On writing: Conflict
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Do you have a killer concept, a promising premise, a protagonist worth a damn, a goal worth pursuing, and meaningful stakes? Then you should ensure that your characters won’t blaze through your plot unimpeded. Don’t allow them to tell you who they are: force them to prove themselves.
A warning, though: don’t inject unnecessary conflict into your story; Western narratives have been plagued with such for decades. If you can remove an instance of conflict without crippling some plot point, and that conflict isn’t funny, then drop it.
-Figure out what your characters want most, then put the things they fear most in their way.
-Is there enough conflict to sustain a story? Freewrite possible conflicts based on what you know about your story.
-How is a character who goes after a desire impeded, and how does that force him to struggle?
-What is the central (outwardly visible) conflict in the story? Who or what is preventing your protagonist from reaching her goal?
-What opposing goals of other people or entities in the story provide conflict?
-How is the drama the product of the values and ideas of the individuals going into battle?
-How is the force of opposition present, and well defined?
-How is the concept tied in with the central conflict of the story?
-Is there at least one actual human being opposed to what the hero is doing?
-How do you tailor your conflict to create the highest stakes possible for your protagonist?
-How does the conflict force the protagonist to take action, whether it’s to rationalize it away or actually change?
-How does the force of opposition allow the protagonist to prove his worth?
-Test the big problem regarding how it impacts your protagonist’s arc, either making him change or making him worse.
-How are at least two constituents weighed against each other in this story?
-What unresolved tension in the story would make the reader want to see what happens next?
-How is the conflict stress-inducing and/or painful?
-How quickly can you introduce the central conflict element in your story?
-How do circumstances beyond your protagonist’s control fling her out of her easy chair and into the fray?
-Can you put your hero in the last place he wants to be?
-What is the biggest obstacle preventing your protagonist form reaching her goal? How can you make it much worse? How can it push her into despair and hopelessness before the climax?
-What strong inner conflict is your protagonist dealing with? Come up with two things she must choose between, both unthinkable. Tell how that showcases your novel’s theme.
-Who challenges the views, actions, and beliefs of your protagonist in a way that involves your thematic elements? Make their opinions even stronger with higher stakes and greater conflict.
-How would this story be considered a war?
-Can you add emotional friction? Competing egos? Status struggles? Clashes of styles and personalities?
-Can you come up with at least five minor, different conflict components you can add to your plot that exacerbate the central conflict of your novel?
-What conflicting, multi-layered emotions hidden beneath the surface could be at play?
-How do the conflicts in the novel warrant strong reaction?
-What big stuff goes wrong with your heroes’ plan?
-Can your protagonist’s external goal be in conflict with his internal goal?
-Do you bring in the threat of a clear, present and escalating danger, not a vague facsimile thereof?
-How are the impediments your protagonist faces potentially too great to be conquered?
-What can make the goal more dangerous, more impossible to be reached?
-How are you mean to your protagonist? How do you hold her soles to the fire, even when she starts to squirm?
-How would this premise generate external conflicts and twists that would bring the characters with things about themselves that they’d rather not see?
-Can you make the conflict bigger, much worse? List some possibilities and their outcomes.
-Spend time thinking about the central conflict element in your story and all the different ways it can raise ugly heads to threaten and upen your protagonist. Try to pit as many things against him as you can, and push the stakes so that what he values most is at risk of being lost.
Do you have a killer concept, a promising premise, a protagonist worth a damn, a goal worth pursuing, and meaningful stakes? Then you should ensure that your characters won’t blaze through your plot unimpeded. Don’t allow them to tell you who they are: force them to prove themselves.
A warning, though: don’t inject unnecessary conflict into your story; Western narratives have been plagued with such for decades. If you can remove an instance of conflict without crippling some plot point, and that conflict isn’t funny, then drop it.
-Figure out what your characters want most, then put the things they fear most in their way.
-Is there enough conflict to sustain a story? Freewrite possible conflicts based on what you know about your story.
-How is a character who goes after a desire impeded, and how does that force him to struggle?
-What is the central (outwardly visible) conflict in the story? Who or what is preventing your protagonist from reaching her goal?
-What opposing goals of other people or entities in the story provide conflict?
-How is the drama the product of the values and ideas of the individuals going into battle?
-How is the force of opposition present, and well defined?
-How is the concept tied in with the central conflict of the story?
-Is there at least one actual human being opposed to what the hero is doing?
-How do you tailor your conflict to create the highest stakes possible for your protagonist?
-How does the conflict force the protagonist to take action, whether it’s to rationalize it away or actually change?
-How does the force of opposition allow the protagonist to prove his worth?
-Test the big problem regarding how it impacts your protagonist’s arc, either making him change or making him worse.
-How are at least two constituents weighed against each other in this story?
-What unresolved tension in the story would make the reader want to see what happens next?
-How is the conflict stress-inducing and/or painful?
-How quickly can you introduce the central conflict element in your story?
-How do circumstances beyond your protagonist’s control fling her out of her easy chair and into the fray?
-Can you put your hero in the last place he wants to be?
-What is the biggest obstacle preventing your protagonist form reaching her goal? How can you make it much worse? How can it push her into despair and hopelessness before the climax?
-What strong inner conflict is your protagonist dealing with? Come up with two things she must choose between, both unthinkable. Tell how that showcases your novel’s theme.
-Who challenges the views, actions, and beliefs of your protagonist in a way that involves your thematic elements? Make their opinions even stronger with higher stakes and greater conflict.
-How would this story be considered a war?
-Can you add emotional friction? Competing egos? Status struggles? Clashes of styles and personalities?
-Can you come up with at least five minor, different conflict components you can add to your plot that exacerbate the central conflict of your novel?
-What conflicting, multi-layered emotions hidden beneath the surface could be at play?
-How do the conflicts in the novel warrant strong reaction?
-What big stuff goes wrong with your heroes’ plan?
-Can your protagonist’s external goal be in conflict with his internal goal?
-Do you bring in the threat of a clear, present and escalating danger, not a vague facsimile thereof?
-How are the impediments your protagonist faces potentially too great to be conquered?
-What can make the goal more dangerous, more impossible to be reached?
-How are you mean to your protagonist? How do you hold her soles to the fire, even when she starts to squirm?
-How would this premise generate external conflicts and twists that would bring the characters with things about themselves that they’d rather not see?
-Can you make the conflict bigger, much worse? List some possibilities and their outcomes.
-Spend time thinking about the central conflict element in your story and all the different ways it can raise ugly heads to threaten and upen your protagonist. Try to pit as many things against him as you can, and push the stakes so that what he values most is at risk of being lost.
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