How To Write Conflict In A Novel

Conflict drives a novel. It creates tension, it effects character development because it powers the arc of transformation, and it keeps readers engaged. It must feel like it comes naturally out of the story, and the most engaging conflict arises from the expressed and unexpressed motivations of your characters. The stakes should feel personal and deeply tied to both the Quest and the protagonist's inner life. The higher the personal cost, the better.

There are many types of conflict in fiction – great, mythic conflict, for example, in fantasy novels, relationship conflict in romance or novels with relationship plots, literary novels centering on philosophical or moral debates, or the struggle between investigator and villain in thrillers and crime novels – but all have some element of external and internal conflict.

External And Internal Conflict

External obstacles confronting the protagonist form the dramatic core of a novel. Their external battles, in a war or in a relationship or in solving a crime, will be the most obvious and well–remembered part of any story. This can be a clash between characters, or a character going up against a group or even a whole society, or against nature.

But conflict can be internal too, in the character’s mind, expressed as doubts, fears, emotional and ethical struggles, or difficult dilemmas. These can be focused on external forces but are usually some kind of struggle in the self for the character, with aspects of their identity, with making hard choices about their life or relationships or confronting their own flaws.

The Quest itself is a kind of single, overarching conflict – it is the conflict of the novel – but can consist of several interconnecting smaller conflicts. If the Quest is a war, then it will consist of battles and skirmishes, and negotiations and the arrival of news from afar. These are all external conflicts. It will also consist of the characters’ own private fears and awareness of their flaws and limitations. These are the internal conflicts. Your novel should have both.

Tips For Generating And Writing Conflict

There can be several sources of conflict in a novel, and these can interrelate or be separate. Conflict can extend from:

– Obstructing Character Motivations And Desires

– The Actions Of The Antagonistic Force In The Novel

– The Competing Motivations And Desires Of Other Characters (Not Necessarily The Antagonist)

Check your novel or its chapter plan now to see if you are managing conflict as powerfully as you can, using this checklist.

Conflict can work well if you do the following:

– Introduce Conflict Early: We can be aware of the central conflict from the opening chapter, but certainly by the Inciting Incident, we should be able to feel it.

– Raise the Stakes: With each new plot development, the stakes should make the conflict more urgent. Introducing complications will make resolving the conflict harder and the Quest will appear to fail, before resolving.

– Subplots: Use subplots to add additional, subsidiary conflicts that inform or impact the main Quest.

– Escalate with Twists and Reversals: Just when the protagonist is making progress, a twist or reversal can throw them off course, from bad news to betrayal. Twists and reveals (discussed later) also shock and motivate the reader to continue.

This is an excerpt from How To Write A Novel Chapter By Chapter available here: https://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Novel-Chapter-Outlining-ebook/dp/B0DJ8TMVWL?ref_=ast_author_mpb

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