CONFLICT: WHAT DRIVES THE STORY
Conflict is an important part of the story. Typically, it’s what the readers came for, what convinced them to click on your story in the first place.
So, what is conflict? If you’ve developed your story well, it’s at the heart of the plot. The conflict develops as the story does, and it’s resolved when the story has come to an end. If you were to remove conflict from your story, there would be no story to tell.
Your protagonist, or main character, should be struggling against something. That something could be external or internal, physical or mental. This conflict is what helps form the plot of your story.
There are six types of story conflict. You might remember them from English or creative writing class, but I thought it wouldn’t hurt to brush you guys up on them.
Read through these — you’ll find that your story fits in one of them. Or even multiple!
1. PERSON VS. PERSON
This is the most common type of story conflict in writing.
The protagonist, or main character, opposes the antagonist. This can be physical — they want to harm, even kill one another — or maybe mental, moral — they have different, clashing world views. Either way, they are enemies. This rivalry drives the story’s plot.
Examples of stories featuring this story conflict:
- Harry Potter series. Harry must defeat the Dark Lord, Voldemort, in order to save the wizarding and muggle worlds
- The Hunger Games. Katniss must fight and kill other kids in an arena, as a means of survival
- Sherlock Holmes series. Consulting detective Sherlock Holmes must find the culprit behind a crime, usually one involving murder
2. PERSON VS. SOCIETY
The protagonist must combat society, whether this is societal norms / expectations, cultural traditions, or the societal system as a whole. This conflict rarely appears in Episode stories, but I thought I should cover all the bases regardless.
Examples of stories featuring this story conflict:
- Animal Farm. Animals on a farm rebel against the human farmers and decide to govern themselves, only to be faced with new problems
- The Handmaid’s Tale. Offred is a handmaid, struggling to live in a fictional future America where women have no rights
- To Kill a Mockingbird. Scout, a young girl, learns about societal racism once her hometown is embroiled in a court case where a black man is accused of raping a white woman
3. PERSON VS. SELF
This conflict is different from the others, which deal with external issues. Person vs. self has to do with internal conflict. The protagonist has a flaw that they must overcome, or are struggling with some aspect of themselves.
Sometimes the internal conflict manifests in an external conflict. This makes the story more interesting. An instance of this would be a story in which the protagonist struggles with their self-worth while in a toxic or abusive relationship. This kind of story incorporates person vs. person and person vs. self.
Examples of stories featuring this story conflict:
- Macbeth. The titular character Macbeth and his wife kill the king so Macbeth can become the next king; however, he finds himself struggling with guilt over his actions
- The Bell Jar. As Esther worries about her future after school, she begins the slow descent into depression; over the course of the novel, she learns to overcome her mental illness
4. PERSON VS. NATURE
The protagonist must deal with a hostile element of nature, whether that is an animal or a storm. Think survival stories. A group of characters are stranded on an island, or facing an animal out for their blood.
Sometimes nature stands in for a deeper conflict or meaning. For instance, in Lord of the Flies, a group of school boys crash-land on an island. You’ve likely studied this novel in class before, so I won’t bore you with the details. The boys try to recreate a civilized society, only to regress into animalistic behaviour. The author uses the person vs. nature conflict to examine society and the nature of men, specifically upper class white men.
Examples of stories featuring this story conflict:
- The Walking Dead. A virus spreads quickly across the world, turning those affected by it into zombies; various characters must fight to survive
- Moby-Dick. A sea captain is obsessed with a white whale that attacked him in the past
- Jaws. A shark is terrorizing a tourist town’s beach and its inhabitants
5. PERSON VS. SUPERNATURAL
The protagonist is set up against some kind of supernatural creature or element. Omens, ghosts, vampires, werewolves — you name it, there’s a story out there about it. Ghost stories and many Creepypastas have a person vs. supernatural conflict.
Examples of stories featuring this story conflict:
- Frankenstein. Dr. Frankenstein, a scientist, creates a sentient monster from various human body parts; shunned and hated, the monster wants revenge for his tortured existence
- The Turn of the Screw. A governess is convinced the estate she works at is haunted by ghosts, who are fixated on the two children in her care
6. PERSON VS. TECHNOLOGY
You know the drill by now. The protagonist must combat technology, or some form of it. This is a common conflict in science fiction. The concept of artificial intelligence comes up often.
Examples of stories featuring this story conflict:
- I, Robot. Humanoid robots built to serve humanity gain sentience and begin killing humans; main character Spooner attempts to uncover the conspiracy
- The Terminator. A cyborg assassin travels back in time to kill Sarah Connor, whose future son will be important in a war against humans and machines
If you’re still here, congrats on making it this far! We’re almost at the end.
So, we’ve looked at the six types of story conflicts. By now, you should’ve realized which one (or more!) your story falls under. If you haven’t, your story might need more developing or tweaking. Feel free to reply below for some help / advice!
What if my story has multiple conflicts? That’s totally okay! But there should be one main conflict that’s driving the story, otherwise your plot might become too convoluted or nonsensical. The other, smaller conflicts should take a backseat to the main conflict — and they should tie into it somehow.
Some of you might now be wondering: alright, I got all that. But what does conflict do, exactly?
Conflict builds tension and suspense. It keeps your readers coming back for more. If your story is focused on romance, then there must be internal and/or external conflicts keeping your main characters apart. Which is why you keep writing — as you update your story, the conflict is established, developed, and then resolved.
That’s the end goal: the conflict must be resolved.
Sometimes the conflict is resolved with a happily ever after. In a romance, your characters might overcome what’s keeping them apart and become a couple, or even get married. Other times, the ending is bittersweet. The characters realize they aren’t compatible — they have different values, or want completely opposing things out of the relationship. They go their separate ways, hoping the other person is happy or even resenting them.
Regardless of the ending, the readers should get some kind of closure. They could be sad, even upset. But most should realize that, looking back, the story had built up to this. Because the conflict is resolved in some way, your readers are ultimately satisfied.
How to develop and resolve the conflict — in other words, plot development — is another topic for another time, though!
UH… WHAT DID I JUST READ?
- Conflict is at the heart of your story’s plot — it’s what makes your story a story and interesting to read
- There are six types of story conflicts: person vs. person / person vs. society / person vs. self / person vs. nature / person vs. supernatural / person vs. technology
- A story can have multiple conflicts, but there should be one main conflict driving the story
- The conflict must be resolved by the end of the story, but resolved doesn’t always mean happily ever after