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Chrissy Hicks Shane McKnight Chrissy Hicks Shane McKnight

Literary Alchemy: Ingredients of the Story – Conflict

In this installment of Literary Alchemy: Ingredients of the Story, Chrissy Hicks explores conflict as the driving force behind compelling fiction. From internal struggles to external battles, she breaks down how conflict shapes character, builds tension, and mirrors real life—offering practical techniques and examples to help writers craft stories that keep readers fully engaged.

A series designed to elevate your skills and empower you to write like a pro.

By Chrissy Hicks

Since April is tornado season in Tennessee, it seemed a suitable time to examine this essential element of storytelling. Conflict is the struggle between opposing forces. We encounter this through mental battles and external forces.

Why use Conflict?

  • A story without conflict is boring. Imagine if Yossarian never left the hospital in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22? For one, we wouldn’t have the classic novel that became a popular catchphrase. More importantly, it’d be a giant yawn. Who wants to read a story where nothing happens?

  • Escalate tension and keep the reader on the edge of their seat. The type of conflict—its level of intensity—depends on genre. In literary fiction, internal struggles are often emphasized over external challenges, while in thrillers, although internal dilemmas are important, external conflict often takes center stage. Consider TJ Newman’s thriller, Falling, in which a pilot is given an impossible choice: crash his plane, killing hundreds, or witness the murder of his kidnapped family.

  • Provide character insight. Internal conflict creates good use of interiority and helps us relate to characters. External conflict causes people to react, and these reactions show us their character and personality. In Michael Rigg’s Voices of the Elysian Fields, Jonathan Gray, a deputy coroner, struggles with grief over the traumatic loss of his child and anger at a broken, bureaucratic system (internal struggles), and fights through obstacles as he investigates connected events that reveals dark secrets within the city’s elite—people who will do anything to stop him (external battles).

  • Art imitates life, and life is hard, complex, challenging, and conflicted. Simply put, conflict reflects real life. It’s intertwined with human experience. Not a day goes by without some sort of obstacle or difficulty, whether we like it or not. In my short story Baby’s Breath, a pregnant woman struggles to cope with an eating disorder while carrying her firstborn child, and deals with external pressure from a concerned boyfriend and the looming responsibility of motherhood. 

How and When to Use Conflict:

Conflict is the backbone of a good story. It forces characters to act; it can result from characters’ actions (or inactions), and it can come from anywhere, showing up in subtle or explicit ways. For the sake of example, I’ll split this section into two: Internal vs. External.

Internal

  • Moral Dilemmas: Gray areas create drama. Bill Hoffman’s family was kidnapped—and he can do absolutely nothing about it because he’s flying a plane. But that’s not his biggest problem! The major conflict comes from the abductor’s ultimatum: the only way to save his family is to crash the plane. (Falling). 

Granted, not all moral dilemmas are this extreme. Take, for example, a young pregnant woman struggling with bulimia. A recent visit to the doctor reveals she’s losing weight. She promises she’ll eat more, but can’t overcome the bulimic urges, despite her desire to care for her unborn child. (Baby’s Breath). 

  • Identity crises: Self-image, beliefs, and desires can create enough conflict to fill volumes. Yossarian constantly searches for connection and meaning in the face of war. In the chaos, he grapples with his identity as a soldier while overcome by fear. (Catch-22).

  • Emotional struggles: Conflict reminds us we are less in control that we’d like to be, and some people will go to great lengths to avoid it. Instead of dealing with her past, Bella copes by bingeing and purging. “I’d been fine on my own, had everything under control, a high honors student on a fast track to pharmacy school; my bingeing and purging episodes perfectly strategized.” But the statement alone is contradictory—despite trying to convince herself and others she’s fine, Bella’s less in control that she believes. (Baby’s Breath). However, other characters find strength by turning their anger, sorrow, jealousy, or bitterness into action. Dr. Gray’s personal loss drives him to channel his heavy grief into activism. (Voices of Elysian Fields).

  • Unreliable (or biased) Narrators: Do you swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth? “Facts” told by a narrator aren’t often as black-and-white as presented, and an unreliable narrator can skew our perception, and the reality for those around them, creating conflict from their biases, lies, and little ‘t’ truths. Consider Rachel—an unemployed woman struggling with alcohol—who witnesses a shocking event that leads her to dig into a missing persons case, but can she trust what she saw? Or is her mind too far gone? (The Girl on the Train).

External

  • People vs. People: Conflict can arise from characters’ actions or inactions. Aren’t we often the root of our own problems, too? Yossarian’s conflict isn’t just with the enemy he fights during WWII, but with those around him. He is constantly up against Cathcart, who represents the absurdity of bureaucracy, as well as Milo, who’s manipulative and solely focused on turning the war into a profit-gaining enterprise. (Catch-22).

  • People vs. Society: This includes conflict stemming from cultural norms, traditions, or laws, economic wealth, or disparity. Dr. Gray contends with a bureaucratic system that has neglected the coroner’s office. Inadequate space leaves them dealing with bodies piling up (literally). His situation is exacerbated by corrupt politicians whom he suspects are at the core of a scandal. (Voices of Elysian Fields).

  • People vs. Nature (Setting): Setting itself can be a character, and sometimes, an antagonist. In Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, the bleak, ash-covered landscape acts as an adversary. Throughout much of this story, father and son grapple with natural forces, and the environment emerges as a significant character. 

  • People vs. Supernatural: Spirits, ghosts, demons—anything not of this realm can be a source of conflict for our characters. In Claire Fraise’s They Stay series, the protagonist is up against supernatural forces, and she interacts with ghosts (both friend and foe). These paranormal elements are the backbone of all conflicts within the series.

  • People vs. Machine: With the ever-constant rise in technology, we see this form of conflict played out daily. When the pilot drifts in and out of consciousness, Jo battles to land a plane with instruction from the tower; in this instance, the machine (the plane) has become a grave antagonistic force and the stakes are heightened—if she fails, everyone dies. (Falling). 

Lookout! 

Observe how conflict unfolds in your favorite movies and books. Study both internal and external conflicts and how they play out. If the internal conflict isn’t stated or obvious, can you infer a character’s inner struggles based on their actions and reactions to outer circumstances? How does the author or director make use of this device? Was it effective? How can your understanding of what they did help you accomplish the same?

Prompt 

Develop a character facing two conflicting desires. Perhaps he wishes to be closer to his girlfriend, who’s moving to New York for a dream job, but doesn’t want to leave his quiet life on a Pennsylvania farm. Then, choose from the list of external conflicts above and add that element. Perhaps ghosts come to settle on the farmland, disrupting his peaceful life. Or just as his girlfriend lands in New York, an autonomous AI-controlled technological barrier encircles the entire state, preventing anyone from entering or leaving.

Further Reading: 

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