Mia Powell

Does every story actually need conflict? I’ve been seeing this question asked all over the internet lately, and some people are saying no. Just look at literary fiction or contemporary fiction — any story that can rely on philosophy doesn’t need heavy argument just for the sake of adding conflict, don’t throw in a war for the sake of war, your writing professor doesn’t know everything. And, sure, your writing professor may not know everything or may not explain quite so elegantly why you need conflict, but that doesn’t negate that literary and contemporary fictions do actually have conflict. The actual issue here (the conflict in the question, you might say) is that some of us are thinking of conflict too literally and conflating it with the big conflict we see in the world. Conflict isn’t just war, political strife, or the biggest personal argument of the century. Conflict can be vague, hidden by a narrative that waxes poetic (as long as it does it well); conflict can be much more personal and even less serious than war depending on your genre. Because the truth is: conflict is any source of tension for your protagonist.

Without tension, what is your protagonist doing? Not much, right? They need conflict to move themselves through the plot – or for there to even be a plot. Tension forces the characters to make decisions about their surroundings, about the plot, to further your story along. If Ariel, from Disney’s The Little Mermaid, didn’t have an interest in the human world, she wouldn’t have been near enough the surface to save Eric; he would have died, and she wouldn’t have collected his statue, been found out by her father, and ran (swam?) in her feelings to Ursula for legs. Notice that the initial conflict here is not necessarily Triton destroying her grotto – it’s the apparent danger of the human world to the mermaid world and Ariel acting in direct opposition to that societal expectation. This fuels everything: her meet cute with Eric, the conflict between her and her father, her decision to leave (the point of no return), the desire to stay in the human world. Everything is a result of the societal conflict of human versus mermaid, the internal conflict (weak or not) of family and duty versus adventure and knowledge. 

Speaking of internal conflict as compared to internal conflict, you may be thinking this is starting to sound familiar. I know it was mentioned in at least one high school English class, but I don’t think we spent much time on it; and I know it wasn’t relevant to standards when I was teaching, so if I brought it up it definitely wasn’t the focus of a lesson. But literature has specified types of conflict that are either internal, that readers see within a focal character, or external, that readers experience along with characters based on its effect on the story as a whole. Man vs Man is going to be your typical good guy and bad guy opposition; Man vs Self is almost solely internal, because it focuses on the character (usually the protagonist or narrator) dealing with their inner thoughts and judgments, expectations for themselves, contrasting values, mental illness, etc.; Man vs Society is both internal and external, or can be either one depending on how you address it in your narrative, but focuses on how the protagonist interacts with and against the expectations or demands of their society; Man vs Nature pits the character against the world around them, more physically than vs Society, and is usually a question of survival; Man vs Technology is similar to vs Nature but rather than the world fighting back against human creation it’s human creation fighting back against its own creator; Man vs the Supernatural is pretty self-explanatory, and has your character fighting against the unexplained, a monster, etc., but it can also include a subcategory known as Man vs God; and closely related but definitely separate is Man vs Fate, which has an internal and external fight between the character and their own destiny, no matter how much free will they have.

It might help to think of…

Man vs Man — After escaping her wrath a number of times, Dorothy takes her final stand against the Wicked Witch of the West in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum

Man vs Self — Aang struggles between fulfilling his desire to be a normal kid and his life-saving duties as the Avatar in Avatar: the Last Airbender (2005 – 2008)

Man vs Society — Offred resists her role as a handmaid and reminiscences of her freer life before the revolution in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Man vs Nature — Fin works to save his loved ones from the dangers of flooding and other natural disasters that send sharks to attack in Sharknado (2013)

Man vs Technology — Victor Frankenstein trying to regain control of the Creature in Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

Man vs the Supernatural — Father Karras trying to rid Regan of the demon inside her and struggling with his own faith in The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty

Man vs Fate — Though Apollo’s gift to Cassandra offered her foresight, it cursed her with never being believed; she tries to save her loved ones from the tragedies to befall them in Troilus and Cressida by William Shakespeare

Okay, so there’s clearly a need for conflict in some stories, but not yours. Right? Wrong. Without conflict, the protagonist has no reason to pass the point of no return and start the story. Your story ends earlier than you want it to and you don’t know why (because there is no tension), and overall it’s pretty boring. Even if the characters are interesting, even if your setting is beautiful, you still need the story of it all. I could spend all day just chilling in the meadows of Hyrule, but I’m not doing much if I’m not saving Zelda, am I? I mean… in that case, Ganan wins and Hyrule falls to hell, covered in Malice and overrun by Bokoblins and Co. Is that what you want? No! (I hope.)

