If your story is like a car, then conflict is like the tires. If you can drive conflict effectively in your stories, then you can go places. For some writers, creating conflict comes naturally. But for others it can be more of a challenge. You have an idea for a setting and compelling characters, but how do you create an interesting story?
Here are our top tips for driving conflict.
Make it Personal
The difference between a plot-driven story and a character-driven story is that it’s personal. Your characters need to have a personal connection to the conflict happening. If the character can walk away from the problem, then it’s not really a problem at all. They need to have a reason that the stakes affect them and their lives. Here are some good examples:
- Star Wars: Luke is Darth Vader’s son, making the conflict and the stakes very personal to his life.
- Lord of the Rings: Eowyn watched Sauron’s army destroy her land, kill her cousin, get her brother exiled, and nearly kill her uncle. She has a personal reason to join the army and fight for justice.
- Thread of Souls: Brother Zok’s trusted mentor is murdered by someone inside his own Order. He has a personal reason to uncover the corruption, save his Order, and provide justice for his mentor.
Give it a Time Limit
Having a time limit for your conflict provides a sense of urgency that propels your story forward. After all, if all your characters know is the world will end “someday”, then why should they try to stop it from happening? That doesn’t mean you need a hard number and a countdown. But there should be a sense of an impending deadline. Here are some examples:
- Pride & Prejudice: The Bennett family knows that if they don’t track down their eloped sister and her new husband quickly, word will get out and the family reputation will be ruined forever.
- Harry Potter: With each passing day Voldemort’s army grows stronger, more aggressive, and kills more people. Our heroes know they must stop him before he takes over the whole wizarding world.
- Thread of Souls: Jade’s visions of a dragon destroying her home city progressively grow more violent and include more detail, reflecting her current life. This tells her that if she doesn’t act fast, she won’t be able to save her home.
Everything That Can Go Wrong, Will Go Wrong
I have a handy tip if you’re struggling to include conflict across your story. Think of what your characters want to do. This doesn’t have to be the entire book, it can just be the content of the next chapter. Write down a list of each step they will take to achieve what they want if all goes perfectly. Now write down a counter point to each step on how it could go wrong. Now you have ideas for conflict. Here are examples of this in action:
- Star Wars: Han Solo and Leia Organa go to visit Lando for help repairing their ship. They expect a peaceful visit. However, the Empire has already got there first and set a trap for them.
- The Hobbit: Bilbo and the dwarves expect to find Erebor empty since no one as seen the dragon in years. They want to reclaim their home and give wealth to the nearby town. However, not only is the dragon there but, he wakes up from their intrusion and destroys the nearby town.
- Thread of Souls: Unole enlists the help of allies to study and understand the strange feathers she picked up from the creature that captured her sister. Instead, they accidentally trigger the feathers’ magic and are pulled into another plane, forcing them to try to escape across the book.
Foreshadowing
The best conflicts have the foundation laid before they ever kick into gear. It gets the reader/movie watcher/gamer understanding that something is happening behind the scenes. The intrigue propels your conflict. And it makes everything come together more naturally, instead of feeling like it just happened for the sake of plot.
For this example, I’m going to use all the conflicts previously mentioned and talk about the foreshadowing before them.
- Star Wars – Luke is Darth Vader’s son: There are many conversations in the first movie and most of the second movie about who Luke’s father is. When people talk to Luke directly about his father, they speak well of him. But in scenes when Luke is not present, conversations are more ominous. This foreshadowing is paid off in the reveal that our main villain is Luke’s father, and drives the conflict between them.
- Lord of the Rings – Eowyn fights for Rohan: We see scenes of Eowyn showing off her sword skills and willingness to fight for a cause. This is encouraged by some, but discouraged by others. This leads to Eowyn breaking convention to join the army and fight for the freedom of Rohan.
- Thread of Souls – Brother Zok investigates: We get some of Zok’s thoughts on how important his Order and mentor are to him prior to the investigation of the dead body. This adds extra weight to the reveal that it was from corruption inside the Order. We also have a trail of breadcrumbs left to determine who the culprit is before the villain is eventually found, adding suspicion of multiple characters.
- Pride & Prejudice – Elopement: It is foreshadowed across the book that the little sister is wild and that the man she elopes with is deceitful and has wronged our hero characters. This makes the conflict all the more personal and impactful when the elopement is discovered.
- Harry Potter – Voldemort’s Army: We get plenty of backstory and small interactions with Voldemort before the army ever launches itself officially. This makes the threat of it real before it ever needs to engage in true warfare.
- Thread of Souls – Jade’s Vision: We have nearly two whole books of foreshadowing before the time to act on Jade’s vision comes. With each vision getting more and more detailed, readers can put the pieces of the puzzle together for when it is time for the vision to become a reality.
- Star Wars – Lando’s Betrayal: Han Solo’s ship has multiple mechanical problems throughout the entire movie, making the need for real help much more urgent. Han Solo talks about Lando prior to the introduction, foreshadowing what viewers will experience when they meet this character. This pays off well when the betrayal is revealed and our heroes captured.
- The Hobbit – The Dragon: Across the book, and most certainly the movies, you get the backstory of the dragon, feel how real the threat is, and get to know the people of the nearby town, Laketown. This makes their loss much deeper and the conflict much greater.
- Thread of Souls – Unole’s feathers: Across the first two books, Unole has been using the feathers with Teshuva’s help to traverse the planes and hunt the creature that captured her sister. It leads to a “I should have seen this coming!” moment when the feathers’ magic acts without her control and takes her someplace she never meant to go. Losing Teshuva in the process makes the situation much more dire, enforcing that they truly are trapped until they can find help.