Writing conflicts: Make your story come alive

Conflicts are indispensable! Because stories without conflict are like landscapes without mountains – flat, boring, without depth. Conflicts are the engine that drives characters: they force us to make decisions, to react – and thus to develop. Readers love stories in which characters struggle, fail, change.

But many authors, especially women, shy away from intense conflicts. The fear of making a main character seem unsympathetic often paralyzes the scene. But strong contrasts don’t make characters unlikeable – they make them real. Intense conflicts lend authenticity and make strengths, weaknesses and values visible. As the self-publisher Bible points out, a story without a clear conflict quickly loses traction – conflicts are what binds readers emotionally.

Conflicts create depth – and humanity

A conflict that is too gentle remains meaningless, and too little resistance makes characters seem one-dimensional. Only when they are thrown into real tensions can their development be traced. Mistakes, setbacks and failures are part of it – if you only win, you remain static. A conflict is not necessarily loud or epic, but always existential. Every scene should contain at least one conflict – even if it is only quietly bubbling under the surface. Let the conflict escalate instead of resolving it too quickly. Real tension arises when characters delay decisions, stumble, fail and grow as a result. If you let conflicts fizzle out too quickly, tension is lost. In a scene, an inner contradiction or an unspoken resistance often achieves more than big words.

The five types of conflict

To keep your story alive and multi-layered, here are five forms of conflict that you can use in different ways:

1. Inner conflict – The struggle within: values, doubts, emotions. It is often more difficult to build up because it has to do without external opponents – but it is precisely the tension between self and desire that makes it powerful.
   Example: A character wants justice, but fears the price they pay for it.
2. Interpersonal conflict – confrontations between characters: arguments, misunderstandings, power struggles. A betrayal can consist of several small conflicts: planning, decision, revelation – each stage increases the tension.
3. Social conflict – values, norms, expectations of the community contradict the individual goal.
4. Nature conflict – environmental influences, external forces, conditions that act against the characters.
5. Supernatural conflict – fate, magic, higher powers, intangible powers.

Sometimes several types of conflict intertwine – an internal conflict works in parallel with external obstacles. In addition, (moral) dilemmas are particularly powerful – every decision is painful and costs something.

Dilemmas: Decisions with a price

A dilemma is more than a conflict – it forces your character to choose between two evils. There are three conditions for a strong dilemma:

• There is no perfect choice – every decision is fraught with loss, guilt, or risk.
• The decision changes the character, reveals his values or fears.
• The dilemma is emotionally charged – it’s about abstract decisions, relationships, morality or identity.

Example: A character has to decide whether to tell the truth and lose a friend – or remain silent and betray himself. This decision shows not only action, but who this person is. Dilemmas are one of the best tools to create tension and push characters to their limits.

Anger is good! – The power of repressed emotion

Anger is an underestimated resource in stories – especially for female characters, it is often avoided or hidden. But anger is narrative gold:

• It is honest, raw and makes characters seem particularly vulnerable.
• Anger can be a motivator – it drives action and change.
• If it is used in a comprehensible way, anger does not seem unsympathetic, but human and credible.

Make your characters explode – especially if they have remained calm so far! This has a cathartic effect and shows inner conflict.