Back on track: what actually happens without conflict in a story? Not. Much. Let’s use The Little Mermaid again. We said the initial conflict is Ariel’s interest in the human world. So what if she wasn’t, and that conflict wasn’t there to begin with? Well, we definitely have no story because she isn’t at the surface because she knows and cares that it’s dangerous. Obviously that won’t work. So let’s say that’s part of her character and the actual conflict is Triton’s destruction of her collection. He doesn’t destroy it. He’s not mad. We have two paths from here: she either keeps collecting and nothing changes, or she goes to the human world without Ursula’s contract and lives happily ever after but nothing really happens. The whole meat of the story is fighting against Ursula’s clock, trying to win over Eric, working around being voiceless, and still having to convince Triton that it’s okay for Ariel to stay above water. You see how the conflict is more interesting?

Now you get it but what if you don’t get it? Because you’re still writing a romance and you still hate the miscommunication trope, or whatever you’re writing that “totally doesn’t need conflict.” Now we come back around to the idea that conflict doesn’t have to be violent or over-the-top or even between two different people. Internal conflict is just as important and just as interesting as kingdom versus kingdom, knight versus dragon, Batman versus the Joker. Take a look below for how you can consider or reconsider conflict in your preferred genre (or something close, given the innumerable subgenres out there). I’ve included major fiction genres in alphabetical order with some of the types of conflict you’re looking at and a few example questions the reader will be asking in those cases.

ACTION & ADVENTURE

• Conflict is usually obvious here, depending on the type of adventure the protagonist is on or the type of action they’re engaging in.
• Protagonist vs Antagonist — Will they beat the Big Bad? Will they beat the antagonist to the prize? 
• Protagonist vs Puzzle — Will they figure it out (especially if there’s a clock)? Will they find the truth or treasure or whatever they’re hunting?

CONTEMPORARY & LITERARY FICTION

• This conflict is less obvious because it’s usually internal!
• Protagonist vs Self — Will they overcome trauma? Will they accept themselves or a new idea? 

CRIME/MYSTERY/THRILLER

• Protagonist vs Antagonist — Who will win? Can the protagonist solve the crime?
• Victim vs Criminal — Can the victim survive? Will they be rescued? Why is the criminal doing this?
• Law vs Anarchy — Will law and order prevail, or will society fall to crime?
• Antagonist vs ??? — Is the criminal justified? What made them like this? What demons (mental or physical) are they fighting?

FANTASY

• Protagonist vs Antagonist — Who will win? Who is more powerful?
• Characters vs World — Is the world (nature, creatures, etc.) dangerous enough to best the protagonist?
• Order vs Chaos — Will good or evil bring balance to the world this time around?

HISTORICAL FICTION

• This is going to depend highly on the history you’re fictionalizing! Pair it with another genre for questions but also consider the social tension of your character based on their gender, religion, race, and status during your chosen period.

HORROR

• Protagonist vs the Horrors — Who will win? Who is more powerful? How dangerous is the monster, ghost, demon, etc.? Can the protagonist make it out alive?
• Protagonist vs Self — Does the protagonist have the will to live? Is the Horror a representation of the protagonist’s inner turmoil? If the protagonist survives, how do they go back to normal after what they experienced? Will anyone believe them about what happened? Did that just happen or is it all in their head?

ROMANCE

• Protagonist vs Self — Are they ready for a relationship? Can they get over their fears, past relationship(s), doubts, etc.?
• Couple vs Selves — Can they make it? Are they right for each other? What can come between them, and is it enough to drive them completely apart?
• Couple vs Society — Can they make it? Will their love be accepted? In certain cases, will they be killed (in danger, arrested, etc.) for their love, and is it worth it?

SCIENCE FICTION

• Protagonist vs Antagonist — Will they beat the Big Bad? Are they powerful enough?
• Characters vs World — Is the world (atmosphere, creatures, etc.) dangerous enough to best the protagonist?
• World vs Science — Has technology gone too far? At what point will advancements betray humanity?