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. For the full entry of this and 200+ additional conflict scenarios, check into our best-selling resources: The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles, Volumes 1 and 2.
Being Sabotaged
Category: Power Struggles, Increased Pressure and Ticking Clocks, Losing an Advantage, Loss of Control
Examples:
Past secrets being made public by a competitor
A work or school project being destroyed or tampered with
A physical attack that sidelines the character…
Minor Complications:
Having to start over
Lost revenue from having to pay for new supplies, repairs, labor, etc.
Expending energy and time on dispelling rumors instead of on important work that needs to be done…
Potentially Disastrous Results:
The character’s reputation being ruined
Family members being harassed or attacked
Losing an important ally, influencer, or business connection…
Possible Internal Struggles (Inner Conflict):
Difficulty trusting others
Becoming cynical and jaded
Being so paralyzed by fear that the character is reluctant to try again…
People Who Could Be Negatively Affected: Family members, co-workers, people benefitting from the character’s company or organization
Resulting Emotions: Anger, anxiety, apprehension, betrayed, bitterness, defeat, defensiveness, despair…
Personality Flaws that May Make the Situation Worse: Cowardly, cynical, gullible, martyr, melodramatic, nervous…
Positive Outcomes:
Increased resiliency
The character being able to identify the untrustworthy people in their life
The character seeing where they were too trusting or naïve, and making changes for the future…
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.
To assist you, we’ve created a two-volume resource with 225 possible conflict events. Each volume contains expert advice on how to use conflict to improve your story along with a plethora of scenarios to challenge your characters.
For more information, read up on these GOLD and SILVER editions. You can also view the books at Goodreads to see what other authors are saying about them.
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.
This could come in handy with my Almira character.
Oh, I’m so glad!
Excellent!! Thanks for sharing!
Any time, Jan!