Ask Google the definition of story and you'll get the image above. What this definition leaves out is the word conflict. I want you to take a leap of faith with me here: without conflict, you don't have story.
What is conflict? Here's what Google says:
In simple terms, conflict is active opposition. Ask Google to define literary conflict and this is what you get:
That opposition doesn't necessarily have to come from another person. For example, I want potato chips, but I'm too fat to get out of bed. So the conflict would be my struggle with my own fat body to get out of bed. Hey, I'm not writing Shakespeare here -- you get the point.
Notice the phrase, "This type of conflict is what drives each and every story." What Google is saying is that conflict is the gasoline that runs the engine of your story. When the conflict runs out, the story sputters to a stop. Ideally, there needs to be conflict on every page, from the first to the last.
So, what should conflict look like?
Typically, literature and creative writing students are taught that there are 3 kinds of conflict. However, I believe there are actually 5:
- Man vs. Man
- Man vs. Nature / Environment
- Man vs. Self
- Man vs. Society / Institution
- Man vs. God
Man vs. Man is the kind of story we're all familiar with. Most movies contain this form of conflict. This is the good guy versus the bad guy, the superhero against the arch villain, the widowed schoolmarm against the greedy bank that wants to take away her house. If the opposition to the protagonist comes in the form of another character, then this is the form of conflict expressed.
Man vs. Nature / Environment is the story of a protagonist who battles harsh conditions to survive. The explorer lost in a desert, perhaps. Or the missionary stranded in the jungles of Burma. In this type of conflict, the enemy becomes the Earth (or whatever planet / ecosystem the story takes place on). It could be argued that APOLLO 13 is is a man versus nature / environment story, as the astronauts must struggle to survive inside a malfunctioning spaceship suspended in space between earth and the moon. It could be argued to a lesser extent that A NIGHT TO REMEMBER is a man versus nature / environment story, as the passengers and crew of the R.M.S. Titanic struggle first to survive the ship's sinking, then the inhospitable waters of the North Atlantic.
Man vs. Self is the story of a protagonist battling self-destructive or self-sabataging tendencies. The first two movies that come to mind using this mode of conflict are LEAVING LAS VEGAS and THE FAMILY MAN. In both movies, there are "good-guy" antagonist characters who battle with the protagonist in an attempt to change their behavior, but the real conflict isn't between the protagonist and antagonist. The real conflict, then, is between what the protagonist wants and what the protagonist knows to be right -- these are two different things, and the battle becomes one of want vs. right, and the audience is left wondering whether want or right will win. Stories with this kind of conflict can often end tragically, and the audience will be satisfied with the ending because the tragic end reflects what the audience knows was a continual process of making wrong choices.
These three forms of conflict encapsulate pretty much what every writer is taught. The next two are technically subsets of Man vs. Nature / Environment in the loosest sense.
Man vs. Society / Institution are the kind of films that inspire people. It's the exception to the "you can't fight city hall" rule. This is the MR. SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON story where a little guy stands up for what he believes in opposition to a big, mechanical system. More recent examples of this mode of conflict are ERIN BROCKOVICH and TUCKER: THE MAN AND HIS DREAM. The latter, in particular, exemplifies this mode of conflict as it more-or-less tells the true story of Preston Tucker, who formed his own automobile company in the aftermath of World War II and, despite building 50 of the most advanced automobiles of their time, had his company destroyed by legal squabbles and political bureaucracy. Like man versus self, these stories don't have to have a happy ending for the audience to walk away satisfied. In an odd way, stories with this mode of conflict serve as a comforting reminder that it's sometimes okay not to pursue wild dreams, because the effort just isn't worth the inevitable fight. Yes, that's less than inspiring, but stories of this nature can serve to teach us to chose our battles wisely.
Man vs. God stories are the ultimate form of conflict. If you believe in an omnipotent God, then all stories boil down to a man versus God mode of conflict. In story, God is the invisible hand that sparks action and guides opposition. In story (as in life), man can be compelled to act by love of God or hatred of God. Often the motive of God in this mode of conflict is to shape someone or to use a protagonist to achieve a seemingly impossible goal. Movies exemplifying man versus God are quite difficult to execute effectively, but they are quite powerful when they work.
In LUTHER, for example, much of the conflict is between the teachings of the Catholic church and the voice of God telling Martin Luther those teachings are wrong. In SYMPATHY FOR DELICIOUS, the man versus God conflict is manifest in a paralyzed former-DJ named Dean "Delicious" O'Dwyer when Dean seeks healing at a Charismatic church service but instead of being healed, he's given the power to heal other people instead. Dean struggles throughout the movie to bottle his rage toward a God who not only refused to answer his desperate prayer, but gave him the ability to give (or withhold) what he wanted to everyone else seeking healing.
In story, God does not have to appear as a Judeo-Christian entity at all. One could argue that the underlying Buddhist philosophies guiding the protagonist Zhang Wen in Stephen Chow's 2013 adaptation of the 16th century novel, JOURNEY TO THE WEST: CONQUERING THE DEMONS were, in fact, the urgings of an omnipotent God drawing Zhang Wen toward a higher spiritual calling.
Interestingly enough, the man versus God conflict often manifests through stories involving demons and devils. In THE EXORCIST, when Father Karras battles the demonic manifestation of Pazuzu in a teenage girl, the real conflict is between Karras and a God he struggles to love or even believe in. Man versus God conflict is also present in THE CONJURING, when exorcists Ed and Lorraine Warren battle the demonic spirits of a dead witch, the story becomes one of a battle between the devil and God, played out between the human entities that each uses to engage in spiritual battle. When Lorraine succumbs to an attack by the evil entities, it is her belief that God is using her that pushes her to continue the exorcism despite the very real potential of permanent insanity or even death.
Man versus God often plays as a form of sub-conflict within a larger conflict. It bears repeating that in the story sense, God does not have to be portrayed as the Judeo-Christian God. In Star Wars, the man versus God conflict is played out when Luke is pressured to join Darth Vader and receive the power of "The Dark Side", despite being trained as a Jedi to use "The Force". It could also be argued that any struggle between upholding a standard of high moral values at a great cost is a conflict between man and God, if God's commandments are viewed as the ultimate source of morality.
As you're writing, identify which mode of conflict you're relying on as your primary conflict, and also keep in mind that you can explore other modes of conflict as secondary modes of conflict within the overall story.
-The Illiterate Writer
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