Internal Conflicts
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OK here's one for you... pro screenwriter Bill Martell offers writing tips combined with movie analysis (what works and what doesn't work) on his website... it's a mine of information. And this article might ding your bell. Check out Bill's analysis of ROCKY BALBOA.
CHARACTER IN CONFLICT
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip73.htm
-Derek
CHARACTER IN CONFLICT
http://www.scriptsecrets.net/tips/tip73.htm
-Derek
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There are examples of internal conflict all around you. It's happening to the man on a diet as he eyes the pie. It is happening to the kid in the crowd, who has just become aware that he is the only one who doesn't get high, as his friends begin passing the joint. It's happening to the woman who promised herself that she would never get involved with him again as he is kissing her neck.
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It can be just about anything that causes you emotional difficulty. Conflict is basically a struggle, a fight, and internal means that it's within you, not with somebody else (although an external conflict can prompt an internal one).
Just think about practically anything that can upset you or anger you or cause you some sort of mental difficulty and you're probably dealing with an internal conflict.
It's a very general question, so there are lots and lots of answers.
For example every single day I face the internal conflict of just dealing with people, and my own thoughts, due to my excessive anxiety. Should I bother waking up to face the day? Should I bother with anything? That's just one of probably hundreds of conflicts going on inside me at once.
When put into writing, internal conflicts can help drive the plot the same as external conflicts can.
Just think about practically anything that can upset you or anger you or cause you some sort of mental difficulty and you're probably dealing with an internal conflict.
It's a very general question, so there are lots and lots of answers.
For example every single day I face the internal conflict of just dealing with people, and my own thoughts, due to my excessive anxiety. Should I bother waking up to face the day? Should I bother with anything? That's just one of probably hundreds of conflicts going on inside me at once.When put into writing, internal conflicts can help drive the plot the same as external conflicts can.
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It's when a part of you wants to do something and another part of you wants to do something else. Read Woodsie's examples carefully. Other internal conflict examples: the recovering alcoholic who's resisting the urge to have a drink, the macho father who's trying not to be disappointed when his son wants to take up ballet instead of football.
You've seen cartoons when a character is trying to make a decision and there's a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, right? That's internal conflict too.
You've seen cartoons when a character is trying to make a decision and there's a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, right? That's internal conflict too.
Someone has a goal. An obstacle is preventing him from achieving that goal. External conflict is when the obstacle is outside of the person. Internal conflict is when the obstacle is within the person.
- External conflict: I want to climb Mt. Everest, but I can't because I don't have enough money to pay the expenses.
- Internal conflict: I want to climb Mt. Everest, but I can't because I'm afraid of heights.
Yes, that's an extreme example, but consider these:
- I want to be a starter on my school basketball team, but going to the movies with my friends is more fun than practicing.
- I want a promotion at work, but whenever I work late I feel guilty for neglecting my kids.
- I want to join the army and help defeat our enemy, but I also want to study music.
- External conflict: I want to climb Mt. Everest, but I can't because I don't have enough money to pay the expenses.
- Internal conflict: I want to climb Mt. Everest, but I can't because I'm afraid of heights.
Yes, that's an extreme example, but consider these:
- I want to be a starter on my school basketball team, but going to the movies with my friends is more fun than practicing.
- I want a promotion at work, but whenever I work late I feel guilty for neglecting my kids.
- I want to join the army and help defeat our enemy, but I also want to study music.
I've got some internally conflicted characters in mind. Here are some of them.
Jenny Aphrolite- The main protagonist of my current work, "Souls Extinguished", she's a pyromaniac who longs for friendship, but because of her serious anger issues stemming from the deaths of her parents caused by an exploding tanker truck driven by an unknown truck driver, and the fact that she's a bit of a bully, the town holds a low opinion of her. Anyone who does something that upsets her incurs something against them which she refers to as "getting even". One day, one of her fires goes out of control and ends up killing several and injuring others, including herself. Deeply disturbed by what she has done, she leaves town and spends much of the remainder of the book wondering how different her life would be if she had never become so fascinated with fire as a child, all while being tormented by guilt, remorse, and fighting an internal struggle against her inner demons. When she ultimately, comes face to face with the driver of the truck that killed her parents and learns that he had no intention of causing it, she forgives him and works to rebuild her life and atone for what she's done. Although she knows she can never truly find total internal peace, she finds warmth and comfort in a career counseling troubled teens and juvenile offenders.
