Conflict is very often the magic sauce for generating tension and turning a ho-hum story into one that rivets readers. As such, every scene should contain a struggle of some kind. Maybe it’s an internal tug-of-war having to do with difficult decisions, morals, or temptations. Or it possibly could come from an external source—other characters, unfortunate circumstances, or the force of nature itself.
It’s our hope that this thesaurus will help you come up with meaningful and fitting conflict options for your stories. Think about what your character wants and how best to block them, then choose a source of conflict that will ramp up the tension in each scene.
Below is a sample version of this entry that shows how conflict can deepen your story, make a character’s goals more difficult to achieve, and force them to change or make hard choices to overcome what stands in their way.
To see the full entry, visit One Stop for Writers’ Conflict Thesaurus (Free Trial available) or buy the book.
Category: Increased Pressure and Ticking Clocks, Failures and Mistakes, Loss of Control
Examples:
Oversleeping (due to an alarm not going off, a hangover, etc.)
A diaper explosion as the character is getting ready to leave
The dog escaping and having to be chased down…
Minor Complications:
Friction with others who are inconvenienced
One’s credibility being damaged
Forgetting something important because one is in a hurry…
Potentially Disastrous Results:
Being late to an interview and not getting the job
Missing a flight to an important event
Ruining a last chance at romance…
Possible Internal Struggles (Inner Conflict):
Berating oneself unnecessarily
Struggling with panic or anxiety
Denying one’s responsibility and blaming others…
People Who Could Be Negatively Affected: Anyone waiting on the character: co-workers, the boss, clients, a spouse or partner, children, other relatives, a babysitter or nanny, friends
Resulting Emotions: Agitation, anger, annoyance, conflicted, defeat, defensiveness, desperation, determination…
Personality Flaws that May Make the Situation Worse: Abrasive, controlling, defensive, disorganized, flaky, foolish…
Positive Outcomes:
A chance encounter that wouldn’t have happened had the character been on time
Learning one’s lesson and planning better in the future
Taking responsibility for one’s mistake and being forgiven…
If you’re interested in other conflict options, you can find them here.
Use Conflict To Transform Your Story
Readers have a lot of choices when it comes to selecting books, so make it easy for them to choose yours. Conflict will help you deliver a fresh story premise every time, drawing readers in through meaningful challenges that reveal a character’s innermost needs, fears, weaknesses, and strengths.
The Conflict Thesaurus is part of the largest, fiction-specific Description Database available. Access it here.
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The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles
This thesaurus is also in book form, a two-volume set. Each volume contains expert advice on how to use conflict to improve your story, and a plethora of conflict scenarios to provide ideas on how to best challenge your characters.
Each volume is a unique gateway into conflict, but looks at this important element from different angles. Together, they profile 225 conflict scenarios.
Find out more about the GOLD and SILVER editions.
“Many of the conflicts listed were ones I had never even thought of including in a story…” ~ Annie Lima
“Angela and Becca have done it again—and left no conflict stone unturned…” ~Jarm Boccio
“Ackerman-Puglisi’s thesaurus is so much more than just a “thesaurus”. It’s a tutor, a guide, and a writing mentor all crammed into one…” ~ Sacha Black
This book is amazing; another priceless resource…” ~ Brandi MacCurdy
Visit Goodreads to read more reviews about the GOLD and SILVER editions.
Becca Puglisi is an international speaker, writing coach, and bestselling author of The Emotion Thesaurus and its sequels. Her books are available in five languages, are sourced by US universities, and are used by novelists, screenwriters, editors, and psychologists around the world. She is passionate about learning and sharing her knowledge with others through her Writers Helping Writers blog and via One Stop For Writers—a powerhouse online library created to help writers elevate their storytelling.
Thanks. What you’re saying makes a lot of sense. I will keep this in mind as I put my characters in tense situations.
Hi Becca, thanks so much for your list. I agree with you about the importance of conflict but I wonder if there can be too much conflict. Can a reader get weary of unrelieved high tension, as in a scary movie when from time to time something comical brings some short-lived tension release?
I’ll answer for Becca as she’s just getting her house all set up after a move – absolutely there can be too much conflict. Two things will happen if we see conflict piled upon conflict: first, the writing will become episodic (this happens to the character, then this, then this, then this) to the point where it ceases to be believable. The second thing that happens is that it will exhaust the reader and they will shut the book because it’s all too much.
Conflict is an ebb and flow. We want to challenge our characters, but constant challenge is like a car chase that never ends – after a while, we skip ahead to get to something else. So it requires a lot of understanding of what makes good pacing and judgement as to why the conflict is there. Is it pushing the story forward? Helping to reveal new layers of the character? Forcing them to stretch themselves and adapt and change? Or, is it just there for flash? If the latter, it just doesn’t belong.