as a government body, an unfamiliar culture, or a conflicting demographic. This type of conflict is often used in dystopia-type stories, like The Hunger Games , where only the protagonist and the reader realize that there’s something deeply wrong with the society as a whole.

It can also be an instance in which the main character is thrown into the alien cultural practices of an unfamiliar landscape and is forced to adapt, and quickly. Sometimes, like in Joanne Harris’ Chocolat , it might be a matter of the protagonist and the society coming around to some sort of understanding and acceptance of the things that make them different.

These types of stories can be used to show injustices and points of discussion in our own society, and encourage readers to examine their own relationship with the world around them.

4. Character vs. Nature

These are stories in which the main character, or central characters, are battling against a force of something beyond anyone’s control. This could be something like being lost at sea and surviving against impossible odds, or preparing a town against the threat of an incoming hurricane.

The most famous example of nature conflict is in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick , in which a sea captain makes it his mission to conquer the white whale at the center of the story—to overcome nature itself. Although the whale is a living, sentient being, in this story it’s shown as an impersonal force of the natural world. The ship’s crew also face storms and other natural challenges characteristic of being at sea.

In contemporary and futuristic literature, this “character vs. nature” dynamic can sometimes come in the form of a conflict against technology. Although this presentation of our natural landscape is quite different, it follows the same principles of conflict against a broad, impersonal, uncontrollable force of the world around us.

How to find the right conflict for your story

It’s important to note that while most story conflicts fit into one of these four categories, many compelling stories will have more than one type of conflict running at the same time.

Really, some degree of conflict exists any time a choice is made (in story as well as in our own lives), and in a well-crafted narrative there’ll be multiple levels of internal and external conflict at any given moment. It is by overcoming conflict that our characters change and grow.

As you may remember from our article on character , all story stems from a place of human need and desire. What our characters want and need most will inform every moment of the plot, which means that the conflicts that drive this plot also have to be directly intertwined with our character’s journey.

Pinpoint your protagonist’s desire

In order to find the right conflict for your story, begin by asking yourself what your protagonist wants—for example, do they want to have their creative work recognized, to see more of the world beyond the confines of their small town, or for the man they love to leave his unhappy marriage and be with them instead?

Now, ask yourself: Why don’t they already have what they want? What’s standing in their way?

Perhaps your protagonist hasn’t shown anyone their work because they’re too afraid of ridicule and rejection (character vs. self).

Maybe they haven’t left their hometown because they’re locked into a respected position, such as a doctor or a priest, and they have too many people relying on their presence there (character vs. society).

Maybe the love interest’s wife has him tied into difficult circumstances because she doesn’t want him to leave, or maybe the man himself is too adverse to uncertainty and change (character vs. character). Can you see the stories beginning to shine through?

Once you have a clear idea of what your protagonist wants and what’s preventing them from getting it, your story’s conflict will naturally fall into place.

How to resolve your story’s conflict (the right way)

Once your characters have fought their way through the conflict that you’ve thrown at them, you’re going to need to give them a resolution.

The most important thing to remember is that the resolution to their conflict must come from them —from their actions, needs, and understanding of the world (not coincidentally, these are usually the same things that caused the conflict in the first place).

Let’s see if you can identify the problem with these resolutions:

The creative main character—let’s say they’re a painter—accidentally leaves some of their sketches behind at a café. A major publisher of children’s books stumbles across it, finds out who they are, and offers them scads of money to illustrate their upcoming new book.

A man is stuck in a small village and dreams of faraway adventure. Then a member of the town council contacts him and tells him that in exchange for decades of exemplary service, he’s being gifted with a generous early retirement so he can live and explore where he pleases.

The central character has fallen in love with someone who is married. Suddenly the spouse dies, leaving the main characters free to build a happily-ever-after.

Do you see what all of these resolutions have in common?

The protagonist doesn’t do anything .

These are all examples of the plot device deus ex machina , or “god from the machine.” This is a term left over from Greek stage dramas where a god-like figure would be lowered onto the stage via pulley, and they would then swoop into the entanglements of the plot and save the day.

It refers to any moment where an external, unforeseen force—this can be another character, a new discovery, a natural disaster—shows up out of the blue to magically sweep away the conflicts of the story and give our heroes a chance at a happy ending.

These types of resolutions leave the reader (or viewer, in theater and film) feeling unsatisfied and cheated out of a good story.

It’s okay to give your protagonist a few moments of good luck (not too many!), but the overall resolution to the story’s major conflicts need to come from them—from the choices they make, from the things they learn about the world and about themselves, from the way they grow as a person through the events of the plot.

Resolution in a story comes from the protagonist gaining a deeper understanding of their own weaknesses and learning how to overcome them. In many ways, it should be a direct reflection of what caused the conflict in the first place.

When you’re wrapping up your story’s plot and resolving the major conflict, ask yourself how your protagonist has changed over the course of the story (and if they haven’t… you need to go back and look at your character arcs again). Do they still want the same things they did at the beginning? How would they approach those goals knowing what they do now?

Use what they’ve learned to look at the story’s conflict in a new way.

Conflict is the driving force behind your story

Even with rich, evocative settings and vivid, relatable characters, you need conflict in order for ideas to become a story. Conflict in a story is what links one plot point to another; it’s what gives your characters something to fight for and a reason to change and grow as they fight for those things.

Whether your central conflict is between your protagonist and another character, between them and the wider world, or even between them and the shadows deep within themself, engaging conflicts will keep your readers turning pages for the entire journey.

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How to Write a Story 101: Conflict

by Pamela Hodges | 54 comments

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You desperately want to write a story. You carry a pad of paper with you in case you get an idea. You can't decide if your main character should have short hair or long hair. But for now, put aside what your character looks like and think about what they want .

In this post, we're going to look at how to write a story by focusing on one of the most important elements of  any  story: conflict.

Every story has to have conflict. A story without conflict is boring. I don't want to read about how someone has it all together.

How do you write a good conflict of a story? What is conflict, anyway? And why do you even need it in your story? You probably hate fighting. So why would you want to write about it?

Please let me explain.

What is conflict?

