Conflict
galdeung
Conflict is the collision between what a character wants and what blocks it, external (enemies, deadlines) or internal (beliefs); no conflict, no scene.
Also written as: stakes
Meaning
Conflict is the collision between wanting and blocking. A character wants something, something prevents it, and the direction in which that is resolved is the story. External conflict lies outside the character: an antagonist, an organization, nature, a deadline. Internal conflict lies within: two desires at war (love versus revenge), belief against reality. A good scene has both layers at once, fighting an enemy on the outside while fighting a belief on the inside.
Why it matters
Conflict is why readers turn the page. A scene without it, however beautiful, leaves "so what?" At the episode level, each installment needs one conflict to be worth its price. Goguma and cider in web novels are, in the end, the compression and release of conflict. The most important question in designing conflict is whether both sides have reasons. An antagonist who is simply evil makes shallow conflict. An antagonist who is right from their own position deepens it, and readers keep going because they cannot be sure who should win. The size of the conflict is the size of the stakes: the clearer what is lost by failing, the tighter the tension.
Example
What Yuri wants: to know who made the deposits. Blocking it (external): the bank at the last deposit location will not release personal data. Blocking it (internal): knowing the depositor means knowing her grandmother lied for thirty years. Yuri wants to remember her grandmother as she was.
At the counter Yuri held out her ID, then put it back. "Would you like me to look it up?" the clerk asked. Yuri did not answer.
The external obstacle (bank policy) can be overcome. The internal one (not wanting to know) stops her at the counter. The moment is tight because both are at stake.
Common mistakes
- Scenes with no conflict. Two characters amiably exchanging information has none. Make one of them hide something or want something else.
- An antagonist who is just bad. Motiveless evil is shallow. Give the antagonist a logic the reader half agrees with.
- Unclear stakes. If the reader does not know what is lost by failing, there is no tension. State the stakes early.