From Edie: Sarah Sally Hamer explains how to create conflict in fiction without a villain by using obstacles, character goals, and emotions to build compelling stories.
How to Create Conflict in Fiction Without a Villain
by Sarah Sally Hamer @SarahSallyHamer
Conflict Doesn't Need a Villain
“I don’t want a villain in my story to be mean to my heroine, so how can I create more conflict?” When my client asked me that last week, I had to pause for a minute. She’s a new writer with lots of potential so I had to think for a minute. Why did she immediately think that a villain is the only way to create conflict? Or is it?
I’ve had this type of question before in my decades of developmental editing. Writers often fall in love with their characters. I certainly do! So it’s not uncommon that we don’t want them to suffer. But it’s not quite that simple.
And that's usually when the search begins. We absolutely need an antagonist for our character to have conflict with, right? But it does NOT have to be a villain.
So let’s define.
A character has a goal and a reason to want it. In most stories, the goal is deeply personal and intimate and probably is life-changing. It certainly needs to be strong enough for the character to step out of their comfort zone to achieve it. And they have to really, really want whatever it is that they want. It can’t be just a “I wish I had it” type of desire.
Let’s use an award-winning movie, The King’s Speech, based on a real person, King George VI of the UK. George, who was called Bertie by his family, had a debilitating stammer and a lack of self-worth. Through unfortunate circumstances (if you don’t know what those are, you can watch the movie. It is excellent! And mostly true.), Bertie becomes king. He desperately wants to be a good king but World War II is coming and he doesn’t think he can handle the job. So, his goal, a big one, is to deal with the stammer. Of course, that isn’t necessarily the only thing he wants but it is what the movie is wrapped around.
Goal: to deal with stammer. Motivation: the stammer causes him to be unable to be the king his country needs as it goes into another world war. Conflict: things keep getting in the way. For instance, the stammer is directly related to his lack of self-worth and he has to find the strength both to deal with the stammer and the childhood trauma that created it.
Wait a minute. Where’s the villain? Where’s the man in a cape twirling his mustache with an evil laugh? Cartoon city, right? We don’t see that type of villain much anymore. Instead, we’re looking for someone who carries the responsibility for creating trouble in the story. Maybe they’re a murderer or a thief, someone who uses his or her intelligence and creativity to harm.
But not every story needs that kind of character. I can certainly find hundreds of thousands of them, but let’s try two. Gladiator tells the story of Maximus, who is trying to save his world. The bad guy is the Emperor Commodus. He’s truly evil and exactly the mustache-twirling type. Another good one is Scar, the evil uncle in Lion King. He actively wants power and manipulates others to get what he wants. Yes, they are villains.
But they are only part of the conflict picture. A conflict is a book doesn’t have to be a person, whether a villain or not. Let’s redefine it.
Conflict equals obstacles. Period.
Yet when we begin talking about stories, many writers suddenly become uncomfortable with that idea. They start looking for a person to attach to the problem. It's almost as though the obstacle doesn't feel real until somebody can wear it around their neck.
The more stories I read, the more convinced I become that this habit can actually weaken our storytelling. Instead, consider the possibilities sitting right in front of you.
Conflicts can always be a person, place, or thing. A sister who wants to help with a sibling’s college tuition but would have to sell her car to make it happen. Maybe a woman wants to become a doctor, but she is raising three children.
We also can have conflicts by emotions. It could be a bad temper, for example. Mine certainly gives me trouble sometimes. (I have a really bad one.) Loyalty or pride or any number of things can prevent us from achieving our goals. And, there’s not a villain in sight.
Ultimately, a villain is simply one kind of obstacle, not the only one. And, what makes these situations interesting isn't the presence of a villain. It's the presence of an obstacle. The obstacle forces choices. It creates uncertainty. It generates consequences. And it asks a character to give something up in order to gain something else.
That's where conflict lives.
If you’d like more information on this subject in a free video, click below:
What conflict type do you like to use?
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A teacher of memoir, beginning and advanced creative fiction writing, and screenwriting at Louisiana State University in Shreveport for over twenty years, she also teaches online at both MARGIELAWSON.COM and NOSTRESSWRITING.COM and blogs for WRITERSINTHESTORMBLOG.COM/ as well as her monthly blog for The Write Conversation. Sally is a free-lance editor and book coach at Mind Potential, with many of her students and clients becoming successful, award-winning authors. You can find her at sally@mindpotential.org
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