Stories are, fundamentally, all about conflicts.
In most stories, your Protagonist wants something – to change a rule in the government, to avenge a death of a loved one, to hook up with the cutie from band practice, to dispel a witch’s curse – and your Antagonist usually wants something that is in direct opposition of the Protagonists’ want. And if there’s no Antagonist (be it a person or society), then there’s something else standing in the Protagonist’s way.
From those opposing wants come the Narrative Conflict. And from Narrative Conflict comes plot.
In generally, there are seven kinds of Narrative Conflict. When deciding what the conflict of your story is going to be – that is, what is going to drive the plot – the strongest stories often feature multiple kinds of conflict, which has the Protagonist in opposition not only with a specific Antagonist, but also usually with some internalized pressure, and some societal issue.
I hope these are helpful in your quest to create a complex and realistic set of conflicts for your protagonist to overcome or succumb to. Best of luck!
Internal Conflicts
Person vs. Self
This is a story about someone struggling with something within themselves – either genetic, or cultural and internalized – which gets in the way of something they want, or a desire.
May focus on topics/issues around:
-Gender & Sex
-Morals & Taboos
-Truth & Lying about/to oneself
-body dysmorphia
-Ambition & drive
-Desire & Lust
Example: “Cinderella Boy” by Kristina Meister
Person vs. Society / Institution
This is a story about someone struggling with truths, beliefs, customs and taboos imparted to and internalized by the protagonist by an outside organization, such as a church/religion, school system, military complex, etc.
May focus on topics/issues around:
-the ability to declare oneself a person and believing it / not being recognized as a person under the law
-the truth of one’s own gender and/ or sex
-Struggling to overcome internalized prejudices, fears, and ‘truths’ of a state propaganda
Example: “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
Person vs. Machine/Technology
This is a story about someone struggling with their personal relationship with technology, or is a piece of technology themselves struggling with their own personhood.
May focus on topics/issues around:
-Is a robot a person? Can they declare themselves a person? Do they have thoughts and feelings, emotions and desires?
-The dangers of technological dependence
-The pervasiveness of technology in everyday life
-How technology gets in the way of or improves personal relationships
Example: “A.I.” (film)
Person vs. Faith/Religion/The God(s)
This is a story about someone struggling with their own personal belief, religion, and faith. In these stories, God(s) may or may not actually be real, but the focus is on the self and the spark of one’s own connection to the divine.
May focus on topics/issues around:
-Loss of faith
-Discovering and confronting hypocrisy in one’s religion or one’s family/friends
-The juxtaposition of personal desires with community rules
-Leaving or entering a religion
Example: “Abide With me” by Elizabeth Strout
External Conflicts
Person vs. Person
This is a story about someone struggling in direct opposition of someone else, with conflicting aims and desires.
May focus on topics/issues around:
-competitions (sports, games, arts, etc.)
-love rivals
-heroes and villains
Example: “Face/Off” (Film)
Person vs. Society / Institution
This is a story about someone struggling with their place in society, what that society expects of them, and their sense of self and worth as dictated by that society.
May focus on topics/issues around:
-expectations and hegemony (example: The Dead Poet’s Society)
-bad/wrong social structure
-Class War
-Gender War
-Rights and Privileges (declaring who is ‘human’ and a ‘person’ under the law)
-Wanting the wrong/right thing according to outside forces
Example: “The Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins
Person vs. Nature
This is a story about someone struggling with surviving or overcoming a natural disaster, a hostile environment, abandonment/self-isolation in a hostile natural setting, or finding ways to adapt to/work with an unfamiliar natural setting.
May focus on topics/issues around:
– environmentalism/climate change
– survival
-agriculture
-natural disasters (hurricane, drought, flood, apocalyptic natural event, etc.)
-doomsday prepping
-finding oneself/communing with nature
Example: “My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George
Person vs. Machine/Technology
This is a story about someone struggling with technology that is pervasive and may be a direct threat or aide to their desires.
May focus on topics/issues around:
-Technology as a direct physical threat to health, happiness or life
-Using technology to help you get what you want
-Technology as a shortcut or cheat
Example: “The Terminator” (film)
Person vs. The Supernatural
This is a story about someone directly, and usually physically struggling with supernatural entities and forces.
May focus on topics/issues around:
-Faith and belief
-Protecting family/friends
-Self worth and self sacrifice
-the personhood of an Othered being
-Life after death
Example: “Supernatural” (TV Show)
Person vs. Fate/Destiny/The Gods
This is a story about someone struggling with or dealing with physical, emotional, or mental threats from real entitles that are considered gods, or the direct manifestation of some outside force that controls the course of their life.
May focus on topics/issues around:
-self-determination/fate/destiny
-supernatural intervention/deus ex machina (both for the protagonist’s good, and/or against the protagonist)
-faith and religion when the people you worship are real
-enslavement or forced obedience
Example: “The Odyssey” by Homer
