• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • About WHW
    • Press Kit
    • Resident Writing Coaches
    • Contact Us
    • Podcasts & Interviews
    • Master Storytelling Newsletter
    • Guest Post Guidelines
    • Privacy Policy
    • Charities & Support
  • Bookstore
    • Bookstore
    • Foreign Editions
    • Book Reviews
    • Free Thesaurus Sampler
  • Blog
  • Software
  • Workshops
  • Resources
    • List of Resources
    • Recommended Writing Books
    • WHW Descriptive Thesaurus Collection
    • Free Tools & Worksheets
    • Grab A Free Show-Dont-Tell Pro Pack
  • WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®
  • Nav Social Menu

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS®

Helping writers become bestselling authors

How to Uncover Your Character’s Inner Conflict

November 10, 2022 by ANGELA ACKERMAN

Conflict is a powerful element within the story and can be loosely categorized as either Outer (external) Conflict or Inner (internal) Conflict. The difference is that outer conflict is something external keeping the character from his goal, while inner conflict is a mental struggle over wanting things that are at odds or compete.

Internal conflicts might be:

  • Opposing or competing wants, needs, or desires
  • Confusion about how to feel
  • Questioning beliefs or values
  • Suffering from indecision, insecurity, self-doubt, or another emotion that puts the character at odds with themselves
  • Conflicting duties and responsibilities
  • Grappling with an aspect of mental health

Internal Conflict Is Relatable

Internal conflict draws readers in because it’s a type of struggle common to us all. Confusion over what to do, feel, and believe, can make us feel exposed. To find a path forward, we must weigh and measure personal beliefs, ideas, and needs. Characters, like us, must do the same, and as they look within themselves for answers, they reveal their vulnerability and humanity to readers.

Scene-to-scene, you’ll usually see inner conflict. At times it’s a heavy weight, other times, indecision over what to do, or deciding what’s better, option A or option B.

Where inner conflict really takes center stage is at the story level. Character vs. Themselves conflict will create a war zone inside your character throughout the story, and they must resolve it successfully to achieve their goal.

5 Ways to Find—and Use—Inner Conflict

This primary inner conflict might be something you need a bit of help to brainstorm, so poke around the psychological side of them to see what shakes loose.

#1: Their Greatest Fear

Fears are highly motivating. The inconvenient, everyday ones? Sure, because no one makes split-second decisions better than an arachnophobe who’s just stumbled into a spiderweb. (This is the voice of experience talking.)

But in storytelling, it’s the larger fears that drive both character and story. Fear of failure, being alone, losing a loved one … these can push the character to embrace unhealthy habits or paralyze her into maintaining the status quo and resisting needed change.

Imagine, for instance, a character who is afraid of letting others down. This fear will insert itself into every situation where she’s accountable to others, steering her toward doing what others want rather than what she wants, or causing her to step back instead of stepping up. She may worry that if she takes on something big, she’ll screw it up, so she discards goals that could result in personal fulfillment, such as having children or leading a beloved charity group or event. This fear of disappointing others can influence her choice of career or who she marries. It can lead to her sacrificing her own joy for the happiness of others. Then, before you know it, an important human need has been compromised, leading to more problems.

#2: Their Core Moral Beliefs

Nothing causes psychological turmoil quite like a challenge to one’s core beliefs, and no beliefs are more central than the moral ones, because they define who we are.

This is the situation Paul Edgecombe encounters in The Green Mile. As a death-row prison guard, experience has taught him that the men in his charge are guilty and deserve their punishment. But then he encounters an inmate who doesn’t fit the mold. Could John Coffey, a man found guilty in a court of law, actually be innocent? If so, how can Paul execute him?

Think about what your character believes on the deepest level—his thoughts about right and wrong, good and evil. Then introduce an event that challenges those ideas. If his inner turmoil surrounding this issue or theme is what the story is really about, if it’s something he could struggle with for the story’s entirety, it may be a good choice for his story-level internal conflict.

#3: Their Existential Ideas

Another trait particular to human beings is our curiosity, particularly about big ideas: Who am I? What’s my purpose? Is there life beyond Earth? After death? These questions often aren’t answerable, but your characters grapple with them anyway because the answers will impact and define who they are.

If your character already knows what they believe about bigger life questions, that information will become part of their core belief system. Challenging them will throw the character into an emotional and existential tailspin. If they don’t have answers, the struggle to find them can lead to all kinds of internal strife.

#4: Their Wants and Needs

Wants are exactly what they imply: something the character desires but doesn’t necessarily need. By themselves they don’t generate much conflict, but when you set them in opposition to the character’s missing need or a core belief, internal strife explodes onto the scene.

Dan Burns, the protagonist in Dan in Real Life, lost his wife many years prior and is now raising three girls on his own. He hasn’t been truly happy in all that time—but then he meets Marie. Finally! His need for love and belonging is going to be filled—except … his brother is already dating her.

Now his need (happiness and love) and his want (to be with Marie) are at odds, because for him to be with Marie, he would have to betray his brother. And how could he be happy doing that?

#5: Their Secrets

Characters jump through all kinds of emotional and logistical hoops to keep important secrets from coming to light. They may withdraw from people, organizations, and cherished hobbies to avoid questions that hit too close to home. You can imagine the inner turmoil that develops when a character must give up an area of giftedness or a close friend in order to keep certain information from getting out.

Many characters will drastically change their behavior to keep their secrets safe. Melinda Sordino in Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak is so determined to keep a certain event from being revealed that she stops talking altogether. After all, if you can’t talk, you can’t tell. If your character’s secret is one that must be protected at all costs, it can provide compelling fodder for internal conflict.

TIP: Uncover their Backstory Wound

Above are some of the factors that can contribute to a character’s inner struggles, but a lot of times the root of inner conflict can stem from a wounding event in the character’s past, so it’s a good idea to know exactly what that is and the various ways it will impact your character.


One Stop For Writers can help you dig deeper

Uncover your character’s conflicts, emotional wounds, secrets, personality traits, motivations and more using this powerful thesaurus database and character builder tool.

ANGELA ACKERMAN
ANGELA ACKERMAN

Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • More
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Related

Filed Under: Character Wound, Conflict, Fear, Writing Craft

Reader Interactions

Trackbacks

  1. How to Uncover Your Character’s Inner Conflict – May Conway says:
    November 10, 2022 at 11:49 am

    […] https://writershelpingwriters.net/?p=48954 […]

Primary Sidebar


Welcome!

Writing is hard. Angela & Becca make it easier. Get ready to level up your fiction with game-changing tools, resources, and advice.

Follow Us

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

Subscribe to the Blog

Check your inbox to confirm! If gremlins tried to eat it, you might have to check your spam folder.

Read by Category

Grab Our Button

Writers Helping Writers

Software that Will Change the Writing Game

One Stop for Writers

WRITERS HELPING WRITERS® · Copyright © 2023 · WEBSITE DESIGN BY LAUGH EAT LEARN

Cookies are delicious and ours help make your experience here better. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with our cookie use. Cookie settingsGOT IT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. More on our Privacy Policy here.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
 

Loading Comments...