How To Write Meaningful Conflict In Your Novel.
Are you the sweat on the dynamite, or are you the explosion?
"You need to add conflict."
We writers often hear this, but it doesn’t mean we always blow stuff up. Instead, we need to learn how to craft meaningful conflict!
A story is about how going from Point A to Point B changes the character.
Conflict is the force that makes the character change for better or worse.
Sometimes the conflict is a big explosion like a war, a kidnapping, or a divorce. Sometimes it's just a spark like a friend turned enemy, a blind date, or a deadline. Other times, it's only the promise of what is to come (think potential affair or the moment when you can't find your child in the grocery store). It's the sweat on the stick of dynamite, if you will.
As readers, we care because we relate to the character's plight on some level. We can see a glimmer of it within ourselves. We know what it's like to want that shiny thing and not believe we can get it. We know what it's like to reach for something and get burned.
So as readers, we sit with rapt attention, fingers curled at the edge of our seats, wondering what's gonna happen to these poor characters as they go after the dream we pay lip service to.
Conflict is friction. Friction is interesting because it ignites change via tension.
Until the trip wire is triggered, and we hit the climax.
What happened the last time you tried to create meaningful change for yourself? You got uncomfortable, right? That is what is so hard about change. It goes against our basic survival instincts to keep things the same. To the lizard brain, same = safe.
To create believable, meaningful conflict in fiction, you must make your characters uncomfortable. You need to make them sweat, and the best way I know how to do that is to understand what they care about and why!
I believe everything in a compelling story comes back to character work.
That's what dramatic conflict means to me. It creates drama for the character. It's not about the external magnitude of the disturbance; what's important is how it affects the character internally. That is what gives us the biggest bang for our buck.
Conflict makes the character uncomfortable and forces them to examine what they value and change as they pursue a goal. We know they will fail, at least partially early on in the story, because as all humans do, they will try to get the goods via the path of least resistance.
They will hold on to their false persona because they believe it protects them from pain. They go after their wants (often the wrong ones) fueled by their misconceptions and false beliefs about the world and themselves when they really need to let go and embrace the internal change to realize who they are. That's how they ultimately achieve the story's end goal.
So what's a writer to do?
How do we make our characters change when all they want to do is the bare minimum?
Answer: Turn up the heat. We increase the stakes and the risk by progressively complicating the plot with dramatic conflict (meaningful conflict)! And because we've done our character work, we know how to hit them where it hurts! We make it impossible for them to continue toward their goal without changing their internal dance. Slowly the conflict forces the character to reveal their inner essence, the core of who they are, good or bad, because that is what they must embrace, at least on some level, to achieve their genuine desire.
There are only two types of conflict in life and, thus, in a story: Internal and External. That's it.
Internal Conflict
Internal conflict is the war inside ourselves. It is where our expectations clash with our abilities and our wants. It's the voice that says, "You shouldn't do x,y,z.", "You can't do x,y,z." And it fights against itself with the "But I want to do x,y,z." argument. These are your moral dilemmas, insecurities, and mental health battles.
Your character needs to have this internal conflict, and I argue it needs to be in every scene.
External conflict
External conflict is just like it sounds—an opposing force outside the character.
Types of External Conflict
Character vs. Character
Two characters who want opposite things. Think opposing wants of lovers, generals vs. troops, teachers vs. students, victims vs. killers, heroes vs. villains.
Character vs. Fate
The character struggles against their fate or destiny. Think Harry Potter or Alina in the Shadow and Bone Series by Leigh Bardugo.
Character vs. Nature
Examples: wilderness, weather, natural disasters, disease, rabid dogs. Cujo anyone?
Character vs. Supernatural
Your charter is up against some otherworldly force, and the playing field does not feel fair. Think wizards, witches, ghosts, aliens, and vengeful gods.
Character vs. Society
Your character is fighting against the societal norm, whether they know it or not at first. This could be in opposition to cultural views, government, or tradition. Think The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
Character vs. Technology
Examples: A.I. Computer Viruses, Advancements in current tech gone wrong. Think Terminator or The Matrix.
Tips for creating meaningful conflict in fiction:
Understand what your character wants on an external level and what it means to them.
Understand what your character wants on an internal level. This is what they need to grow. Your character may not be conscious of this as the story begins, but you, the writer, know what is missing, what they need to make them whole.
Be clear on the worldview, misconceptions, and false beliefs they begin the story with. (HINT: if you don't know, think about what type of person you want them to be at the end of your story and work backward. At the end of the book, who they are is often the inverse of how they began because of the lesson they have learned.)
Put meaningful obstacles in the path of what they want externally and in ways that will challenge them internally.
Don't let them have what they want until they have learned their lesson!
Use a combination of external conflicts that make sense for your story and genre.
Always pull in the internal conflict.
Force your protagonist to make impossible choices that challenge their value systems.
Lastly, if your force of antagonism is a character, make them as authentic as your protagonist (know their desires and whys, wounds, and fears), and then make them stronger than your protagonist!
Thanks for reading!
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