Why conflict is important?

Conflict is as crucial to the story as the protagonist. If the  protagonist is the head of a story, the conflict is the neck, which turns the head left, right, up and down. Conflict can be internal (some trait, flaw, or shortcoming which the protagonist has to overcome in the course of the story) or, the conflict can be external (a villain, some evil, or, an antagonist who has to be fought).

 Conflicts single handedly drive the plot forward. Readers frantically turn the pages eager to check how the conflict has been resolved. The tougher the conflict the more intrigued the readers are! I feel external conflict in the form of an evil villain, work better than inner conflict as they have the power to terrorize the protagonist by throwing obstacles in his/her path.

Though conflict can be tiring, it’s an important and integral part of our daily lives. Conflict like change is a constant. Many times we are trapped in conflicting situations; whose side to take in an argument. Several times we undergo conflict when we fight the temptation to turn away from that second piece of chocolate cake. Don’t the books in our TBR pile give rise to conflicts in our minds; which book to pick up next.

Trying to strike a balance between the various social medias and our manuscript puts us in an conflicting situation every single day. Real life provides a plethora of conflicting situations every day and trains us in writing better conflict in our stories.

Many times the conflicts in our books mirrors the conflicts in our lives. By resolving our character’s conflict we emerge stronger, bolder, and emotionally wiser. Resolving the conflict our protagonist is undergoing at times proves cathartic. Subconsciously we try to imbibe our protagonist’s strengths and at the same time transfer our own strengths to the main character. The characters that we create emulate us in some ways. Perhaps they are our alter egos, a part of our inner desires, our secret wish.

By clearing the character’s paths somewhere along our writing journey we are uncluttering our minds from the extra thoughts that constantly reside there, whittling away the unnecessary elements from our lives by getting focused on our writing, and clearing up our emotional debris by concentrating on someone else’s life (read the main character).

 Conflicts make characters stronger. By fighting our main character’s battles we somehow get the strength to resolve the issues we have been dilly-dallying over in our lives. And if we have been successful in resolving them beautifully in our books, not just the protagonist but the writer too has emerged victorious. 

 Do you think that conflicts make us stronger? Have you learnt from your main character’s conflicts? Please share. We would love to know.