Conflict is essential in novel writing, but many writers underestimate its power. Often, they’re too scared to really put the pressure on their characters, but, ultimately, its necessary.
What Is Conflict?
Conflict is any struggle, challenge or obstacle that characters must overcome to get what they want. These obstacles/challenges/struggles go directly against their want. This conflict drives the story. Without conflict, there is no story, just a series of uninteresting snippets.
Types of Conflict
All conflict comes under two categories: internal and external. Internal conflict is about the inner journey a character goes on as they fight their opposing wants or beliefs. It goes hand-in-hand with character development. External conflict sees a character fighting something or someone outside their control that is standing in their way. These tend to relate more to plot, but it’s also a great opportunity to show how these events are affecting your character.
These are the two overarching types of conflict, but these can be broken into seven smaller conflict types.
Character v Self
This is an internal conflict, where the character is battling an inner demon. Perhaps, they are struggling to make the right choice, have conflicting morals or are suffering from mental health issues. The protagonist has to overcome their internal conflict to reach their goal. Most novels have some sort of internal conflict, even if the primary conflict is external. This type of conflict helps you develop deep and interesting characters because they will need to do some soul-searching to overcome their issues. If they succeed, this lends itself to a positive character arc; if they don’t, this will be a negative character arc.
Character v Fate/Destiny
This conflict deals with the characters accepting or attempting to change their fate or destiny. Some people argue that this type of conflict falls under character v self because accepting your fate is an inner struggle, but I decided to separate it from above because you use this type of conflict to build upon other internal conflicts.
Character v Character
This is, perhaps, the most common type of conflict. Many writers assume that characters must physically fight in this type of conflict, but it can be as simple as the antagonist getting in the protagonist’s way. It doesn’t have to be the stereotypical good v evil narrative; the antagonist may oppose the protagonist for the protagonist’s own good. The protagonist must overcome these efforts to divert them from their goal.
Character v Nature
In a character v nature conflict, the protagonist faces off against nature. This can be weather, the wilderness/barrenness, or a natural disaster/apocalypse. It must be beyond their control, and they will be fighting for their survival.
Character v Technology
Humans have long feared technology because we fear it will become so advanced that it will take over. Sci-fi novels play on this fear, pitting humans against technology, with the latter usually having the upper hand. The protagonist will have to overcome the technology or the person controlling the technology.
Character v Supernatural
Sometimes, the antagonist isn’t human. Sometimes, the antagonist is a supernatural element beyond human understanding. These stories exploit human fears, raising the stakes by creating inequality. How can you fight something you might not be able to see?
Character v Society
In this type of conflict, your protagonist will likely sit outside their society. This might be because the society is corrupt or because your protagonist doesn’t fit this society’s norms. Society will try to force this character to change, but they will rebel. They might be successful, or they might fail. This conflict type is usually most effective when the society is represented by a character.
Layering Conflict
Most novels have more than one type of conflict. Usually, they’ll have at least one external conflict, but the author will add some internal conflict to make the narrative more complex. Layering types of conflict will give your novel more depth and make it more compelling.
Conclusion
Conflict is essential to novels. It is what drives them onwards to the climax. There are seven types of conflict: character v self, v fate/destiny, v character, v supernatural, v nature, v technology and v society. Using multiple types of conflict will help you create complex and compelling narratives.
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