The Right Kind of Conflict

There’s something I wonder about when I look at some of the most popular YA series. They’re all about dystopian futures and how they are changed by the Chosen One main character. Then I wonder why they lasted until the Chosen One was of age. Then I wonder why the writers were so invested in the dystopian setting. Why they didn’t fit the conflicts to the setting a little better. Why they didn’t choose some sort of setting and conflict that hadn’t been done to death by others before.

 

On one hand, I get it. Dystopian settings allow for a look into the darkest parts of our society and they form a proper ‘grimdark’ background for a story. Everything is bleak, everything is horrible, people are treated badly. Finally, someone rises up against the evil government and things are changed. That is a nice setting, you can get a lot of action out of it, the stakes are high. On the whole, that makes for a good conflict.

On the other hand, humans are not known for suffering situations like this for a long time. Most regimes which cut back on their citizens’ rights do so discreetly, not cutting back more than is necessary. Needless to say most of those regimes topple with the death of the original dictator on top, too. It’s very hard to keep your populace of millions of people from rising up against you when they’re feeling like death might even be the better choice. It’s hard to keep people from refusing to cooperate and attacking your troops when you regularly take their children or sort them into professions by arbitrary rules. That is why dictators with something akin to historical understanding cut as little personal freedom from their subjects as is possible while keeping their regime going.

Now take something like “The Hunger Games”. All of the districts live in poverty. Regularly, the children of the districts are ripped from their families to compete in a life-or-death challenge which is then broadcasted in the districts. By rights, there should be a rebellion well on the way before the story even starts - people don’t take well to that kind of situation. With a few tweaks, the story would actually work, though. First of all, make the districts not quite as poor. They’re not living in luxury, but they have enough of the basic necessities of life. Next, don’t take their children by force. Set up an agency which looks for young people who want to work in the Capital, to become servants, clerks, etc. Emphasize that they might send the money they make back to their families. That will get you more than enough volunteers. Finally, do not broadcast the games, keep them available only for the rich in the Capital who sponsor a servant in and bet on the outcome. This is a system which can run for a while. This is a system which is only exposed once one of the participants gets away and tells the general populace about it. This is where the Chosen One comes in, breaks the game’s rules by getting most participants to work together, and then exposes the government for the dictatorship it is, inciting riots, supporting the formation of an uprising.

 

YA books are not the only ones where conflict and general story don’t go together too well, though. Another big problem are books which are not that grim or dark, but suddenly turn into a gory mess, because the author wants high stakes and seeks them by spilling a lot of blood and guts, thinking this is the only way to keep the audience invested.

Don’t get me wrong - there’s stories and conflicts which will never work without the grim and dark aspects. However, if you start a story by giving the impression that your setting is relatively calm and safe, then you will shock your audience unduly by suddenly adding body horrors or brutal torture or suchlike to the mix.

So, first of all, you need to ask yourself what kind of story you want to tell. What kind of world do you want to show, what kind of characters do you want to use? From this, you can make a good guess at what the stakes can be, what kind of conflict will work.

Keep in mind that not every story has to be about ultra-high stakes and brutal fights. ‘Conflict’ in case of a story doesn’t automatically mean fighting. A conflict arises as soon as your protagonist has a goal and there’s something or someone keeping them from reaching it. That can simply be a flat tire on a car. That can also be a monstrous creature blocking the path. Both are equally valid as a conflict, but belong into different settings.

If you want a heroic protagonist who spends their time mostly fighting, you may need higher stakes and even a body count (although funny fantasy shows you can even then do without). If you want an everybody protagonist who has to solve their problems with their mind and, perhaps, the right friends, lower stakes might serve you much better. There’s a place for both kinds of conflict and many, many more.

 

If you want a grimdark story, then everything must fit together and you must show the setting from the beginning. Even if your protagonist lives in relative safety at the beginning of the story (being from the ruling class/wealthy/protected), there must be suggestions that this is no paradise, that there is danger around. Your protagonist must be suited for such a setting, too, even if they appear as a harmless young lady or a gentleman of leisure. They have a talent which doesn’t quite fit with that. Perhaps the young lady can wield a gun, perhaps the gentleman of leisure knows how to box. They have a way of keeping themselves alive, one way or other. Then you can drop them into the dangerous situations where others perish and can start up with the fight for survival. Having a character who has never before shown any indication to injure themselves in a setting where it’s not to be expected suddenly use their own blood to write something to get themselves out of a situation means to unduly shock people. Having a young lady in a dangerous situation pull out a gun and shoot three bandits is not, provided you have established that she can handle a gun and that such situations happen.

If you wish to write about a dictatorship or another form of dystopia, think about what people would normally do in such a setting if your major conflict were happening. Look into history and see what people were doing in similar situation in the past. Is it likely the populace would accept it? Is it likely there wouldn’t have been uprisings already? If it’s not, then you have to change the conflict or the setting.

 

There’s the right kind of conflict for every story you wish to write, from the low-stakes slice-of-life story to the high-stakes rescue-the-universe one. There’s also an audience for every kind of story with every kind of conflict. Low-stakes conflicts draw another audience, but for everyone who wants blood and gore and guts on the floor, there’s also someone who prefers fluffy bunnies and weird situations with a light finish. Sometimes it’s even the same person on different days.