Conflict is a major part of storytelling and one of those areas young writers often find challenging. Without effective development of conflict, there is no rising action. The story might seem interesting but the struggles and obstacles to overcome make it seem more realistic and exciting. Many young writers don’t quite understand conflict, so here’s a list of the six types of conflict they need to know. Any one of these can be applied to a story.
For example, let’s consider a prompt such as: You were walking home from school one afternoon and something jumped out at you from behind some bushes. Write a story about what happened next.
Person vs selfmight look like – a stray dog or cat that you want to take home but can’t because your sister is allergic and no pets are allowed at home. You are torn between the love of the animal and the love of your sister. Knowing that you can’t care for the animal properly, what do you do?
Person vs Person might look like – a bully who pounces on you and torments you. This is something you have to deal with every day and the bully becomes like a villain in your hero story. How do you deal with this bully?
Person vs Societymight look like –another child jumps out of the bushes, and this child was trying to hide from other members of your class. It’s the new kid, and in your school, there is a tradition of making fun of the new kids. You don’t like this and decide you’re not going to support it. This brings you up against the majority of the class. How will you face the class and help the new kid?
Person vs Naturemight look like – an animal jumping out of the bushes at you, like a mean dog or another animal that could hurt you. The story would be about you escaping or fighting the animal. How would you triumph in this situation?
Person vs Technologymight look like – a robot of some kind coming out of the bushes, or something to do with technology that threatens you. This leads you to dealing with killer or alien technology that poses a danger to you and your community. How do you face this strange menace?
Person vs Supernaturalmight look like – a stranger jumping out of the bushes and scaring you, and as they leave something falls from them. It’s a strange object, and as you touch it, something crazy happens, taking you perhaps to another world or unleashing paranormal events. How do you deal with the unknown? While there are some prompts that suggest what type of conflict young writers need to address in their story, any story can be written to shift the conflict to what that young writer is interested in. This is where creativity can shine through.
Does your young writer know what type of story they’re writing?
Sometimes, when the question is asked, a young writer might respond with, “I’m writing a fantasy” or “I’m writing a realistic fiction”. It’s great that they understand those concepts, but recognizing the difference between genre and type is the next step in really understanding stories. Genre refers to the category of story. That covers the general content and style of writing. For example, fantasy stories have certain elements that mystery stories don’t have. In fantasy stories, you will expect to read about fairies or magic and potions. In a mystery, readers expect lots of questions to be answered, clues to find, or pieces of a puzzle to put together in order to find out what’s really going on. This information is all about what details are in the story. When writers talk about type of story, however, they’re referring to the action or plot of the story and the process that characters go through from the beginning to the end of the story.
Overcoming the Monster: when characters have to fight a creature that comes between them and accomplishing their goals.
The focus of the story is on where the creature comes from and how it is defeated. In these types of stories, conflict development is about the battle becoming more and more intense until the main character seems to be losing. Then something miraculous happens to turn things around and the character wins in the end.
Think of stories like Jack and Beanstalk or Jurassic Park where are literal monsters roaming around. Or, perhaps the monster is less distinguishable as in Avatar when the “monster” was the invading humans.
Stories like these fascinate us because it shows heroism and triumphs over obstacles.
What modern monster movies can you think of?
The Quest: follows characters as they search for someone or something that is vital to overcoming their obstacles and accomplishing their goals.
In this type of story, characters set out to accomplish something but soon realize that there’s a missing piece. In order to get this missing piece, they must go on a journey that often involves some danger. When they recover the item or meet with the person, they get critical information that they can now use to vanquish their foe or solve their problem.
Think of stories like Shrek going off to find the princess so he can get his swamp back, or Indiana Jones in search of treasure and lost artifacts.
Quest stories are filled with adventure and fulfill our sense of curiosity.
Can you name other popular stories that fit this description?
Rags to Riches: refers to a story in which the main character starts off poor and through a series of events becomes rich.
The story can be about how the person becomes rich, or what happens after they become rich. It can even be about a situation where a rich character becomes poor and tries to become rich again.
Think of the iconic Cinderella or Aladdin. Both these stories show main characters who come into a life of riches after enduring poverty and hardship.
