Conflict drives fiction and we’re told to include it on every page. In a guest post on Jami Gold’s blog, Angela Ackerman discusses the different kinds of conflict you can use to power your story. “Because readers are focused on what’s happening from one scene to the next, it can appear that conflict is only occurring moment to moment,” Ackerman says. “It’s actually present at different levels in the story, not just at the scene level.”
- Central Conflict. Every story has a central conflict, something your protagonist wants to happen or prevent. Traditionally, this means Character versus Character, Society, Nature, Technology, Supernatural, or Self.
- Story-Level (Macro) Conflict. Your story conflicts are the big puzzles and obstacles your protagonist must overcome as they solve the overarching central conflict. “Large-scale conflicts like these will need to be addressed by your protagonist, but they won’t be ironed out immediately,” Ackerman explains. “Very often, the character will have to work on these issues in stages as they dodge danger and achieve smaller goals from scene to scene.”
- Scene-Level (Micro) Conflict. These conflicts are the smaller in-scene obstacles clashing with your protagonist. Sometimes your hero wins and sometimes they fail. “Setbacks are necessary to increase the pressure, introduce complications, raise the stakes, and force your character to examine why things went wrong,” Ackermans says. “This last one is especially important for characters on a change arc since internal growth is crucial for them to successfully achieve their story goal.”
- Internal Conflict. At the macro level, the internal conflict is your hero’s main need, the problem they have to fix to achieve the story goal. At the micro level, internal conflict arises when your protagonist has to make a difficult choice, decide between two attractive (or unattractive) options, or figure out how they feel. “Conflicting emotions and competing desires, needs, and fears can paralyze a character, cloud their judgment, and make decisions and choices that much harder,” Ackerman notes.
Finally, Ackerman suggests using inequalities to create conflict. “When we engineer story elements to be unbalanced, it generates immediate friction by putting the protagonist at a disadvantage,” she explains.