Conflict could be when your mother wants you to set the table and you don't want to. Or conflict could be when you get your neck shaved and they want you to pay fifteen dollars and you only want to pay five dollars because they didn't shave your whole head.

Conflict brings together two opposing forces, the protagonist, one who struggles for , and the antagonist, one who struggles against , and then develops and resolves the struggles between these two forces.

What Do the Protagonist and Antagonist Have to Do With Conflict?

I always thought the protagonist was the good guy, and the antagonist was the bad guy. But you could have two bad guys who are fighting. However, who is the good guy if, for example, both characters are bank robbers?

The protagonist is the person struggling for  something, and the antagonist is struggling against  something.

Hint: If you can remember the meaning of the prefix it might help you remember what the two words mean: Pro means in favor of. Anti means against.

How to Write a Story: 2 Different Models

Good stories settle into two different models: the Accomplishment Story and the Decision Story. Depending on the type of story you're telling, the conflict in your story may look very different.

1. Accomplishment Story

In   an Accomplishment Story ,  the protagonist is trying to achieve some goal against great opposition.

Here's an example of what an Accomplishment Story might look like:

Perhaps you are trying to convince your husband to let you rip up the carpet in the formal living room and turn it into a painting studio. Your husband is the antagonist; he is against you. You are the protagonist struggling to get your painting studio.

(P.S. I ripped up the carpet and won the conflict.)

2. Decision Story

In a Decision Story, the protagonist has a choice between two things, two courses of action, two sets of values.

Should the protagonist let her hair grow so she can donate it to make wigs for children with cancer, or should she shave off all of her hair and pay the fifteen dollars the hair salon was demanding when they shaved her neck?

That's an example of a Decision Story.

4 Principles of Fictional Conflict

If you want to know how to write a story that sings, you need to focus on writing better conflict. These four storytelling principles will help.

1. Conflict must be of obvious importance to the characters involved. If your conflict is whether or not the protagonist eats green beans or broccoli for dinner, make sure it is obvious why this is important to the character. 

2. The two opposing forces much be equal in strength. The conflict is developed and there will be suspense until the end.  This kind of story drives me nuts (in a good way—mostly). I hate how you can never guess who will win. I want to know! Sometimes . . . well, most of the time . . . okay, all of the time, I peak ahead to see who wins the conflict. Then I go back and slowly finish the book.

3. Unity. Everything—conflict, character, theme, point of view—is functional, and related to the story's basic purpose. The conflict is logical in development.

4. Plausibility. Characters act and react to familiar principles of human behavior. The resolution of conflict must adhere to basic facts of existence.  The people in your story can't regrow a leg if it gets cut off. (Unless your story's world follows its own rules, in which case you must go back to Principle #3 and make sure there's unity to those rules.)

How to Write a Story That Breaks the Rules

If you want to add conflict that does not follow the principles or models above, don't feel like you have to follow all of the rules. Just because you read something in a “textbook” (or writing blog) doesn't mean it is the only way to write.

Principles are just that, principles. They are not laws. Principles are not the double line in the middle of the highway that you cannot legally cross.

If you break a rule about storytelling you won't go to jail or get a traffic ticket. What could happen? Sure, your story might not make sense, but on the other hand, you may have written a story that is convincing and effective without following the principles.

Writing a story is like making homemade soup: you follow the recipe, do everything you're  “supposed” to do, and then add a dash of your own spices and ingredients.

What will your story taste like when it's finished?

Do you tend to write Accomplishment Stories or Decision Stories—or something else entirely?  Let us know in the comments section .

Write a story using one of the patterns of conflict mentioned above: an Accomplishment Story or a Decision Story (I hate being told what to do, so I wanted to let you have a choice). Write your story for fifteen minutes.

When your time is up, please post your practice in the comments section . I look forward to reading your stories. xo Pamela ​

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Pamela Hodges

Pamela writes stories about art and creativity to help you become the artist you were meant to be. She would love to meet you at pamelahodges.com .

54 Comments

This is a great article. It shows that writing conflict is less complicated than most of us try to make it.

Thank you Linda, I hope this article helps you with your stories. Joe Bunting is such a great editor, he helps me sound brilliant. xo Pamela

Great article. The crux of the story is the conflict, and I think that I missed that important element in some of my own stories. My 15 minute conflict:

After I turned ten, Grampa let me pick up a few groceries on the way home while he waited in the car.

“Money, Grampa. I’ve gotta pay.” He had handed me a bill and made me verify the amount before going in.

“How much money you got there, eh?” Grampa would demand, and I had to tell him the value of the bill.

“Well, did she give you the right change? Anybody cheat you today?” he would ask when I came back to the car.

He had me read the receipt to him on my return, find the total, then calculate the correct change. At first, I cried from frustration. But after a couple of months, I counted back the correct change and announced with confidence, “Nope, Grampa. Nobody cheated me today.”

Grampa’s brown eyes sparkled. Square black rimmed glasses topped with clip on sunshades rested precariously on his Roman nose. He left the sun shades flipped up except when driving, and his bushy eyebrows did pushups as he chuckled. A toothless smile and moist eyes, magnified through his glasses, betrayed his approval. A piece of a longer story. Accomplishment?

I decided to get cute with your prompt. —————————————————– Sitting at his desk, he stared at the prompt until it blurred on the screen. He didn’t know how to proceed: should he write the Decision Story, or the Accomplishment Story?

As he was trying to decide, the counter ticking down on his eggtimer app, the cat picked this moment. Its human had stopped typing – surely his attention was free now.

“Mew!” the cat stated, breaking the writer out of his trance. His face flushed with irritation and strained with indecision, he swatted at the cat. “Not now! I’m busy!”

The cat observed the thing flailing in the air: a toy! Its human wanted to play. Well, a cat must indulge its human from time to time. It made the appropriate response, as dictated by centuries of human-cat tradition.

“OW!” cried the author, sucking at the scratch on his hand. Resolving to deal with the distraction, he grabbed a piece of string from the floor and hung it off the back of its chair. As he started typing again, he rocked his chair left and right, causing the string to swing back and forth. Suitably distracted, the cat paid no more attention to its human.

