Misunderstanding Conflict

When you tell people that every story needs ‘conflict,’ some of them bail at it, claiming that their story will be fine without it and that it’s an outdated concept and modern stories can do very well without. While some of those people do indeed refer to experimental writing which goes against all story rules, quite some also misunderstand what ‘conflict’ means in this case. They think it refers to big action, to violence, to fighting, to explosions, or to other things important to your regular action movie. However, that is not what ‘conflict’ means in this case.

Of course, ‘conflict’ in your story can refer to a fight, a physical confrontation. Depending on the kind of story you write, it will end with the villain and the hero facing off with weapons in the middle of a burning airship. But it doesn’t have to be one. You can have the airship pass peacefully above as the hero of your tale is looking for a new pizza place, because their favourite one is closed on short notice because of someone’s illness.

‘Conflict’ in case of a story means that there must be something the character is going for, something they want, but can’t have immediately. It can be the death of a man who killed their whole family. It can also be a good pizza after work. ‘Conflict’ simply means there must be something happening and the hero must have an agenda in that. Even if the agenda is merely a piece of salami pizza (with extra cheese).

Your story can be based on high stakes, on the lives of millions hanging in the balance. In that case, the ‘conflict’ is high stakes, too. It will, most likely, include heroics like fighting or jumping out of flying airships. Or it will include a lot of political action or hacking or last-minute bomb defusing. But it doesn’t have to be.

A lot of ‘slice of life’ stories fail not because the stakes are low, but because the stakes are missing. Because they just describe the average day of their average, low-profile hero. Then they wonder about why nobody likes the story much. The reason is that there’s no ‘conflict,’ there’s nothing which interferes with the hero’s agenda of living this day like every other.

Imagine instead a story which runs like this: your hero is the type who is almost compulsively organized and wants for every day to run like clockwork. If the bus is late or the alarm clock doesn’t work, it’s already a very threatening thing for them. But you still want a ‘slice of life’ story, so actual fighting and explosions are not on the menu. Your hero gets up as every morning. You drop hints they’re very set in their ways, live every day the same way. They have a schedule for their lunches, too, since you shouldn’t eat the same thing every day - not healthy and sicknesses do interrupt the scheduled life. It’s Tuesday and Tuesday is, of course, Taco Day. So, punctually, your hero drops their pen and clocks out for lunch. They walk to the taco place - and it’s closed (for repairs or because an airship fell on it, take your choice, the reason doesn’t really matter here). What is your hero going to do? It’s out of the question to go to the place they went to the day before. Two times pizza in a row isn’t allowed. And if they went to the place for the next day a day early, where would they go tomorrow? But the clock is ticking and your hero is hungry. They have to make a decision. They have to go against their usual behaviour. If they want food (that’s their agenda), they’ll have to find another place to get it. And, eventually, before they run out of time (it’s only lunch break and, sadly, lunch break is not infinite), they will find a place to eat, but it will be hard for them. That is your ‘conflict.’ You are forcing your hero to go against what they usually do, you are forcing them to overcome an obstacle to get what they want.

How big or small the ‘conflict’ is depends on your story. A thriller demands a big ‘conflict,’ something which endangers a lot of people and will, most likely, feature fighting and other violent actions. As seen above, a ‘slice of life’ story or a children’s story or a love story often get by with much smaller ‘conflicts.’

So when you start writing a story, ask yourself what the ‘conflict’ is. Will it be a fight between the hero and the villain, both vying for the same thing (see this post on MacGuffins for further ideas)? Will it be a love story and the family or another suitor will present a problem? Will it be a little story about the little world of a little person changing? To identify the ‘conflict’ is to know what the story is steering towards and where the troubles will come from and how the story will play out. You might still need a while to get it together (especially if you’re a discovery writer like me), but you will at least know the general direction.

Do not misunderstand the word ‘conflict’ when it comes to storytelling. It’s not about violence and doesn’t suggest the only stories worth writing are those with brutality and bloodshed. It’s simply about making sure your hero has to work for what they want instead of being handed it on a silver platter.