On September 30, 2023, Kasie and Rex were live in Columbia taking on the topic of primary and secondary conflict in stories. Here are the show notes:

Theme for the day

Central and Adjacent Conflicts

Agenda

• Update on HorrorCON and Storyfest
• What is central conflict?
• What are adjacent conflicts?
• How to write good conflicts

Listen to Podcast

Segment 1

So we have a couple of things to catch up on first. Two weeks ago was HorrorCON. How did that go?

Our dear friend and writing group lead, Ginny Padgett passed away on September 11th. So we’d like to take a moment to honor Ginny and talk about her influence on us.

Segment 2

In August, we talked about antagonists and their impact on the protagonist’s pursuit of his own objectives. Check episodes 241 and 242 for details. In thinking about all the elements of a successful plot, I considered taking us down the “plot arcs” road again since our shows from last December on those topics do not have recordings available for them. But I wanted to make sure we do those one after the next and since it’s football season, we’re on an every-other-week rhythm here right now.

So, that said, we’ll keep looking at plot elements until we can get back to the plot types and arcs. Today’s element is conflict. 

• Primary conflict
• Secondary conflict
• Adjacent conflicts.

We did conflict about a year ago. Check out that episode here.

So what is conflict in literature – and more importantly, why do you need it? Try this link for details but here are our talking points:

• Conflict creates tension and tension is interesting
• Conflict is about thwarted, endangered or opposing desires
• A character wants something but something else gets in the way.

Segment 3

Here are the six primary conflicts in literature (link)

1. Man vs. Self
2. Man vs. Nature
3. Man vs. Society
4. Man vs. Man
5. Man vs. Technology
6. Man vs. Fate / the Supernatural (sometimes divided into 2)

Characteristics of primary conflict – involves the main character, is essential to how the story plays out, can be internal or external, likely to be both.

Examples of primary conflicts:

• Elizabeth Bennett is too proud to admit she likes Darcy, Darcy is prejudiced against Elizabeth for financial circumstances
• Scarlett O’Hara wants Ashley Wilkes to love her
• Bruce Wayne wants to avenge his parents’ murder by punishing criminals

Here’s an entire list of conflict examples and a taste or two:

• A rapper stutters when he gets in front of a crowd
• A drug dealer becomes a drug user
• Road rage pits two drivers against one anothers
• A bully steals a kid’s lunch money every day
• A teacher tries to convince a town to provide more funding for a program

Types and examples of secondary/adjacent conflicts (link to resource):

• Jane and Bingley – another pride vs. prejudice conflict
• Scarlett and Ashley are complicated by Rhett and Melanie
• Batman is complicated by the corruption in Gotham

Segment 4

How to do it: 

• Know your genre – what are the expectations of the genre? What kinds of conflicts exist in the genre?
• Decide what your character wants and what he’s willing to do to get it
• What are the forces that oppose these desires?
• What subplots can strengthen or underscore the primary conflict? (these are your secondary conflicts)