The clock continued to tick down, and he still hadn’t decided. Until a moment ago, he had been leaning towards writing an Accomplishment Story, but now, he felt like he should write a Decision Story again. However, he was down to ten minutes, and how can you even begin to write a story without knowing what kind of story to write?

The dangling thing had stopped moving – the human must want to play using some other toy. It spotted its favourite toy, bouncing repeatedly against the ground. Now we’re talking!

Tapping his foot against the floor, the writer had started to write the beginning of a story, which, depending on his mood, could either become an Accomplishment Story or a Decision story. However, he had only written a few paragraphs before he noticed an eerie calmness – the cat had stopped scratching at the string. He started to look around, and the cat, seized by the same primal urge a lion feels when attacking a gazelle, undiluted even through years of domestication, chose that moment to pounce.

A-ha! The cat seized its prey, dug its claws in deep, and began chewing on a piece that stuck out a bit.

The author bit back a cry as the cat wrapped itself around his foot. He tried to rub the cat’s stomach using his foot, thinking of how he’d heard that cats do not like that, but the feline urge to play was too strong, and it only grabbed tighter.

Frustrated past the point of tolerance, the writer picked up his cat, placed him down outside of the office, and then closed the door behind him, ignoring the plaintive mews which issued from the other side.

The cat, seeing that its attempts to be cute were not gaining it readmittance, decided to retreat down the stairs and find something to eat. The human has won the game, I see. He will not be so lucky next time. No, next time, victory shall be mine!

Finally free of distractions, but desparately short on time, the writer made his decision. He finished pumping out the words, his fingertips flying across the keys of his keyboard as he tried to add detail to the last few paragraphs.

He must succeed! He must write a story – he had pledged to reply to every writing prompt – he would not fail due to the efforts of a cat!

In the nick of time, he finished the tale, satisfied with his effort and his decision.

Congratulations on your effort with this prompt; it is a cute story. Most cat owners can relate to this type of conflict. Glad to see he finally got his story written; you’ll have to post that tomorrow. 🙂

Thanks for the feedback! Unfortunately, while the behaviour of the cat is not fictional, the story was; I have learned to keep the door closed when writing. There is no other story. However, I do plan to post a response to the next prompt, whatever it may be. Thanks again!

Hello Nerd of all Trades, Your story was like a story within a story. It was like the writer had a conflict to decide what to write, and the cat has their own conflict, attacking the prey. And you did get cute with the prompt. 🙂 I love cat stories. It was interesting that you put the object attacked from the cats perspective. We knew it was a foot, but the cat didn’t. xo Pamela

Thanks for the feedback, Pamela! You’ve given me an interesting perspective: I hadn’t thought of the cat as a protagonist in its own right. I wonder how I’d give the cat some sort of victory. It’s difficult to do so without having the cat successfully distract the writer, and thus having the recursive nature of the story fall apart. Thank you for reading!

Awesome. I obviously didn’t read the other attempts before sitting down to write mine. It did seem like an obvious choice of topics, and I’m surprised everyone didn’t do it. Good job on your version.

Thanks, Thomas. I enjoyed your version as well. Your story did a much better job of showing the stakes involved than mine did: it was clear throughout your story why replying to the writing prompt was important to the writer. Re-reading mine, I only established the reason in passing, near the end of the story. Thanks for reading, and for the feedback!

I’m just happy that we both have great minds! ; )

It’s better than the alternative!

The sun set crisp in the sky giving a finality to a blindingly hot day. Janny Jo looked at the appointment card, Friday at 9:45am, the Bilford Building, appointment set with Dr. Sate. She paced the floor, plodding and looking out the window of her high rise, low rent apartment. She dry swallowed another pain pill as her stomach groaned in stern argument to her pacing. Walking to the round side table by her small thatched chair she picked up an envelope and re-read the letter, “Dear Ms. Trablehorn, We are pleased to inform you that you have been selected as a final applicant for the final interview, this does not necessarily guarantee that you will be given the position…” She placed the letter back in the envelope, carefully creasing the folds so that it fit snugly into the cream colored envelope, with it’s stark blue ink and beautifully designed font. Jalinger Company along with it’s address was on the upper left hand corner. She had read and re-read the letter to make sure of the time, she had taken out pencil and paper from her top dresser drawer and copied it line for line to make sure she was reading it right. The time for her interview, the time she was expected to be at the Jalinger Company for this second and last interview for a possible job was this Friday, at 9:30am.

There was no guarantee she would get the job, it was just the last interview. There would be other applicants. She was elated that she got through the initial interview. She was nervous and not at all sure of herself. She had grimaced a lot as she had not been able to take a pain pill that morning since she wanted to be completely coherent.

But she needed to get to the doctor and get the results of her tests. She had been to multiple doctors over the last 7 months. Her insurance was running out of patience with her and she was desperate to find out what was wrong with her. She could not get the results over the phone or in the mail, she had asked. Nor could she pick them up at a later time. She was seeing a top specialist that had taken a lot of convincing to get into see and they would not reschedule her, they would have to set her up a new appointment to give her the results and who knew how long that would take. It had taken 5 weeks to get this appointment schedule.

She looked at the night creeping onto the edges of her window. She went to her kitchen counter, picked up some tea to put on to boil and placed the appointment card in the trash. She got out the iron and the ironing board.

That was great, Alan. I especially liked how detailed you were in describing the effects of the illness, the pain pills, the steps she had gone through to get it treated, her desperation to find the cause. The only issue with giving that much detail to the illness is that it throws into stark contrast how little you say about the job. You give the company a name, and I get the impression of a professional, probably very well-funded company, with a rigorous selection process. The problem is, after all of that time spent describing this painful, rare, frustrating mystery illness, I have no idea why she chose a chance at a job over a chance at getting her condition diagnosed. Has she always dreamed of working at Jalinger? Has she been unemployed for long? Does she need new employment to keep her health insurance? Does she just not expect the doctor to succeed, after so many others failed? Once again, you showed someone struggling with a dilemma very well, but I just wish you had given us an indication of what getting that position would mean to her (other than, obviously, meaning more to her than her health).

