Conflict Thesaurus Entry: Being Mistaken for Someone Else

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.

Conflict: Being Mistaken for Someone Else

Category: Increased pressure and ticking clocks, loss of control, miscellaneous challenges

Examples:
Being mistaken for a celebrity or public figure
Being mistaken for someone whom one physically resembles
Having similar features as police suspect or a person of interest…

Minor Complications:
Accusations of sharing sensitive information within a company when someone else was the one doing it
Being accused of infidelity when their doppelganger is spotted on a date with someone else
Being falsely accused of a crime…

Potentially Disastrous Results:
Getting jumped and beaten up as “repayment” for something a doppelganger did
Being served or stalked by credit agencies because another person has stolen one’s identity and wracked up debt
Being arrested (and possibly being unable to prove innocence)…

Possible Internal Struggles (Inner Conflict):
The temptation to “pretend” to be the other person (when it leads to a positive experience) but knowing it would be wrong to do so
Going along with the mistaken identity and then regretting it when things get complicated
Understanding the situation is complicated yet still feeling betrayed by loved ones who show doubts…

People Who Could Be Negatively Affected: Family and friends close to the character, the character themselves, victims of a crime who will not get justice if the wrong person is convicted

Resulting Emotions: amazement, anger, anguish, anxiety, betrayed, bitterness, conflicted, defensiveness…

Personality Flaws that May Make the Situation Worse: abrasive, confrontational, controlling, evasive, gullible, impulsive…

Positive Outcomes: 
Regaining a newfound appreciation for one’s “ordinary” life
Becoming an advocate for injustice and the falsely accused, helping others
Building close bonds with those who stayed true throughout the mistaken identity ordeal…

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.

New to One Stop for Writers? Swing by and check out our video walkthrough, because it’s time to change the writing game.

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.