Unlike real life where most of us try to avoid conflict, in fiction conflict is one of the elements that drives the story. In short, a story is made up of a protagonist with a goal or a want, overcoming all the conflict and obstacles that prevent him from reaching his goal.

One of the results of the use of conflict is increased reader sympathy for the protagonist and/or other characters. Think of an action movie or book where you’ve found yourself urging the hero to “Run! Run!” or “Untie her – quick!” only to go “Oh no!” when yet again one of the bad guys catches up with him and thwarts the plan.

Or how about a romance plot, when you get to the point where you think, “Turn around, he’s looking at you! – Surely now they’ll realise they can and should be together.” But it’s not to be just yet. It’s almost too much for the reader to bear, and they’ll keep turning pages to get to the scene where, finally!, the lovers get together, or the hero saves the world.

The more believable and identifiable your conflict and your protagonist’s reaction towards it, the more you can coax your reader to invest in the story.

Conflicts or obstacles?

Generally conflict involves other characters while things, events, and situations form obstacles. A character can create or use obstacles to put the protagonist off his course, which is an act of conflict.

A protagonist who finds many natural or unexplained obstacles in his path is just “unlucky”, but a protagonist dealing with obstacles generated by other characters is being thwarted. So remember to use character-generated obstacles as much as possible, with the odd natural obstacle for variation. The exceptions are “man versus nature” and “man versus himself” plots – but if you think of stories like Moby Dick and The Old Man and the Sea, nature/animals take on character status in these books because of their impact on the protagonist.

Inner conflict

The protagonist’s thoughts, hopes, concerns, and anxieties offer a rich layer of inner conflict, often underutilised, which you can play off the external conflict.

Is your hero’s goal something he wants at all costs? Or something he’s going for against his better judgement, or because he has no choice? Does he have to make ethical decisions or confront his fears in order to reach his goal? Does attaining his goal affect another character?

Reader conflict

You can draw your reader even more deeply into your story by playing on their own conflicting feelings. How does your reader hope the story will turn out? Think of this story: the protagonist loves two men, but one is perfect for her and the other is obviously using her and will hurt her. For the reader the hope is simple: choose the good guy.

Now change one element: Both men are perfect for her but in completely different ways, both men are good, both men have their flaws, both men love her deeply. Now you’ve created reader conflict – who should she choose? Who would the reader choose? In one scene, one of the men reveals something that could hurt the protagonist, and the reader makes a choice: choose the other guy. But then the other guy makes a mistake, and the heroine (and along with her, the reader) is back to square one.

Perhaps the protagonist wants the same goal as another character, or reaching the goal will cause harm to that character. Again, if the other character is the villain, the reader’s alliance is simple to form. But if the reader has almost equal sympathy for the other character, the pages almost turn themselves. How can they both win? What will the protagonist choose to do? Who will win, and what will happen to the character who doesn’t?

If something seems to be missing from your story, or it seems somehow lifeless, check your conflict.

---

To help you develop your use of conflict in your fiction, try Conflict, Action and Suspense by William Noble

Writing the Second Act : Building Conflict and Tension in Your Film Script by Michael Halperin - this book is not only for screenwriters, give it a try if you need to practice coming up with conflict situations for your characters.