Quite right NOAT, I should have spread out the details a little more so as to expand why she wanted the job and why this was such an important decision, that would have added more weight to the choice…thanks for the feedback!

No problem! That’s what we’re all here for!

Hello Alan Rogers, Your story is full of very crisp details, that clearly show and not tell how she is feeling. She dry swallowed the pill, I could tell the job was important to her, as she carefully creased the folds, and she hand copied the letter. She is in a low rent apartment, we know she needs the job. Pacing the floor shows she is nervous. There are two sentences here you tell me something about her, and not show. I suggest adding more details here. “She was elated that she got through the initial interview. She was nervous and not at all sure of herself.”

Connie enjoyed Eric’s company and looked forward to meeting him for dinners, at gallery openings, and on random Saturday mornings at the Old Dominion Farmer’s Market. The vendors had begun ‘some talk’ about the handsome couple that seemed to glide into and away from each other while shopping at each vendor’s stall. Connie, a laid back, almost sixty-ish boho beauty, lived alone for many years after her daughter left to begin her career as an educator for manufacturers of hair care products. Connie felt pangs of loneliness at times, but recently Eric wanted to spend more and more time with Connie. Eric was a sensitive, yet fiery tempered man who had begun to show signs of jealously after Connie seduced him in her new sewing studio.

Good Morning Berle, I would love to know more about Connie and Eric. Lets start with Connie, what does she want? Is she trying to find purpose in life after her daughter left? We know she likes to spend time with Eric. We know she is lonely. Is the conflict that she doesn’t want to spend more time with Eric? But she is lonely? What does lonely look like? What does Connie do when she feels lonely? Can you thing of some ways to show that. The conflict becomes more real, or I will care more for Connie if I see how she is feeling. Oh, and the fun part. You can decide how long Connie’s hair is. Mine is short now, so I often let my characters have long hair. xo Pamela

June 14, 2015

Hi. Pamela! ( I did not expect to be contacted about my 15-minute assignment! LOL!)

I am an aspiring writer, who has been shaping Connie and Eric in my head for years. I wanted to create a ‘want-to-know more’ feeling, but suppose I need to convey that in 15-minutes, yes?

Connie is celibate.

I would love to know more about Connie and Eric. Lets start with Connie, what does she want?

The past couple of years, Connie has felt the tremors of desiring a relationship, but is fearful that her independence and creativity will be challenged. She now wants to share herself with someone who understands the life of focused energy, and work. She also wants to share the joys, with that ‘chosen one ‘ that many of her well-known parties have meant to friends, family and colleagues, as well as sharing life together. Many attendees of her parties have found themselves blissfully matched with their life partners at Connie’s events. She loves having a few parties during the year to celebrate the good fortunes of her circle of friends; and loves feeling the closeness , the reason for the celebrations, along with the ‘village’ support given to whatever the endeavors that have brought about the successes of her special friends.

Is she trying to find purpose in life after her daughter left? We know she likes to spend time with Eric.

The past decade of narrow focus and dedication to her fashion accessories business catapulted her into boutiques, such as ‘Consuelo Lane’, ‘Tortega Raynal’, and most recently, an exclusive 5 year- photo contract with ‘Tree Naturals’. All of which have been lucrative endeavors, enabling Connie to enjoy the fruits of her labor, and not be as driven as has been the case over the past decade. The drive that fueled her creativity always seemed to be more prominent when she was celibate. It was easy to rationalize that more time, energy and focus could make any dream come to fruition, but time after time, Connie witnessed this phenomenon present itself.

We know she is lonely.

Is the conflict that she doesn’t want to spend more time with Eric? But she is lonely?

She manages her loneliness with work. She rarely verbalizes it. The loneliness is the same feeling she used to have as an only child wishing for siblings. The desire for a sister or brother was long gone, but now, the desire for a male presence, was what Connie wanted. She wants to hear a man’s voice, she wants to hear him laughing with his buddies or asking her about dinner plans or Saturday afternoon plans. She wants to watch him perform mundane chores around the house without him knowing she was watching. Connie also want him to see her desire for him in her eyes; to sense her body language across a room of people, to know instantly that she wants him. Connie wants the safety of living on the inside of the love she now needs to share. The conflict is not with Eric, but with the prospect of not having anyone in mind that can fulfill this deep desire. Spending time with Eric is like being with herself, in some ways. He understands her lifestyle, as does she his, so the comfort level is perfect. For Connie, Eric, provides a stability that she appreciates, but his anger issues, now more well-managed than ever before, still rattle her a little. He is diligently working on the anger management with counseling.

The conflict becomes more real, or I will care more for Connie if I see how she is feeling.

She will find herself going down a familiar path when she finds herself accountable for seducing Eric. When Eric blows up one night, asking her to explain her familiar pattern of dissociating her feelings from her actions. This question renders Connie speechless.

Oh, and the fun part. You can decide how long Connie’s hair is. Mine is short now, so I often let my characters have long hair.

Connie’s naturally unprocessed, deeply wavy hair is cropped short on the sides and back, about two-inches long, and the full of curls that hang just below her left eyebrow, is silvery gray and shiny. Eric is her hairdresser.

I hope that this fills in the blanks, Pamela. Thank you so much for this input. I wrote this afternoon, instead of studying! A first for sure!

Stay in touch, I love this forum!

Hello Berle, I seriously need to check in here every day instead of cleaning my seven litter boxes so often. After reading about your detailed analysis of your characters, I see you have a clear outline about your character Connie. What she looks like and what she wants. What do you want to do with dear Connie? If you had a beginning and a middle and an end to your story? What is the conflict and how will she resolve it? If Connie doesn’t know what she “really” wants she won’t be able to get through the conflict until the end. And as a reader we want Connie to get through her conflict and have some sort of resolution. Hope all is well with you. xo Pamela

My most recently started story is about an old woman who at 91 realizes her life is nearly over. She has made millions for herself and a select group of friends by day trading and wants to turn control of her business over to a successor but has no one in mind whom she trusts, and no one to whom she wants to leave her money. She rails against the aging process, her lack of caring family, etc. A new neighbor seems to be a likely candidate, but how could she know?

