Some writers are good at external conflict. They love creating a nasty villain, or making a world so dystopian that every moment the hero spends alive and breathing is a gamble against fate. But ask them to describe a character’s emotional journey and they feel lost.
Others are adept at internal conflict. They can wring an entire series out of the simplest question, like “Who will she marry?” or they can make the most boring scene feel alive with yearning and tension. But ask them whether anything bad really happens if their protagonist fails, and they’ll stare back at you with a blank look.
I will admit that I’m more the latter. I spend so much time charting the emotional trajectory of my characters that I sometimes forget to make them move around, interact with the world, and get themselves into trouble. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that writing internal stories is a challenge in the most motivating way. Sure, it’s hard to write a book like that without boring readers - so doesn’t that make it the best kind of achievement?
Ultimately, I write subtle stories because that’s what I love to read. But the last four years of struggling has taught me some hard lessons.
One of these came to me only recently. And just like all the best ah-hah moments of our lives, it didn’t feel restricting but rather freeing.
It’s a concept I’m referring to as Conflict Structure.
A Conflict Structure is a story archetype, a setup, a premise. It’s a combination of the protagonist’s age and abilities, paired with the expectations placed upon them by their environment. Put simply, it’s a situation in life that readers can relate to.
These situations don’t have to be real, nor do they have to be something everyone experiences. Pretty much every reader can remember high school, with all of its joys and challenges, which is why people never stop writing high school stories. But that level of identification isn’t necessary, as long as people can imagine what it’s like in the situation you’re describing.
The real value of a Conflict Structure is that it suggests a type of conflict, comradery, common emotions, and many plot beats to get you started. Embracing one of these structures means laying down the burden of having to invent everything in your story from whole cloth.
The structures I’m going to discuss are:
School
Competition
Romance
Search for Answers
Training
Journey
Survival
War
Let’s start from the top.
School
Students going to school to become better at something. Most of the time they want to be there. The audience is naturally offered a way into the story since they come to understand the rules of the universe as the characters do. For this reason, school stories lend themselves to complex and idiosyncratic worldbuilding, where charm and inventiveness should be the guiding traits.
There is conflict, but typically it happens in a controlled environment where very little can go life-threateningly wrong. That sense of security is part of what makes these stories so easy to read.
Examples
Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)
Interactions
Lots of relationships, ranging from best friends to worst enemies, although even these will likely never go farther than spitball wars or sabotaging someone’s exam. Characters will encounter younger students, older students, and teachers with varying amounts of authority.
Competition
Two or more people are competing to win something. This usually carries low stakes, although many stories will add a threatening element: the loser dies, or has their power taken away.
Key to a good Competition:
Clear setup. Readers should know what is expected of the hero at each stage of the competition, so they can tell if things are going well or poorly.
Surprise. The outcome of each stage should be in some way unexpected, whether that means an underdog won or the hero did something in a particularly clever manner.
Examples
The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern)
Interactions
The protagonist and their opponent. Some sort of audience for the competition, which can act as a proxy for the reader themselves. Usually also includes a mentor, a believer, and a doubter.
Romance
Someone falls in love. Most romance stories emphasize the emotional stakes. For this reason, it tends to be used as a subplot of a more dangerous story, and can add depth to a plot- or action-heavy tale.
Examples
The Rules of Magic (Alice Hoffman)
Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
Romeo and Juliet (William Shakespeare)
Interactions
The protagonist and the love interest. May include additional love interests to form a love triangle. Many romances also have social pressures that form an obstacle between the lovers, whether this be from their families or societies.
Search for Answers
Someone needs to find the answer to a question or riddle. This can be deadly (a detective stopping a serial killer) or more personal (someone discovering the ghosts of their past). The search for literal answers is often a metaphor for discovering oneself or Ultimate Truth.
It can serve as the setup for later stories. A hero who finds that their government is corrupt might go on to overthrow it in the next book.
This might be the best choice for writers who enjoy internal conflict. It gives a clear shape and goal, while still allowing for a lot of questioning and discovery.
Examples
The Name of the Wind (Patrick Rothfuss)
A Wizard of Earthsea (Ursula K. LeGuin)
A River Enchanted (Rebecca Ross)
Interactions
The hero will meet guides along the way, and probably tempters as well. The villain will often be a representation of who the hero could become if they gave up searching for the truth.
Journey
Someone has to get from point A to point B. There can be any number of reasons for this, ranging from sheer curiosity to apocalyptic danger.
Journey stories can be a subplot of other story types. And like the Search for Answers, a Journey can be deeply symbolic.
Key to a good Journey:
The hero needs a clear goal. Meandering is one of the quickest ways to lose readers.
You should vary not only the conflict but the type of conflict. Never settle for “Something bad happens, then something bad happens, then something bad happens.” Heroes should be endangered by their enemies, their friends, nature, and themselves.
If at all possible, include a few long-term relationships: friends who come along, companions, pets. Journey stories can feel very lonely if the hero is the only permanent staple.
Examples
The Fellowship of the Ring (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Interactions
The hero will meet guides along the way, and probably tempters as well. By necessity, journey stories cover huge amounts of territory so there will usually be a large cast of temporary characters who enter the narrative long enough to provide aid, obstruction, or important knowledge.
Training
People are in training. This is often a mashup of School + Competition or School + Survival, in which case it abandons the coziness of a School story for the sake of increased tension.
Perhaps more than any other structure, Training stories invite us to imagine what it would be like if we entered the world ourselves. Introducing hierarchies can aid with this, such as the factions (Dauntless, Amity, Erudite, Abnegation, and Candor) in Divergent.
Examples
Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros)
Blood Song (Anthony Ryan)
Divergent (Veronica Roth)
Interactions
The hero will have both friends and enemies, some of which may flip throughout the story. Many Training stories choose to evoke a constant sense of danger, so true, uncomplicated friendships should be rare.
Survival
Someone is fighting for their life. Survival stories usually feature a stronger nature element than other structures.
The challenges of the Survival structure are similar to those of the Journey story. Conflicts should be varied in their intensity and kind.
Examples
Graceling (Kristin Cashore)
Interactions
Often includes both man-vs-man and man-vs-nature conflicts. But anything that threatens the hero’s survival counts.
War
People fighting for some cause: freedom, independence, or their lives. Most War stories have a clear Us and Them, with one side being more justified (at least in the eyes of the audience).
This is a classic fantasy structure, but one that benefits greatly from a deft touch and characters we know and care about.
Examples
The Lightbinger series (Brent Weeks)
Interactions
A cast of heroes and opponents, with a backdrop of thousands or millions of nameless friends and foes. Especially when it comes to opponents, readers will feel the story is “complete” when the specific, named enemies that we hate/fear the most are defeated.
I hope this list has helped you to see your own work in a clearer light. Embracing a proven Conflict Structure can ease the burden of writing as well as provide marketing clues that will prepare readers for the sort of experience your book delivers. And if, like me, you struggle to know what should “happen” in your book, perhaps it’s time to take another look at what your Structure is telling you!