Conflicts

Conflict is a result of the opposition between the hero’s aim and all the obstacles that stop him/her from achieving the goal. As far as a story is concerned, conflict arises every time a hero is faced with an opponent or obstacle. He/she has to overcome or negotiate this encounter in order to keep moving towards his/her aim.

If your hero is looking for an address and doesn’t speak the country’s language, there is potential conflict. The obstacle here is the language barrier.

Moments of conflict are important and powerful parts of your story. The character has to take risks, move forward, act, say something. Everything you have set up so far has been for this moment of conflict to exist. This is the part of your story we really want to get involved in.

Take time to develop and intensify this moment in your screenplay.

Example Selim, a smuggler wanted by the King’s men, enters an inn. He has come to meet a man he has never seen before, who will be wearing a red band. This person is supposed to HELP Selim leave the city discreetly. A man is there, wearing a red band, but is he really the person Selim has planned to meet? Selim can’t waste any time, the militia is after him. So he goes up to the man who turns out to be… the militia leader himself! Selim bounds for the door, but a dozen soldiers pounce on him: it was an ambush! Against all odds Selim valiantly manages to fight off the little army. Enters another man, wearing a red band. He heads straight for Selim and says: “Good thing you told me to be discreet!”

EXERCISE 20 Within the previously defined aims, motivations and stakes, make your hero face an obstacle and carry the confrontation through to its conclusion. If you do this, you are able to write a scene!

HELP Remember the hero must find his/her own solutions to overcome the obstacles barring the way to the aim.

The obstacles are a set of trials that force the hero to reveal himself - to himself, and to others. The audience wants to see what the hero is capable of. The hero, not anyone else.

Don’t make things too easy for your hero. If the problem he/she is faced with is easy to solve or if someone solves it for him/her then there is no problem. The audience always perceives random solutions as a weakness in the account. The story seemed riveting to begin with, but it doesn’t keep its promises. Viewers end up feeling nothing is really happening and are disappointed.

Be careful. A scene with two characters hitting each other isn’t necessarily a conflict. Not if we don’t know why they are fighting. Maybe they’re just fooling around… We need to know what opposes the two characters, know the aim and motivation of at least one of them, and ideally know what is at stake.

It is possible to write scenes without conflict. These are generally calm moments, or a transition. Only keep them if they are a necessary part of your story.