Most of us avoid conflict in our real lives, so sometimes it can be hard to create in our fiction. That’s one reason writers rely on physical conflict – nothing ratches up the tension like a smack in the face. But for the more genteel among us, finding ways to create non-physical conflict is an important skill.
In a guest post on Anne R. Allen’s blog, Becca Puglisi suggests pitting your characters against each other in conversation. “Conflict is lurking all around your characters and the story world, so grab a stick and start poking to see what shakes loose,” she says. “Anyone interacting with them is a potential source for trouble.”
Consider your main character – what annoys or hurts them? What attitudes or morals are antithetical to their own? Use those traits to build supporting characters and you’ll be well on your way to creating organic conflict via simple conversation.
“Dialogue is a great troublemaker because it can cause minor, surface-level tension or set the ball rolling for something huge, like the end of a relationship or a global clash,” Puglisi says. “You’re already including it in your story, so make it do double duty and use it to initiate problems for your character.”
Puglisi examines various types of conflict, including unintentional clashes, confrontational communicators, and opposing motivations. “Motivation plays a huge part in conflict development at all story levels because conflict typically arises when characters don’t get what they want,” she explains. “So when you’re planning your protagonist’s conversations, consider what they’re after. What are they hoping to achieve through that discussion? Then pit them against someone whose goal is in opposition to theirs.”