Lawrence Cromwell- Lawrence is one of the most important characters in my future Science Fiction novel "Galactic Pandemonium". He's a police officer whose profession was motivated by the murder of his college girlfriend. Held to blame by her family, believing things would be different if he was prepared, and angry at his own helplessness, he dropped out of college and pursued a career as a police officer, hoping to find inner peace by preventing others from suffering such losses. During the story, he finds a new romantic interest in Melissa Royce, a nurse who also chose her profession due to a personal loss, and who feels a sense of failure whenever a patient dies. Despite the fact that they truly care about each other, Lawrence and Melissa are reluctant to admit their feelings due to fear of losing each other. Later, when Lawrence attempts suicide by jumping off a bridge, Melissa stops him and finally they declares their feelings. Both play important roles in the story's final climax and find fulfillment in their lives.
Nova- The main villain of "Galactic Pandemonium", Nova is a freedom fighter fighting to free his people who have been enslaved by their cruel new leader. Despite being a pacifist, Nova is forced to forsake his personal beliefs all because he feels that he has no other alternative, and that the plight of his people has forced him to realize that some things cannot be reasoned with, they must be eliminated by force. Killed by the emperor, Nova was brought back to life as a cyborg. With only one other member of his species helping his crusade, Nova is forced to conquer and enslave another species to use as his minions to assist his mission, invading other planets to obtain weapons and resources to build an army strong enough to defeat the evil emperor. During his invasions, Nova does kill several, but is made clear he does so only in self-defense. He also destroys the homeworld of the Drekrons on order of his assistant, believing that they are a threat to his mission. After invading Earth, he steals the Spear of Destiny, which he believes will make his army unstoppable. During his stay on Earth, Nova helps Melissa stop Lawrence from jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge due to the fact that he himself has lost his own true love who was exiled by the emperor. But when it is discovered that she is still alive and they are reunited, he pledges alliance to the Drekrons, the species he initially believe were opposed to his crusade. When he ultimately discovers that his assistant was none other than the emperor using him to fulfill his ultimate goal of galactic conquest, he destroys his enemy. To atone for almost unwittingly plunging the universe into slavery, Nova sacrifices himself to destroy the emperor's warship to save his people from destruction. In death, he not only saves his people, he frees the universe.
I have other internally characters planned, but I have yet to develop them.
Jenny Aphrolite- The main protagonist of my current work, "Souls Extinguished", she's a pyromaniac who longs for friendship, but because of her serious anger issues stemming from the deaths of her parents caused by an exploding tanker truck driven by an unknown truck driver, and the fact that she's a bit of a bully, the town holds a low opinion of her. Anyone who does something that upsets her incurs something against them which she refers to as "getting even". One day, one of her fires goes out of control and ends up killing several and injuring others, including herself. Deeply disturbed by what she has done, she leaves town and spends much of the remainder of the book wondering how different her life would be if she had never become so fascinated with fire as a child, all while being tormented by guilt, remorse, and fighting an internal struggle against her inner demons. When she ultimately, comes face to face with the driver of the truck that killed her parents and learns that he had no intention of causing it, she forgives him and works to rebuild her life and atone for what she's done. Although she knows she can never truly find total internal peace, she finds warmth and comfort in a career counseling troubled teens and juvenile offenders.
Lawrence Cromwell- Lawrence is one of the most important characters in my future Science Fiction novel "Galactic Pandemonium". He's a police officer whose profession was motivated by the murder of his college girlfriend. Held to blame by her family, believing things would be different if he was prepared, and angry at his own helplessness, he dropped out of college and pursued a career as a police officer, hoping to find inner peace by preventing others from suffering such losses. During the story, he finds a new romantic interest in Melissa Royce, a nurse who also chose her profession due to a personal loss, and who feels a sense of failure whenever a patient dies. Despite the fact that they truly care about each other, Lawrence and Melissa are reluctant to admit their feelings due to fear of losing each other. Later, when Lawrence attempts suicide by jumping off a bridge, Melissa stops him and finally they declares their feelings. Both play important roles in the story's final climax and find fulfillment in their lives.
