Goal, Motivation, and Conflict – The difference between inner conflict and outer conflict and how it keeps the reader glued to your story.
Or:
Goal – what does your protagonist want?
This question is exercising me more than a little at present. I have a lovely female character whose story I’m desperate to explore, but what is her problem? Yes, she wants to make a success of her business. Yes, she wants to see her family happily settled. Is it enough – NO!
I need to dig a little in her past. Why would her business not be a success, I might ask myself. Has there been a public or hidden attack on it in the past? Is she beginning to understand why a particular assignment went so horribly wrong? Is the person who featured in her life then, still in her life today? Hmn! I’m beginning to find a little enlightenment here.
Why does your protagonist want it?
Moving into middle-age, as my character is, she’s spent a lot of years fulfilling joint objectives like being a good child, a helpful wife, a supportive mother. They were relevant objectives, but they are over now. She wants to make her business succeed in order to have something of her own. Also on a practical level, she needs the money to live and to support staff.
What is preventing your protagonist achieving it?
Herein lies the heart of every story. Conflict. How easy would it be for my character to put her own business on the back-burner while she assists a child/sibling/friend? That’s inner conflict. As a person used to the back-up role, she finds it very difficult indeed to keep puting her own needs first.
Overt Conflict is where the antagonist or circumstances or even the weather comes into play. An antagonist might be motivated by greed – they have a similar business and don’t want to relinquish any of the potential market. By spite – they’re just plain nasty. By love – they’re wrong-headed and think ‘the little woman’ shouldn’t have to stir in the working world.
Circumstances affect us all. Britain has just officially gone into a recession – people might regard the service she offers as wrong for this moment. Her premises might be condemned – woodworm, rising damp, loose slates.
The weather. So her transport might be off the road because of snow or flooding. Roads might be blocked because trees have come down in high winds. It might be too hot for her staff to work outside.
TENSION is part of what keeps a reader reading. If you’ve created a likeable character, the reader wants them to succeed. Conflict creates tension.
Inner: So, drop clues. Let the reader in on a conversation between the character and a relative or friend when she is on the point of offering help that will prevent her taking up that breakthrough opportunity. Leave the final decision hanging for a bit.
Outer: Let the reader hear that protagonist telling another character how he was in the area at the time your character’s business had its major meltdown – but keep it hidden from the character – till a crucial moment of revelation.
Mingled: Weather, house repairs etc are useful here. Let your character discover them and chart their apparently inexorable progress. Reader and protagonist are sharing the pain. And, of course, the joy when it resolves.
Did I mention I’m attempting to learn how to dance quadrilles? Goal – I want to know how it’s done. Motivation – I’ll have a better understaning of what I’m expecting my characters to do. Conflict – muscle memory is getting between me and any respectable performance of the steps! Even so, it’s good fun.
Fellow robins have also taken time to tell us how they do it. Check out the links below.
Anne
Dr. Bob Rich https://wp.me/p3Xihq-37G
Victoria Chatham http://www.victoriachatham.com
Connie Vines http://mizging.blogspot.com/
Helena Fairfax http://www.helenafairfax.com/blog
Diane Bator https://escapewithawriter.wordpress.com/Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-writer.com/blogging_by_the_sea
Novels Now 