Internal Versus External Conflict
How To Master Internal Conflict In Romance Genre Fiction
Essentially, external conflict is what happens to the character and internal conflict is the tension created by character’s desires versus her insecurities, vulnerabilities and fears. Internal conflict is the driving force behind the character arc. How do you know if you have genuine internal conflict? How do you know if it is strong enough? Here are three quick tests to evaluate the internal conflict and ensure it has a strong enough foundation to span the length of a book.
The Magnet Test
The hero and heroine can’t want to be together—not at the beginning of the book. This is because the other person challenges some weakness or vulnerability in the other. Your job as a writer is to then thrust an external conflict upon them that forces them together. Think Dirty Dancing. Baby wanted a man like her father and Johnny hated rich people. But they are thrust together because of their common value of wanting to help Penny. Pushed physically together, and each tries to repel the other. Push, repel. Until eventually, the magnets flip and they are able to see that their differences are not as vast as they had assumed and they are able to build a relationship based on respect and acceptance. This works in other genres too. Think Tango and Cash. Same idea without the romantic feelings.
Deserted Island Test
Strand your main characters on a desert island. Is the conflict between them still there? Is it just as strong, if not stronger because they are now external-distraction free? Or did all their problems vanish without the pressure of the villain, interfering families, job pressures, etc? For true inner conflict, the character’s inner demons, fears and insecurities should not be changed by this isolation. For a pair of people (whether a romantic pair or a platonic buddy pair) their issues with themselves and with each other should not be lessened at all by this isolation on an island away from society at large. Think Six Days, Seven Nights. Did isolation help Harrison Ford and Anne Heche’s characters instantly get along? Not a chance.
The Grown-Up Conversation Test
If your main characters just sat down and talked through the issues between them, could they resolve the problems and live happily ever after? If so, then you do not have actual internal conflict. Pick any hot topic where people’s beliefs and values are involved (such as religion or politics). If you pushed two people together to talk it out, would one change the other’s mind? No. At best it would end in a stalemate. That’s internally-driven conflict. Think The Ref with Dennis Leary and Kevin Spacey. Did the talking out the issues help Spacey’s character and his wife? No, it only made it worse. Action forced them to grow as individuals and then be able to come to an understanding with one another.
Internal Conflict In A Nutshell
If the hero and/or heroine want to be around the other person, you have a problem. If you take out all the plot action and there is nothing keeping them apart, you have a problem. If you force them to sit and talk honestly and there is nothing standing in their way at this point, you have a problem.
Internal conflict is what drives character growth. Start with a weakness, find the one potential mate who will irritate that weakness (in a positive, growth-inspiring way) and force them together. If you do this, it won’t matter if tie them up and point a gun at their heads (the writer of The Ref tried it), they won’t resolve their issues without some serious soul-searching and character growth.
girl silhouettes
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Writing & Publishing
Latest Articles