This document discusses the essential elements of conflict in storytelling, including the protagonist, antagonist, and their goals. It defines conflict as a serious disagreement that arises when the protagonist and antagonist pursue goals that are incompatible or clash. It emphasizes that the protagonist and antagonist must both have concrete, specific goals, and that the story revolves around the central question of whether the protagonist can defeat the antagonist to achieve their goal. It provides exercises to identify the goals and conflicts between the protagonist and antagonist. It also introduces the "Conflict Box" as a tool to diagram the relationship between the protagonist and antagonist's goals and how they inevitably conflict with one another.

1. CONFLICT:
The Fuel of Your Story

3. What Is Conflict?
•A serious disagreement or argument.
•A prolonged armed struggle.
•An incompatibility between two opinions,
principles or interests.
•(v) Be incompatible or at variance, clash.
•Try to have conflict at two levels in each scene.

4. Basic Story Dynamic
• The Protagonist (the character who owns the story)
• struggles with . . .
• The Antagonist (the character who if removed will
cause the conflict and story to collapse)
• because both must achieve their concrete,
specific . . .
• Goals (the external thing they are each trying
desperately to get, not necessarily the same thing)
• Do not confuse goal with motivation!

5. The Protagonist
• Must be someone the reader wants to identify and spend
time with: smart, funny, kind, skilled, interesting, different.
• Must seem real; flawed, layered, blind spot.
• Must have a unique voice.
• Must be in trouble, undeserved if possible, but usually not
random (unless you’re very good-- aka Lee Child).
• Must be introduced as soon as possible, first is preferred.
• Must have strong, believable motivation for pursuing her
external and specific goal.

6. The Protagonist
•We often empathize with a reluctant protagonist.
•We must see the spark of redemption in a
negative protagonist very quickly.
•The protagonist’s blind spot can be their fatal
flaw, but at the very least brings about the
moment of crisis.
•Usually, the protagonist, as she is at the
beginning of the book, would fail if thrust into the
climactic scene.

7. CONFLICT:
EXERCISE ONE
•What does your protagonist want most? (Must
be a concrete, external thing)

8. The Protagonist
•Drives the story.
•You have one for one main story line.
•Does not have to be the hero/heroine or even
good.
•If she fails, what is the result? (Stakes)
•Is the person on stage in the climactic scene,
defeating the . . .

9. The Antagonist
•Must be someone the reader respects (fears):
smart, funny, kind, skilled, interesting, different.
•Must seem real; flawed, layered, blind spot.
•Must have a unique voice.
•Must be in trouble.
•Must be introduced as soon as possible, even if by
proxy.
•Must have strong, believable motivation for
pursuing her external and specific goal.

10. CONFLICT:
EXERCISE TWO
•What does your antagonist want most?
(Must be a concrete, external thing)

11. The Antagonist
• You have one.
• Drives the plot initially.
• You must do the antagonist’s plan and it should
be very good.
• If removed, the plot collapses.
• Should be a single person so the conflict is
personal.
• Is the person on stage in the climactic scene,
fighting the protagonist because . . .

12. Their Goals Conflict
•The reader must believe both will lose
everything if they don’t defeat the other.
•Their goals are difficult to achieve because of
external barriers, primarily each other.
•Their goals are layered, usually in three ways
. . .

13. Goal Layers
•External: The concrete object or event the
character needs.
•Internal: The identity/value the character is
trying to achieve via pursuing the external goal.
•Relationship/communal: The connections the
character wants to gain or destroy while in
pursuit of the external goal.
•People want to achieve their goals because of .
. .

14. Motivation
•The reason your character needs his or her
goal.
•Everyone has an agenda.
•Every character has a primary motivator;
Victor Frankl’s ‘One Thing’ (logotherapy).
•Some motivations stem from key events in a
character’s life.

15. CONFLICT:
EXERCISE THREE
•What is stopping your protagonist from
getting what he/she wants most?
•What is stopping your antagonist from
getting what he/she wants most?

16. The Central Story Question
•Will the protagonist defeat the antagonist
and achieve her goal?
•When the reader asks that question, the
story begins.
•When the reader gets the answer, the story
is over. This question leads us to the . . .

17. The Conflict Box
•A way of diagraming your protagonist,
antagonist, goals, and conflict.
•You can have conflict because:
•Protagonist and antagonist want the same
thing.
•Protagonist and antagonist want different
things, but achieving one goal causes
conflict with the other’s goal.

18. Conflict Box
Protagonist
Conflict
Protagonist
Goal
Antagonist
Goal
Antagonist
Conflict

19. The Conflict Box-Same Goals
from Agnes and the Hitman

20. Conflict Box: Same Goals
•Agnes wants
to keep her
house, which
she bought
from Brenda.
•Brenda wants
to steal back
the house she
just sold to
Agnes
Keep
HOUSE
Get
HOUSE
Protagonist
Conflict
Antagonist
Conflict

21. Conflict Box: Conflict
Someone is
trying to steal
the house from
her!
Someone won’t
let her steal the
house back!
Keep
HOUSE
Get
HOUSE

22. Conflict Box: Inescapable!
Someone is
trying to steal
the house from
her!
Someone won’t
let her steal the
house back!
• To see if your
conflict is
inescapable:
Draw a line from
Agnes’ goal to
Brenda’s Conflict.
If Agnes is
causing Brenda’s
conflict, you’re
halfway there.
• Then draw a line
from Brenda’s
goal to Agnes’
conflict. If Brenda
is causing Agnes’
conflict, you have
a conflict lock.
Keep
HOUSE
Get
HOUSE

23. The Conflict Box-Different
Goals from Lost Girls

24. Conflict Box: Different Goals
KILL whoever is
killing young
girls
KILL the
daughters of the
men who
betrayed him
Protagonist
Conflict
Antagonist
Conflict
•Gant wants to
find out who is
kidnapping and
killing young
girls.
•The Sniper wants
revenge for being
betrayed.

25. Conflict Box: Conflict
KILL whoever is
killing young
girls
KILL the
daughters of the
men who
betrayed him
Another Girl is
killed,
kidnapped.
Someone is
closing in on
him, trying to
stop him.
•Gant wants to
find out who is
kidnapping and
killing young
girls.
•The Sniper wants
revenge for being
betrayed.

26. Conflict Box: Conflict
KILL whoever is
killing young
girls
KILL the
daughters of the
men who
betrayed him
Another Girl is
killed,
kidnapped.
Someone is
closing in on
him, trying to
stop him.
•Gant wants to
find out who is
kidnapping and
killing young
girls.
•The Sniper wants
revenge for being
betrayed.

27. Original Idea
Conflict the Fuel of Your Story and the Conflict Box
Plot I: Research and Narrative Questions
Plot II: Outlining
Plot III: Narrative Structure
Character
Point of View
Write It Forward: From Writer to Bestselling Author
Writers Conference Guide (Free eBook)
Three P’s: Platform, Product, Promotion
Writers’ Block and Rewriting
How to Write the Query/Synopsis
Planning for NaNoWriMo Success
Bob Mayer’s Workshops, Seminars & Presentations
Your Creative Process: How You Write
The Present and Future of Publishing for Writers
Writers Workshop and Retreat
ON WRITING SLIDESHARES

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