Hello Barbara, Oh, your old woman sounds so interesting. That would really be a dilemma not knowing who to turn her business over to. A big conflict I see is the fight against aging. Yes, how could she know. Oh please share a short section. I want to meet your old woman. xo Pamela

He looked into the window at the painting and knew he had to have it. He had never owned his own piece of artwork before, and here was a priceless article staring back at him, almost daring him to come and take it. With a just minute to act, he assessed his obstacles. This would have to be done quick, probably no more than 15 minutes, or he’d blow it. The the most important decision, should he write an Accomplishment Story, or a Decision Story?

He sat on the couch with the computer on his lap and stared into the screen. He could hear the upstairs floor creak as his daughter began her day. He thought about the Accomplishment Story angle and wondered what kind of conflict he could throw together in such a short time. He’d really need some exciting obstacles. Amy walked down the steps and came into the room. “Dad, I don’t see any eggs. Do you know if there are any in the garage?” He thought for a moment.

“You’ll have to go check. I don’t know if you’re mom went shopping yet.” He tried to keep his mind on the fifteen minute task. He knew that if he could write some stunning conflict in an Accomplishment Story, he’d win the prize painting offered by the guest blogger. What was it that caused just excitement in his life? What could he draw from in his experience? His daughter who stepped out in to the garage returned with a huff.

“I don’t see any out there and I was really looking forward to having French toast what could I have for breakfast instead?” She acted as though it was the end of the world, he thought.

“Amy, I don’t know. I’m trying to work on something. Can you ask me in a few minutes?” He looked back down at the empty page on his Google Docs. Maybe he should write the Decision Story. It might not have to be so tense, or even exciting. It could even be about some European culinary item. Heavy sighing caught his attention and he looked up to the doorway. His daughter who had not left stood there with her hands on her hips, exaggerating her breathing, in hopes of getting his attention.

Before she could speak again, he moved the computer off his lap, stood up and walked over to her. Gently taking her by the arm, he slipped a five dollar bill into her hand. He turned her toward the door, and escorted her out. “Pick up something from McDonalds on the way in.” He closed the door behind her, settled in his mind about what it was he was going to do. He locked the door as he heard her walk back up the stairs.

Then he sat back down on the couch. His fifteen minutes had expired, but he knew it was okay to break the rules sometimes. An extra five minutes wouldn’t kill anyone, he thought.

Very creative Thomas. That was a Decision Story about a story to write, interesting.

I like your story, Thomas, especially the last paragraph that it is okay to break rules sometimes.

This is a re-write of the opening scene to a short story I have posted to the Writers Workshop.

Henry Klein was a Loonie, born on the moon, a Lunar citizen. Fifty-five years old, 165 centimeters tall, widowed, greying hair with some areas of dishwater blonde that once was; not portly, not skinny, just comfortable. He loved looking at the Earth from the Gardens in Selene, or as it was called “Tranquility Base” by the tourists, immigrants, and slugs from Earth.

Tourists were pardonable since they came to the moon to hop around for a few days, usually on paid tours to see the Apollo sites, collect a few “samples”, and then fall back down the gravity well to home somewhere on the “big blue marble”. Immigrants just didn’t know the Lunar names for places and used the Earthy terms for a while. Immigrants would learn, and nearly always became Loonies, citizens of Luna.

Slugs were different. They nearly always were criminals avoiding prosecution, though on occasion they were simply Earth trash that had no where else to run. The moon became a respite, a haven, where they attempted to carry on as they had on Earth.

Hank, as he liked to be called, was a very good software engineer, and he had been asked to do something he considered dishonest, and from that realized he had been working for a slug company. He had been asked to “cook the books” for Goldman & Minelli’s Lunar Import/Export, and had decided it was time to find another client.

Goldman had harrumphed, “Rather short notice, Klein. I ain’t give’n no bonus for resigning a contract early.”

Careful to not mention the culinary-book-keeping Hank replied, “That’s fine Mr. Goldman. I have an opportunity to move to Tyco Crater and I am going to take it.” That was true. Jen had fallen in love with the rim-wall view of Tyco Crater as seen from a small apartment. It would have been a bit small for two, but by himself, Hank felt it would be fine.

“Fine, don’t let the door slam you in that ass on your way out,” Goldman said and punched a call button on his desk.

Distracted by his own thoughts, Hank did not notice Goldman’s two body guards enter the office as he shuffled through the door.

Closing his laptop bag, Hank walked out the door and left G&MLIE for the last time. It was early evening, the corridor lights were dimmer than daytime settings, and he was about to walk into the vertical access tube of his housing block when the lights went out. Goldman’s two body guards, Freddy and Pauly, had bagged Hank, and tossed him unconscious into the airtight cargo hold of a transport. “Bag” is what they called it on Luna, because it usually involved a bag, and a quick trip to the nearest airlock.

Nice story. I liked the ending, and didn’t see the twist coming. It was interesting how the accountant didn’t even consider the risks of resigning from a criminal organization; I like the touch of naïveté. One thing bothers me: Who is Jen? At first I thought she was a girlfriend that Hank was moving in with, until he said that he was going to be moving there alone. I know that this will probably be flushed out in the full story, but it still struck me as odd. I really like your description of the lunar colony, and its different types of inhabitants. I feel like this could be a really interesting setting for a full novel; as the beginning of a short story, it definitely left me wanting to read more. Are you eventually going to post the rest?

Yes, I to missed the lack of information for Jen. I mention that Hank is widowed, and Jen/Jenny was his wife. I need to flesh that out a bit. Thanks for the comments. You can see the last full post in the workshop. Hopefully today I’ll have a new update posted.

What is the Writer’s workshop? I signed up for the waiting list, but I can’t find out any more information?

I guess you could call it a critique group. You post a weekly writing there and then critique three other writers in turn. It does require a membership.

