“One of the surest ways of creating conflict is trying to avoid it…”
Focal Challenge of the Story
For a story to feel like a complete unit and not a fragmented chain of events, it has to have a single conflict at its core (see Singular Plot Action). Once that conflict is resolved so is the story. Of course from that singular conflict a whole chain of new and smaller conflicts may arise that need to be dealt with too, but if they don’t center in a singular conflict, what you have is not as much a story as something resembling history.
Conflict as Driving Force
Your characters can be original and relatable, your setting vivid and realistic but none of that matters if nothing happens. Our lives are mostly plot-less, you can spend 80 years with each one of your days resembling the one before it. The same can not happen in a story. Stories need threats, stakes, and movement. Or in other words, a story needs conflict. Conflict is what drives the story forward. A story itself can be largely unrealistic but the conflict at its heart can not. The conflict of your story needs to be the thing that makes the most sense, that is most relatable, and therefore creates real tension and stakes. Of course, there are exceptions like parodies or satire for example, but even there, usually, the best of those have an actual realistic conflict at its core and then layer the comedy and ridiculousness on top of it.
What does realistic conflict mean?
For a conflict to be realistic it has to be rooted in the wants and needs as well as the personality and circumstances of the characters involved. Two people want the same thing, only one can have it. This conflict only feels real if it is completely believable that both parties will go to devastating lengths to get it. When for both not having it is the worst possible outcome and as such not an option. Conflict isn’t necessarily as much a clash of values as it is one of different interests. No one thinks of themselves as evil, even if they don’t have illusions about being good either. Motivation is rooted in wants and needs. So to create realistic conflict, base your conflict in conflicting desires rather than in Good vs. Bad.
Desire stems from life. As a rule, anything in your story that lives should have a desire, and as such is capable of coming into conflict with another living thing. An animal wants to feed, a human wants to survive – or the other way around. A demonic force wants to parasite off a soul, the owner of that soul does not want that to happen. A virus needs a host to live, a host needs to get rid of the virus to live, etc., etc.
External and Internal Conflict
Story conflict has two aspects, internal and external. It’s not true that internal conflict is much more important than external conflict. Rather it’s about execution. If you have a character who wakes up and finds themselves tied up in some cellar without any memory of themselves or what has/is happening to them, the conflict is mostly guided by external factors. Something is attacking the character. And this extreme external pressure will have an effect on the character, reveal who the character is through causing or enhancing existing internal conflict. If the character then starts panicking and can’t manage to calm down enough to take stock of their situation, this internal conflict of acting in a way that is harmful to the character themselves, was caused by the external conflict. On the other hand, if you have a character who quits their job because they learn that a co-worker was promoted ahead of them, even though they have been busting their ass for two years to build a career in that particular company, this is internal conflict. The character feeling hurt and unable to stand feeling overlooked, quits their job. But if they do so without a backup plan, only to then realize that they can’t get another job easily and money is running out, that is external conflict (not finding a new job) that was sparked by internal conflict. So external conflict, how the environment and circumstances affect the character, and internal conflict, the weaknesses and the struggles of the character that get in their way, factor into each other. In good stories, they enhance each other and therefore take things from bad to catastrophic while still feeling completely realistic. Often you end up shaping the external conflict in a way that is uniquely suited to attacking the character’s weakness and as such forces them to overcome their internal conflict. Internal conflict is very much tied to a character changing. This is why it is often said that internal conflict is the better of the two, the more natural and less plot-driven kind of conflict, because, without internal conflict, a character doesn’t need to change and a story doesn’t resonate. But as said, this is only true if you define external conflict as random bad things that happen to the character and that feel like plot devices. But if you start external conflict by identifying what your character’s weakness is and how the world or the antagonist etc. will be able to attack them in it, external conflict becomes vital to good storytelling. Batman is struggling with the internal conflict of wanting to give up on being Batman and be with Rachel instead. Intriguing on its own, sure. But how much better is that movie due to the Joker? The Joker is an external conflict. Some random crazy person who gets obsessed with Batman and wants to see the world burn, and who is also scary enough, an actual match for Batman. The Joker works so well because as the main external conflict, he is also the embodiment of all the ways in which Batman’s resolve and internal struggles can be tested in the worst, most inescapable way. The Joker is the crucible that forces Batman to face a truth about himself he didn’t know before.
Simple Conflict
Some of the best stories have a very simple main conflict at heart. A simple conflict is usually along the lines of a character wants something but can’t have it or the character has something happening to them they don’t want. By having a simple conflict at the heart of your story, you can start creating very complex ramifications that stem from that simple conflict.
Emotionally Motivated
Although we are rational creatures, we function on emotions. Why your character wants something so much that they will endanger themselves for it, or why they are trying to escape something so much that objectively speaking someone else might consider a good thing, is rooted in how your character feels. If you can fully understand why your character feels the way they do, when it is completely in line with who they are, you have already set up the foundations of a real conflict. We don’t necessarily need to care about something as much as a character does, but we do need to understand why it is important to them. People who care a lot about something, who get devastated when they fail to get it, are very engaging. If you can make the reader understand why a character cares so much about this new job, even though it’s a shit job that is ruining their life, how it is so tied to who they want to be and what they have worked for, they will be engaged in the conflict. Even if they themselves still think it’s a shit job not worth the tears.
Embrace the conflict for real
A rule of thumb is that everything that can go wrong does. That things only get worse and that your characters have to suffer. Fairly straight forward. But when actually writing your story it can happen that you drift off into more secure waters. Trying not to create cliché characters that are just too cruel, you make even antagonistic characters kinder and more forgiving than you initially planned. How do you embrace conflict for real without being melodramatic or cliché? The best way is to go towards what hurts. Scenes that involve physical pain that you cringe when writing them because you can picture the pain yourself. Scenes that hit a bit too close to home when it comes to relationships with parents, lovers, or friends. Embarrassing moments that you would prefer to skip if you could. Whenever you find yourself subconsciously trying to back away from where the conflict is naturally taking you when you are actively trying to come up with an alternative to something you have already arrived at naturally, that is a good indicator that you are on the path to portraying the conflict of the story for real. If you don’t feel a bit on edge while writing the conflict, how can your reader be when reading it?