Readers love these types of stories because it instills hope and gives them something to look forward to.
Name a few other Rags to Riches stories in the comments.
Voyage and Return: is about characters leaving their home, having experiences, and returning wise and more capable of accomplishing their goals.
In these types of stories, there’s usually a major event that causes the character to leave, often in disgrace or under emotional circumstances. While away, they learn what is needed so they can return home with skills and knowledge that will help them overcome the obstacle, solve their problems, and attain their desires.
This of stories like The Lion King and Moana. In both these stories, circumstances lead to frustration that forces the main characters to leave their home and when they returned, they had the answers they needed to overcome their problems.
People love these kinds of stories because they show how life has a way of working things out. Characters grow and develop and readers identify with their struggles.
What other Voyage and Return stories can you identify? Share them in the comments.
Rebirth: stories which focus on character development as the main character learns and grows and becomes a better person.
In many cases, the main character starts off with a flaw. Perhaps they are mean or have a bad habit that hurts them and those around them. The story follows the character as they encounter situation after situation which leads them to changing their negative ways. The character learns valuable life lessons and in the end expresses gratitude for those lessons.
Think of stories like A Christmas Carol and Beauty and the Beast. In these stories, there’s a main character who is demanding and unkind, but their situation changes after the experiences of the story.
In A Christmas Carol, Ebenezer Scrooge changes from a vile man into a kindhearted person. In Beauty and the Beast, the Beast is transformed emotionally into a nice person and physically from a beast back into a human being. Both are redeemed.
These stories are fun and interesting because readers like to see changes in characters, especially on such an epic scale as they are completely transformed from one thing to another.
Can you think of other Rebirth stories? We’d love to hear your list. Write them in the comments below.
For SEA narrative responses, young writers are required to write fiction. Fiction is a broad style of writing that includes all types of stories that come from the writer’s imagination. They are made-up stories. There are quite a few subcategories of this genre. In fact, some writers can list up to fourteen! For SEA, however, and what young writers are required to do, there are six that are more applicable than the others.
Science-Fiction is all about discovery and exploration. Characters go into space, time travel to the future or the past, encounter aliens and strange creatures, and maybe even advanced technology.
Think about stories with spaceships and fancy machines that have not been invented yet. Star Trek is one of the most popular science fiction stories.
Can you think of other examples?
Adventure-Action stories are about excitement. Characters have to do dangerous things in order to get what they want and accomplish their goals.
The obstacles they face are not everyday or average, and their actions can lead to serious consequences if things don’t work out right.
Stories like Treasure Island and The Three Musketeers are two great examples.
Can you think of others?
Have you ever heard of “who done it” stories? Those are stories where the main character is a detective trying to find out the person who committed a crime. Crime dramas fall in the category of ‘mystery’.
Mystery stories always involve clues and puzzles that characters have to solve in order to accomplish their goal. There’s often some detective work involved.
Sometimes characters try to find the person who committed a crime, or they try to find the answers to a riddle or strange occurrence.
Scooby Doo, Nancy Drew, and Hardy Boys are great examples.
What modern examples can you think of?
Folktales and Fairytales are stories that are passed down through generations and include some elements of fantasy, as they are often about strange creatures and events.
These stories sometimes claim to be true and people may claim to be eyewitnesses. However, there’s never any solid proof to support these claims.
Trinidad and Tobago, like most cultures, has a vibrant folklore tradition about strange creatures and things that go bump in the night. Most often, these stories were told to scare little children into being obedient.
Some of our well known characters are Papa Bois, Douen, La Diabless, Soucouyant, and Lagahoo.
Can you name any others?
Fantasy stories feature magic and talking objects or animals. They also often involve strange things happening that might seem like they would never happen in real life.
This is a broad category that often works together with other categories.
Harry Potter is one very famous fantasy that involves creatures, wizards, witches, and a wide variety of magic.
What other fantasy stories can you name?
Realistic Fiction are about characters and settings that are made-up, but they seem true to life and the events of the story feel like they could actually happen.
These types of stories are often about characters operating in their everyday life reacting to their experiences and life around them.