This is a really interesting story, and how much information you got across in this excerpt is really impressive! I could see the colony in my head, and I love that you were so descriptive! Nice job 🙂

– Flowers, a sketch and a welling up of pride inside.-

Ali yawned as he opened his eyes to the dim glow of the morning sun, flowing through the spaces between his curtains and window sill. Laying on his bed, he turned to his right to see the time on the clock above the side table. Five twenty- five.. five more minutes till the alarm goes off. Waking up before the alarm rang, had become a habit of late; as did the desire to stay curled up in bed after turning off the alarm.

Three honks from the street below was the cue for him to go down to his gate and meet Andy, his business partner. Five thirty.. Ali remembered the time when Andy and He launched Social Change INC, their dream child. And what a dream it had been. They poured in all their savings from their previous jobs to establish the first office, right on the outskirts of the financial district. Slowly but surely they were to make progress. Their first project was a campaign to raise awareness among school children about the effects of bullying aptly named, STOP BULLYING!. It was a success. Some more projects later the initial prosperity of their business dwindled. Nine months had passed and now the bills were beginning to make a pile on the floor. The future did not look so promising. Why get off the bed to go face failure again?

Five forty five. Andy was supposed to come at six fifteen. What’s the point, being late will hurt no one, the bills aren’t going anywhere. Ali turned to his left away from the window to get more comfortable. His eyes fell on a piece of paper stuck on the wall. On it was sketched roughly, with an unsteady hand, a man with a cape tied around his collar with fists on hips and beside him, a small boy with golden hair, holding his hand. Arrow marks were directed towards each; the one above the boy said ‘Me’, the other ‘You’. On the floor below the drawing, was a long glass holding some water and a small bouquet of dark blue flowers. A small note hanging from the outer most flowers read “Thank you for helping my son Ben get through the tough times.’ Ali’s eyes started watering right then: the night before when Ali was closing up his office, Mrs Macy and Ben had come. Before the launch of STOP BULLYING, Ben was performing badly in school, everyday Mrs Macy and Ben’s father had to convince a weeping and apprehensive Ben to go to school. During the campaign Ali’s lecture allowed Ben’s parents to recognize their son as a victim of bullying. They approached Ali to help Ben out for a week. Nine months and Ben had become a happy little boy again. Infact, now he would wake up earlier than his mother’s alarm to go to school. Wiping his tears away Ali decided that the comfort of his bed would not keep him. He arose. His work did have meaning. Slowly but surely the payoff came. It came with flowers, a sketch and a welling up of pride inside.

Comment/no story:

Conflict can be boiled down to simply differing needs/wants. Anything else?

Hello A Guy Who Types, I love your name. Conflict in a story is as essential to a story as butter is to toast. Or as essential as a litter box is to an indoor cat. Something I didn’t mention in the article, is how sometimes the conflict is not with an outside element, but an internal struggle. Your boiling down was very accurate. I wonder why we like to read about a character overcoming a struggle? Perhaps it gives us hope we can overcome our own struggles. And the main character doesn’t always have to win. Because in life we don’t always win. xo Pamela p.s. What do you like to write about?

Sheryl’s back hurt. She stood with most of her weight on her left leg; it eased the pain, a bit. The jars on the shelf in front of her were hard to see through her dark sunglasses, but she dared not take them off. They had a very specific duty. She moved closer to the shelves and took one of the jars in her hand. Grape jelly. No artificial colors or preservatives. “Well”, she thought, “they soon damn will have artificial flavoring.” She returned the jar to its place on the shelf and reached for another jar. “He likes strawberry preserves, but he likes the smoothness of the grape jelly.”

She read the ingredients on the strawberry preserves jar, then returned it to its place. Taking up the grape jelly once again, she looked for some sign on the jar that this should be her choice. Would Jammer have this kind of patience, she wondered. Probably not. But then, Jammer would probably use a different method. This was a woman’s way of taking care of things. And it would be just as effective as Jammer’s way might be…maybe more so.

Sheryl rubbed her head then looked at her bloody fingers. Still bleeding. She made a mental note to also pick up some mercurochrome while she was on that side of the store. She touched her nose to make certain, for the umpteenth time, that it wasn’t broken. He’d broken it before, but it had healed straight, thankfully.

The loose gym pants were not flattering, but they provided the comfort her battered body yelled out for. She had quickly pulled them on along with a dirty t-shirt from the laundry basket, and slipped her feet into her Birkenstocks when she’d made her decision to go to the supercenter to get everything she needed to do it.

She rubbed her eye under her glasses; the pressure felt good and relieved some of the pain behind her eye. Turning both jars in her hand she looked back at the shelves of jams, jellies, and preserves to see if there might be a better choice, a choice she could be even more certain Jammer wouldn’t turn down. It was important that this go as planned. If he suspected anything, if her actions gave her away, it might be the end of her, she knew.

Strawberry preserves. It had to be the strawberry preserves. Jammer wouldn’t turn down a PBJ with strawberry preserves. And the texture would hide the coarseness of the Sloan’s. She couldn’t use crunchy peanut butter; Jammer hated crunchy.

Sheryl placed the jar of strawberry preserves in the plastic hand-held basket she carried and headed for the house and garden section, stopping in the pharmacy to pick up the mercurochrome.

There was no choice this time. She had already decided on Sloan’s. She placed two boxes alongside the strawberry preserves, then stopped and thought a moment. “What else do I need? Potato chips.” Jammer always ate potato chips – Lays original, not those fucking ridges – with his PBJs. Sheryl grabbed a big bag and walked to the front of the store to check out.

She felt amazingly calm. There was no more nervousness, no more fear of him. She felt a tranquility she’d only experienced a few times in her life: when her father died, the time her grandfather picked her up after her car broke down on the freeway.

The items in the basket were moved to the conveyor belt. It was surreal for Sheryl to watch them move toward the cash register. When the two brown boxes got to the scanner, they would not scan. The cashier tried and tried, but to no avail. He got on the loudspeaker system. “House and Garden, price check on Sloan’s Rat Poison”. Any other time Sheryl might have panicked at having been given away, but on this occasion she remained calm and centered. Nothing could spoil this for her.

The cashier bagged her items and Sheryl carried her goods to her car. As she drove toward home she thought, “Today is going to be a good day. But tomorrow is going to be even better.”

