Once you’ve established your character’s scene* goal, the fun begins in earnest! Conflict is what story is all about. Without it, the characters would achieve their goals in minutes, all the loose ends would instantly be tied off with a pretty red bow, and the story would be happily ever over. That may be nice for the folks in your story, but it’s going to bore readers into rigor mortis.

Enter the opposition, stage left.

Here’s your character, merrily skipping along toward his goal of contributing to the annual Christmas Children’s Charity, when bammo! bandits swarm the road, block off access to the goal, and demand the character hand over all his money. Ta-da! Instantly, your scene becomes more interesting. Readers are breathless to discover if your character will escape the bandits and deliver his charity donation to the poor little orphans.

Conflict keeps your story moving forward. When your characters’ initial goals are stymied by conflict, it causes them to react with new goals, which are stymied by further conflict, which causes them to again modify their goals—and on and on, until finally they reach their goals and the story ends.

Authors sometimes experience difficulties injecting enough conflict into their stories. Their characters mosey through life, getting along with everyone and doing nothing of great importance. Or if they do have an altercation with someone or accomplish something important, the ramifications are resolved so quickly and seamlessly they end up being neither crucial nor entertaining.

Don’t be afraid of socking it to your characters. Without conflict and its associated suffering, characters have no reason to exist. Analyze your scenes to ensure each one erects obstacles between your characters and their goals.

Options for Scene Conflict

Structuring Your Novel (affiliate link)

Like scene goals, scene conflict offers endless possibilities. Conflict can come in a variety of flavors, but most can be sorted into the following categories.

Your character’s goal is going to obstructed by:

1. Direct opposition (another character, weather, etc., which interferes with the goal).

2. Inner opposition (the characters learn something that changes their mind about their goals).

3. Circumstantial difficulties (no flour to bake a cake, no partners to dance with, etc.).

4. Active conflict (argument, fight, etc.).

5. Passive conflict (being ignored, being kept in the dark, being avoided, etc.).

These generalities can include (but certainly aren’t limited to):

1. Physical altercation.

2. Verbal altercation.

3. Physical obstacle (weather, roadblock, personal injury, etc.).

4. Mental obstacle (fear, amnesia, etc.).

5. Physical lack (no flour to bake a cake).

6. Mental lack (no information).

7. Passive aggression (intentional or unintentional).

8. Indirect interference (long-distance or unintentional opposition by another character).

Is Your Conflict Integral?

Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight V. Swain (affiliate link)

As if writers don’t have enough to keep us busy just in dreaming up a good altercation, we also have to limit our conflict to only what is integral to each specific scene. In the words of Dwight V. Swain, “conflict for conflict’s sake” isn’t good enough.

If the charitable character in our original illustration loses his donation money to bandits, that’s a good conflict. It directly interferes with his goal of giving the money to the orphans. But if the bandits never show up again in the story—if they appeared solely for the sake of stealing the money—they won’t represent integral conflict.

Even worse is when the conflict has nothing to do with the goal. For example, if Allie is walking down the street, intent on getting to her hair appointment before her debut performance on Broadway, a random argument about the worth and importance of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade just ain’t gonna cut it.

Instead, you must ensure each scene’s conflict is a direct result of an earlier occurrence in the plot (maybe the protagonist infuriated the bandit leader by throwing a snowball in his face) and a direct obstacle between the protagonist and the goal (maybe the Macy’s parade is preventing Allie from reaching her hair appointment).

Questions to Ask About Your Scene Conflict

Structuring Your Novel Workbook

Once you’ve identified your scene’s conflict, stop and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does the opposition to the character’s goal matter personally? (If not, the character doesn’t want the goal badly enough in the first place.)

