I’m not quite sure this is a tip/trick, but it’s nice to know(and I have it from Michael Evans' research which I have read at the university, so it’s valid).
There are three kinds of conflicts: outer conflicts, personal conflicts and inner conflicts. Though you only need one kind of conflict to write a story, all the best stories(in my opinion) have all three combined. Try to think of your favorite stories and see if they have all the different kinds of conflicts. I strongly suggest that you try to get all three conflicts in your writing. One of them can be more important than the others, but I think they should all be there. I try the best I can to have them all. But think about it first. In some stories, they might not work.
Outer conflicts are conflicts with something or someone that your character don’t know personally. It can be brutal weather, like a snow storm that the protagonist has to fight his way through, or it can be peripheral characters. For instance, it could be the boss or a creditor or a flock of bad guys. The best example is probably James Bond. Most of his conflicts are with bad guys he doesn’t really know.
Personal conflicts are conflicts with people your character know personally, like family or friends. These should hurt a lot more. It’s bad enough when you boss yells at you, but it’s even worse when your father/mother or husband/wife yells at you. Usually the outer conflicts can be handled pretty easily, but if your protagonist is affected by problems at home or a fight with his/her best friend, it will be harder for him/her to deal with the outer conflicts. A good example is soap operas which are mostly about relationships between friends or families and has therefore mostly personal conflicts.
Inner conflicts are conflicts the character has with himself/herself. Here we have a great tool in the art of novels. Because a novel author can make the reader know what the characters think, it is easy to show inner conflicts. A good example could be Hamlet. He knows he has to do something, but he doesn’t do as much as he think he should, and here comes the conflict. He wants to kill Claudius, but he just can’t seem to find the courage, which is why the ending when he finally kills Claudius is so much stronger.
Do tell me if something wasn’t clear, and I’ll try to explain it better.
There are three kinds of conflicts: outer conflicts, personal conflicts and inner conflicts. Though you only need one kind of conflict to write a story, all the best stories(in my opinion) have all three combined. Try to think of your favorite stories and see if they have all the different kinds of conflicts. I strongly suggest that you try to get all three conflicts in your writing. One of them can be more important than the others, but I think they should all be there. I try the best I can to have them all. But think about it first. In some stories, they might not work.
Outer conflicts are conflicts with something or someone that your character don’t know personally. It can be brutal weather, like a snow storm that the protagonist has to fight his way through, or it can be peripheral characters. For instance, it could be the boss or a creditor or a flock of bad guys. The best example is probably James Bond. Most of his conflicts are with bad guys he doesn’t really know.
Personal conflicts are conflicts with people your character know personally, like family or friends. These should hurt a lot more. It’s bad enough when you boss yells at you, but it’s even worse when your father/mother or husband/wife yells at you. Usually the outer conflicts can be handled pretty easily, but if your protagonist is affected by problems at home or a fight with his/her best friend, it will be harder for him/her to deal with the outer conflicts. A good example is soap operas which are mostly about relationships between friends or families and has therefore mostly personal conflicts.
Inner conflicts are conflicts the character has with himself/herself. Here we have a great tool in the art of novels. Because a novel author can make the reader know what the characters think, it is easy to show inner conflicts. A good example could be Hamlet. He knows he has to do something, but he doesn’t do as much as he think he should, and here comes the conflict. He wants to kill Claudius, but he just can’t seem to find the courage, which is why the ending when he finally kills Claudius is so much stronger.
Do tell me if something wasn’t clear, and I’ll try to explain it better.