So excited about this series – I do not pen fiction (because I lack the imagination 😛 ), but your articles are as comforting as ice-cream during the monsoon season 😉 #HUGS

Hello Krithika Rangarajan, So nice to see your smiling face. Hope all is well. How have you been. Maybe your imagination is just hiding behind self doubt? Behind a teacher in grade school who was mean? Hugs to you. xo pamela

Very good post that will help me in my next writing ! Thanks I think I will try a accomplishement story and in the middle put my protagonist in a situation to decide whether he will follow his rules or break them -his moral and ethic principles in the mist of the conflict… People are not always black and white, they can change under pressure and be tempted… I am so thrilled to start writing and be in the middle of this conflict. Don’t know yet how will be resolved ???

Hello Annie Eve, How is you story going? What happened to your protagonist? xo Pamela

Why…does all that wonderful stuff not help at all? When we follow all those lessons to the Letter – will that enable anyone to write any good story???? Are the Disciples of those Gospels our next Great Writers…Did any Great Writer follow any of those Gospels – or were they heretics, fighting with the dumb Editors, who tried to “Correct” them to proper writing…that is the disturbing question

Hi Rag Mars, You ask a good question. Does learning about writing help? Or does writing help? Following advice, or blazing a trail.

In High School in the exploding era of the now mythical 60s, I read Franz Kafka. He did not even intend to get published, he burnt many manuscripts. Kafka is considered a Classic – steno-graphed his nightmares, dreams, visions. I believe any good Art is that. We improve by moving forward accepting challenges. Once we go to any School we get formatted into patterns. The worst is to listen to any kind of Critique, positive or negative. Beethoven was heavily criticized for his compositions. Only History will show, what will last. Most of anything will be just Tears in the Rain.

Is my main character the Antagonist because she is struggling AGAINST something the opposing force wants?

Hi Mintriss, Interesting question. Your main character wants something, even if it is to not let the opposing force win. In the movie “Die Hard” the main character, John McClane, played by Bruce Willis, is fighting against the bad guys, the German terrorists; McClane is the protagonist. He wants to live and save his wife and the others taken hostage. Does this help? xo Pamela

I have look a lot between my Antagonist and Protagonist and I see that in their own senses they are heroes, but my protagonist is the good fighting force because she moves on and tries to help people all around. Thank you for the help.

I tend to write accomplishment stories. But wow, this was a great and informative post. Conflict is vital and I’m trying to train myself to find conflict (however small) in every scene. No conflict = no scene, imo.

Hey Jason, Thank you for stopping by. Sometimes the conflict is internal, and not a major battle. When a character walks into a scene they should walk out of it changed. Even slightly. Or they are just walking. xo Pamela

Amazing tips for story writing!! Wonderful job Pamela! But I would suggest you to make a strong base. Give the examples of well known stories which are based on conflicts in your starting paragraph. I also have some articles related to this topic,which would be beneficial for your website. Please ping me on my email [email protected]

(To be honest, I haven’t written anything in a very long time)

Leana wasn’t sure if she felt like laughing or crying, but in this moment with the heat of the fire growing behind her prickling at the back of her neck, she felt equally strong about both possibilities. Maye Fallon, with her dark, tightly cropped hair and disinterested gaze was standing before her, arm stretched out with an open palm – an invitation- and an air of calmness about her which was completely uncalled for given their current circumstances.

The plan had failed, she had been discovered and every shred of evidence that could have proven her innocence was set aflame. She had been careless, arrogant, and now she sat hunkered in an alleyway not nearly a safe enough distance away from the building which had rather quickly been engulfed into flames, along with her hopes of freedom.

And of course, Maye was there. Why wouldn’t she be? Her most cursed, loathed rival from the academy whom she had always imagined herself as pitted against, in all things. Maye, who hard barely in their four years together there given her a cursory glance. Who didn’t even know her name, even when Leana was always second best. And here she now stood, offering her hand like it was the done thing but still seeming as though she doesn’t even see Leana.

Well, Leana thought bitter, I bet she knows my name now. The supposed murderer of the Director should warrant remembering.

The girl before her shifted slightly.

‘Are you planning on getting caught up in the fire, or what?’

Aware that the flames were only creeping closer to her, Leana stood her place defiantly. Today wasn’t her day for being smart.

‘Maybe that’s a preferable fate compared to accepting your help. Why are you even here?’

Maye’s thin mouth tightened into a barely controlled scowl.

‘Why does it matter? I don’t see anyone else offering to help get you out of this mess. Look around you, your big shot at clearing your name has literally gone up in flames!’

It was the most emotive Leana could ever recall hearing Maye be, and it startled her for a moment. She could of course, walk away. She certainly didn’t need Maye’s help, even if she had pretty effectively made a right mess of things trying to go at it alone.

The dark haired girl huffed a noise of frustration.

‘Fine, if you don’t want my help,’ Maye muttered as she began pulling her hand back from its offer of aid.

The heat from the flames behind her were so strong now, it felt like a physical presence pushing her forward. In a swift motion she surely did not decide to make herself, Leana reached out and clasped Maye’s hand before the offer disappeared altogether.

Without completely meeting her rival’s gaze, she said,

‘Well, if you wanted me to stick around that badly.’

Hello Anita, Your story is full of drama and excitement. I wanted to know more. What happened? Who were the rivals? I got a little confused in the beginning trying to sort out the two characters. I had to go back and see which girl had the dark hair. So happy to meet you and read your story! xo Pamela

By the time I was ready to attend school we had moved again, but this time we would live in our house on Maine Avenue for quite some time.

Please join bestseller writers group http://facebook.com/bestsellergirl

You are very welcome!

What’s the role of the antagonist in the decision conflict? The example didn’t have one.

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Last updated on Jul 24, 2023

What is External Conflict? (with Examples and Writing Tips)

External conflict is the struggle between a protagonist and something in the outside world. It could be against an antagonist, society, nature, technology, or the supernatural. Defined in opposition to internal conflict, any type of ‘fight’ that exists outside the character’s head is external conflict.

