In a new post on Writers Helping Writers, Becca Puglisi examines internal conflict and how it connects to your character’s arc. “If you’re writing a story in which your character will need to evolve internally to achieve his goal, a cohesive and well-planned character arc will be vital to its success,” Puglisi writes. “This type of arc (a change arc) requires internal conflict, which will provide opportunities for your character to adapt and grow.”
At heart, you ned to ask what is preventing your character from achieving real self-worth as they pursue their motivation. However, these internals are often hard to figure out. They’re subtle and often unacknowledged by your protagonist. “But the inner motivation becomes obvious when you start looking for their missing human need,” Puglisi says.
One way to work through your character’s missing need is to review Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. In ascending order, those needs are:
- Food and shelter
- Safety
- Love and belonging
- Esteem and recognition
- Self-actualization
A character whose need for food and shelter isn’t met is unlikely to care about self-actualization. While they might want love and acceptance, their top priority is their next meal or a place to sleep.
“When any of these needs are unmet, subliminal warning bells start going off,” Puglisi says.
“And the bigger that unmet need grows, the more motivated the character will become to fill the void. The drive to regain a missing human need will often become their inner motivation—the reason they’re pursuing the outer story goal.”
Once you understand your character’s unfulfilled need, other pieces of their personality become clearer. In fact, you might consider beginning your character development with this element, Puglisi suggests. This will help you figure out tangible story goals, external conflicts, and internal conflicts.
Still, the internal conflict can be hard to figure out. Often, these conflicts arise when your character desires two goals that appear incompatible. Your character also might feel conflicting emotions – such as the conflict between loyalty and a need for independence – or might be questioning long-held beliefs or morals. They might have conflicting responsibilities or be plagued by self-doubt or fear. “Identifying those areas can help you narrow the field of possibilities for your character’s main source of internal conflict,” Puglisi says. She suggests there are two truths about internal conflict:
- It Will Directly Oppose the Inner Motivation. “Whatever form the character’s internal conflict takes, it usually will block their inner motivation, denying them the one thing they desperately want or need,” Puglisi says. “It will also provide opportunities for the character to search his depths and eventually understand what change needs to occur so he can be free of that inner struggle.”
- It Will Be Tied to Self-Esteem or Fulfillment. “The strongest internal conflicts are ones that touch on the most vulnerable parts of the character’s psyche: his feelings and perceptions about himself,” Puglisi explains. “These fundamental ideas are like the ground level of a house of cards. Poke at them and the whole thing could come crashing down.”