2. Does the conflict organically evolve from the goal?

3. Is the opposition’s motivation logical within the overall story?

4. Does the conflict lead to a logical outcome (resolution or disaster)?

5. Does the conflict directly interfere with or threaten the protagonist’s goal?

Scene Conflict in Action

How does effective scene conflict manifest in successful stories? Let’s take another look at our chosen books and movies:

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen: In the first chapter, Mrs. Bennet’s goal is to get her husband to call upon Mr. Bingley, so their daughters may later be introduced to this eligible young man. Her goal is impeded by Mr. Bennet’s passive resistance to her nagging. The conflict takes the form of a verbal altercation. Even though it’s not an outright argument, and certainly isn’t violent or even aggressive, it still offers conflict simply because the two characters are obviously at odds. If Mr. Bennet were to immediately give in to Mrs. Bennet’s desires (“Why, certainly, blossom, I’d be overjoyed to visit Mr. Bingley since you’re so keen on it!”), the scene would be instantly (and yawn-inducingly) over.

The initial scene conflict in Pride & Prejudice arises when Mr. Bennet resists his wife’s insistence that he introduce himself to their eligible new neighbor. (Pride & Prejudice (1995), BBC1.)

It’s a Wonderful Life directed by Frank Capra: The opening scene’s conflict comes in the form of the angel Clarence’s incompetence. The goal of Joseph, his superior angel, is to send Clarence down to earth to save George Bailey. But not only is Clarence late and worrisome in his ineptitude, he’s also unable to see Joseph’s narration of George’s past. This is a very
minor conflict (and one that’s overcome, at least partially, with ease, since all Joseph has to do is help Clarence see the past), but it serves not only to spice up the scene, but also to demonstrate key facets of Clarence’s character.

It’s a Wonderful Life opens with the subtle scene conflict of the angel Clarence being unable to see into George Bailey’s past and therefore unable to follow along with his superior angel’s guidance for his new assignment. (It’s a Wonderful Life (1947), Liberty Films.)

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card: In the first chapter, Ender’s goal is simple enough: he just wants to get to the school bus and go home. Conflict immediately arises in the form of Stilson and other bullies who try to impede Ender’s progress. The conflict arises naturally from the characters and from the plot, since the bullies are taunting Ender about the loss of his monitor. But it goes far beyond conflict for conflict’s sake. This first altercation not only aptly demonstrates important character qualities within the protagonist, it also leads into a disaster that will figure prominently throughout the book—and ultimately foreshadow the climax.

In Ender’s Game, the first example of scene conflict arises when Ender’s goal of getting to the school bus is obstructed by bullies who accost him. (Ender’s Game (2013), Lionsgate.)

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World directed by Peter Weir: Conflict arises in the first scene when Midshipman Mr. Hollom wavers in his decisiveness about whether or not he’s spotted the enemy ship Acheron. This opening scene is primarily confined to Hollom’s inner conflict, which is illustrated through a terse exchange of words between him and another midshipman. The conflict neatly dramatizes important facets of shipboard life, sets up the overall conflict of Surprise vs. Acheron, and foreshadows Hollom’s character arc.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World opens from the perspective of minor character Mr. Hollom, whose proxy objective of finding the enemy ship Acheron is impeded by his own inner conflict and indecisiveness about whether or not he has indeed spotted the ship through the fog. (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), Miramax Films.)

Conflict is arguably one of the easiest and most enjoyable parts to write in any story. So long as you’ve properly set up the conflict within each scene, your story will chug along, almost under its own power.

*For the purposes of this series, “Scene” with a capital S will refer to the scene in general (which can include in its definition the sequel). I’ll use a small s and italicize scene and sequel to refer to the two different types of Scenes.

Stay tuned: Next week, we’ll talk about Options for Ending Scenes With Disaster.

Complete Series:

• Part 1: Mastering the Two Different Types of Scene
• Part 2: The Three Building Blocks of the Scene
• Part 3: Options for Goals in a Scene
• Part 4: Options for Conflict in a Scene
• Part 5: Options for Disasters in a Scene
• Part 6: Variations on the Scene
• Part 7: The Three Building Blocks of the Sequel
• Part 8: Options for Reactions in a Sequel
• Part 9: Options for Dilemmas in a Sequel
• Part 10: Options for Decisions in a Sequel
• Part 11: Variations on the Sequel
• Part 12: Frequently Asked Questions About Scene Structure
• Further Posts About Scene Structure

Wordplayers, tell me your opinions! What is the conflict in your most recent scene? Tell me in the comments!

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