In this post, we’ll look at external conflict's role in good writing, giving you some prime examples of the literary device at work — while also dropping some writing tips from top writers and editors.

So, what does external conflict do for us, anyway?

External conflict is at the heart of every story

It brings internal conflict into the real world, it gets the reader to question a character’s motives and choices.

One way to put it is that a story’s external conflict is its story. It’s the obstacle that needs to be overcome or the resistance our hero is up against to achieve their goals. In most Western story models, the catalyst or inciting incident of a plot often arrives as a real-world threat to the protagonist’s way of life, which drives our hero into taking action. It’s the evil oil baron arriving in town to scare off the locals or an ancient spirit that has started haunting a school for orphans.

Ultimately, adding in an element of external conflict is what gives a story substance and stakes. Almost immediately after Luke Skywalker is tasked with saving Princess Leia, he learns what lies in his way: the evil Darth Vader — the man who killed his father. If Vader didn’t exist as the primary source of external conflict, then Star Wars would be the story of a farm boy who went to collect a princess from a space station.

Example: The Da Vinci Code

Dan Brown’s blockbuster novel finds a Harvard academic searching for the Holy Grail. But without some sort of stakes, this book could easily read like a sleepy travelogue interspersed with lectures about the Crusades. Thankfully, a zealous monk belonging to an extremist faction of the Catholic Church is also after the Grail — and willing to kill anyone who gets in their way! 

By adding an institutional foe (The Church) personified by an active threat (the murderous monk), Brown turns a treasure hunt into a high-octane chase story that keeps his readers on their toes.

Tip: Where possible, have your antagonist be a character

When your character is up against an abstract enemy — social pressure, the environment, fate — it is often best to channel that conflict through an actual character. You ideally want someone your protagonist can argue or reason with.

Let’s say your protagonist is wrongly convicted of a crime and up against an uncaring criminal justice system. Your antagonist should be someone who represents that system. Maybe they’re:

• A relentless US marshall who’s only doing their job
• A district attorney looking to impress their boss by securing high-profile convictions
• A police detective who just wants to clear their caseload and get a promotion
• A lobbyist for the prison industrial complex

Where possible, you want to put a human face on your hero’s adversary — otherwise, they’ll spend most of the book screaming into the wind instead of tackling the conflict head-on. This idea of personifying an abstract conflict is twice as important if your story’s main struggle is happening between your protagonist’s ears.

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Our last post mentioned how internal conflict is a narrative's true heart. While it’s true that most stories hinge on whether a protagonist can find it in them to change their worldview or attitude, internal conflict alone isn’t always enough to get readers invested. Unless this transformation in our hero’s inner life is reflected by their actions and behaviors, the story will be trapped inside the character’s head. 

A story’s main external conflict should ideally take the character’s internal conflict and dramatize it by adding real-world stakes.

Example: The Godfather

A character’s true colors will usually come out when they’re faced with a decision that tempts them to break their strongly held beliefs. In Mario Puzo’s The Godfather, Michael Corleone is the ‘good son’ of the family. Having returned from WWII, Michael is torn between his personal desire to stay out of ‘the business’ and his culturally-ingrained sense of obligation to his family. To get him to the point where one of those ideals has to give way, Puzo creates a situation where Michael has to choose between surrendering his reputation as a moral man by executing a rival mobster and a corrupt police captain — or putting his family’s safety at risk.

In this situation, your characters will become fully dimensional as they struggle between staying the person they thought they were… or becoming the person they need to be.

Tip: Push your character out of their comfort zone

If you’re ever looking to create conflict in your story, don’t just make your characters encounter thugs with guns or the threat of nuclear annihilation. Those sorts of conflicts are overplayed and so generic that almost nobody can truly identify with them. Instead, think about your character’s defining traits — what they are comfortable with — and put them in a situation where they are uniquely unprepared to deal with it. 

A terribly shy accountant who must run away from the police? Dull.

A terribly shy accountant who must publicly confront her company’s CEO? Now that’s interesting!

To bring a character’s interior journey into the real world of the story, their internal conflict will usually be mirrored by an external conflict that tests their attitude or belief system.

The antagonizing force in a story often serves as a foil to the main character — testing their morality, worldview, and resolve by opposing the hero of our story. 

In stories where the protagonist and antagonist are at direct odds with each other, the characters should be sufficiently balanced so as to allow us to consider both characters' perspectives. If we’re looking at a crime caper where a detective is solving a bank heist, you may wish to give the burglar a good reason for committing their crime. Then you can start to play in some interesting waters: is a thief who steals to save their child less noble than a cop who’s working to serve a corrupt system for the benefit of a soulless bank?

There are also antagonists who represent two sides of the same coin. The villain in many stories will often have the same objective as our hero, though their approaches to achieving that goal are vastly different. This usually sets up an interesting conundrum for the protagonist — whether achieving their goal is worth the price they have to pay. It also invites us as readers to reflect on what’s most important, a character’s end goal or the route they take to get there.

Example: The Prestige 

Spoiler alert! The question at the heart of the 2005 adaption of Christopher Priest’s novel is, “How far are you willing to go to get what you want?” The story centers on rival magicians in the Victorian era — both in pursuit of a grand illusion that sees a man instantly transported across a theater. 

As their rivalry grows more intense, we discover the lengths they will go to pull off this single trick: Borden, one of the magicians, turns out to be a pair of twins who each live half a life in order to preserve the trick’s secret. Angiers, the other magician, has found a way to clone himself on stage every night before instantly killing the ‘original’ to ensure that there’s only one of him at any given time. 

Angiers and ‘Borden’ are set up as parallel protagonists, which allows the audience to be behind both of them, to an extent. We support Angiers in his quest to create this trick, but it’s only over the course of the story that we realize the grisly and immoral sacrifices that he is willing to make.

By having an antagonist who serves as a ‘funhouse mirror’ version of the protagonist, the reader is asked to consider: is our hero in the right? and Are they going about things the right way?

And that concludes our guide to conflict in literature. Remember that conflict is at the heart of storytelling the next time you read or write any piece of fiction. It will drive your plot, provide your characters with motives, and give your readers something to be excited about.

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