They may have to deal with things like navigating school, moving to a different town, making and losing friends, and even the death of a loved one.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid is popular book series that falls into this category.
See if you can name a few other examples. Share in the comments
When many writers sit to put their thoughts on paper, they write whatever story comes to mind. Young writers, especially, don’t often think about the type of story they’re writing. But not all stories are the same, and understanding the different types, genre, and types of conflict will help young writers focus, generate ideas and plan better. Over the next few posts, we will be defining and discussing selected types of stories, genre, and conflict. Then we will discuss how knowing these will help young writers improve their writing.
Today, we are starting with definitions. It’s always a good place to start.
What are the types of stories?
When we say “types” of stories, we’re referring to the variety of plots that stories can have. This is different from genre and conflict as it relates to what the action of the story is about and not style or obstacle characters face. There are several types of stories, but the ones young writers should be familiar with are: Overcoming the Monster, Rags to Riches, The Quest, Voyage and Return, and Rebirth.
What is genre?
It’s easy to get technical with descriptions and definitions of genre, but we’ll keep it simple. Genre in literature refers to the category or style of writing. There are four basic genres, each with its own subcategory. The four genres are: drama, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Genre is complex and young writers don’t need to know a whole lot about it, but basic information will help them organize their thoughts.
What are the types of conflict?
Conflict refers specifically to whatever is blocking the main character from achieving his or her goal. Regardless of the type of story or the subgenre (fantasy, science fiction, etc.), characters must have challenges and obstacles to overcome in the pursuit of their desires. That’s what makes stories exciting. There are a few different types of conflict, but these six are the ones young writers should be familiar with: character vs self, character vs character, character vs society, character vs nature, character vs supernatural, and character vs technology.
Is there a difference between planning and plotting a story? Writers are told to plan all the time. Young writers, especially, are taught how to plan reports and narratives. They are told planning is important. But why, exactly, is planning important and how is plotting a narrative any different from planning one? 𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥.
Planning
Deciding on what to write, organizing your thoughts, and laying them out in a coherent order. This is necessary because it allows young writers to generate and gather ideas.
EXAMPLE: My story is about a girl who lives with her stepmother and stepsisters who treat her like a maid. She sneaks away to go to a ball and meets the prince. They fall in love. The girl runs away from the ball and leaves a shoe behind. The prince uses the shoe to find the girl. They live happily ever after. Her stepmother and stepsisters are banished from the kingdom.
Plotting
Deciding on what to write, organizing your thoughts, and laying them out in a way that shows how each event and action is connected to the others. Plot shows cause and effect.
EXAMPLE: My story is about a girl whose father died and left her with her stepmother and stepsisters. Because the stepmother is angry about the father’s death, she treats the girl badly. Over time the girl eventually becomes their maid in her own house. One day the rulers of their kingdom throw a ball and the girl is forbidden to go. She cries and pleads for help and her fairy godmother appears to help her get dressed and go to the ball. At the ball, the girl meets and falls in love with the prince, but has to leave quickly because the magic spell stops at midnight. In her rush to get away, the girl leaves a shoe behind. The prince finds the shoe and decides to go looking for her. The stepmother is furious with the girl and tries to hide her from the prince. But the shoe only fits the girl, so the prince eventually finds her. They get married and live happily ever after. The girl, who is now a princess, banishes the stepmother and stepsisters from the kingdom for treating her badly.
The Difference
In addition to being more detailed, the plot shows how the events and actions in the story are connected. Notice how the plot shows why certain actions are taken and shows the consequences too. This Cinderella story is more complex and complicated than the type of story young writers have to produce for SEA. Narrative essays for SEA are much shorter and easier to plot but should still follow the same cause and effect format.
When young writers plot a story instead of just planning it, they are able to see how the conflict works in the story. Rising action is also easier to identify, and writers can effectively plan how to solve the challenges.
To practice plotting with your young writer, first create a plot development list they can follow and use as a worksheet. List each aspect of the plot in the order they should be developed. Then, fill in the information as needed. After several attempts at plotting stories, young writers will become more proficient at creating exciting stories.
For more information on how to plan reports, check out this post.