Nova- The main villain of "Galactic Pandemonium", Nova is a freedom fighter fighting to free his people who have been enslaved by their cruel new leader. Despite being a pacifist, Nova is forced to forsake his personal beliefs all because he feels that he has no other alternative, and that the plight of his people has forced him to realize that some things cannot be reasoned with, they must be eliminated by force. Killed by the emperor, Nova was brought back to life as a cyborg. With only one other member of his species helping his crusade, Nova is forced to conquer and enslave another species to use as his minions to assist his mission, invading other planets to obtain weapons and resources to build an army strong enough to defeat the evil emperor. During his invasions, Nova does kill several, but is made clear he does so only in self-defense. He also destroys the homeworld of the Drekrons on order of his assistant, believing that they are a threat to his mission. After invading Earth, he steals the Spear of Destiny, which he believes will make his army unstoppable. During his stay on Earth, Nova helps Melissa stop Lawrence from jumping off the Brooklyn Bridge due to the fact that he himself has lost his own true love who was exiled by the emperor. But when it is discovered that she is still alive and they are reunited, he pledges alliance to the Drekrons, the species he initially believe were opposed to his crusade. When he ultimately discovers that his assistant was none other than the emperor using him to fulfill his ultimate goal of galactic conquest, he destroys his enemy. To atone for almost unwittingly plunging the universe into slavery, Nova sacrifices himself to destroy the emperor's warship to save his people from destruction. In death, he not only saves his people, he frees the universe.
I have other internally characters planned, but I have yet to develop them.
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Just looking up this thread now.
How do you show internal conflict? I mean there are some scenes where my character is by himself thinking about stuff.
How do you show internal conflict? I mean there are some scenes where my character is by himself thinking about stuff.
Simplest form: internal conflict is when you personal desire is at odds with your external need or goal. They work best when the two options have dire consequences, as this helps raise the stakes. If the choices are too easy or the right answer too clear, the conflict is meaningless.
You don't want to make your internal conflicts be more about angst than real conflict. The choices should matter, the consequences for one choice over the other should be high. Neither should be clearly right or wrong. Both should have advantages and disadvantages to choosing them.
Showing it often involves lots of thinking, but that can be boring, so what I like to do is put my characers in situations where they have to make choices they don't like. Put them between a rock and a hard place. In my YA novel, the protag is trying to save her sister, and she agrees to do some pretty bad things that go against everything she believes it to do that. She asks herself a lot of tough questions. How much is too much? Where does she draw the line? These are things she struggles with and weighs against her sister's life.
DwayneA, a good examle of internal conflict for your Jenny character might be if she's in a situation where she desperately needs to fill X need (make a friend, find a home, whatever you set her up to want that is driving her story) and to fill that need she can either set a fire or act in a way that she's scared to do. Maybe that's telling someone she has a problem. So she's risking a lot by opening up, or she could take the easy way out and set fire to something to make her feel better. But if she does that, she ruins her chances in this new town, and sabotages her own larger need of friendship and home. If she opens up, she could still get chased out of town anyway. Or she could wind up the main suspect in a series of fires she had nothing to do with.
You don't want to make your internal conflicts be more about angst than real conflict. The choices should matter, the consequences for one choice over the other should be high. Neither should be clearly right or wrong. Both should have advantages and disadvantages to choosing them.
Showing it often involves lots of thinking, but that can be boring, so what I like to do is put my characers in situations where they have to make choices they don't like. Put them between a rock and a hard place. In my YA novel, the protag is trying to save her sister, and she agrees to do some pretty bad things that go against everything she believes it to do that. She asks herself a lot of tough questions. How much is too much? Where does she draw the line? These are things she struggles with and weighs against her sister's life.
DwayneA, a good examle of internal conflict for your Jenny character might be if she's in a situation where she desperately needs to fill X need (make a friend, find a home, whatever you set her up to want that is driving her story) and to fill that need she can either set a fire or act in a way that she's scared to do. Maybe that's telling someone she has a problem. So she's risking a lot by opening up, or she could take the easy way out and set fire to something to make her feel better. But if she does that, she ruins her chances in this new town, and sabotages her own larger need of friendship and home. If she opens up, she could still get chased out of town anyway. Or she could wind up the main suspect in a series of fires she had nothing to do with.
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