This is the second post in our short series on conflict. In the first one, I looked at why young writers struggle with conflict and how conflict adds excitement to stories. In this one, I’m going to discuss the connection between conflict, characters, theme, and plot in more detail.
Conflict
Deciding on an appropriate conflict for narratives starts with the character and their goals. We want excitement and rising action, but the story is about a character and that excitement and rising action must involve them.
Conflict depends on what the character wants and what the situation is. By definition, a conflict is something which creates a problem for the character as they pursue their goal or something which interrupts the character’s life.
One way to look at it is to imagine the main character walking down a street. That street is their life. If all they do is walk down that street for no reason, then there’s no point to the story. The main questions are: Where are they going? And why? That’s how you define the main character’s goals.
After goals have been defined, the next step is to decide what would be an appropriate interruption to that within the context of the story. A good way to decide on that interruption is to think about how you want the conflict to affect the character.
Conflict in a narrative is there to stir emotion, cause characters to take action, and give reasons for the events in the story.
Theme
Nothing should be random or happen just because it’s fun. At least not in a narrative. We’ve discussed cause and effect before, so I won’t repeat that. Just know that there must always be a reason for actions and consequences too.
This is how theme makes a difference. Theme refers to the subject of the story. And when I say “subject” I mean the area of life being discussed, the moral or message that will help the character and reader become better people.
Is the story about friendship, love, courage, perseverance, good versus evil, honesty, the benefits of hard work, or another concept? Theme is what connects characters, conflict, and the plot.
You see, conflict in a story teaches the main characters lessons, and helps them learn more about life.
Climax
All the actions they take that create the rising action lead them to that lesson. The climax is how the lesson is reinforced, and that lesson is expressed in the resolution of the story. Characters are different because of the experiences they had.
So, for young writers who are struggling with conflict and need a different way of understanding how it works in a story, you can take the approach of working with theme as a basis for conflict.
1. What can characters learn?
2. How can they learn that lesson in this situation?
3. What challenges or obstacles will help them learn this?
4. What must they do to overcome that problem to learn this lesson?
5. How will learning this lesson change them?
This might seem like a lot to think about, but questions like these will guide young writers in making decisions that will improve the quality of their writing over time.
After practicing with these ideas, narratives will make a little more sense.
