If you’ve ever had to make a choice and debated about which was the better option, you’ve experienced internal conflict. Often as people we want multiple things, not all of which we can have at the same time.

In writing, internal conflicts show up to help characters grow and develop. Writing a good internal conflict however, takes a little practice.

What Is Internal Conflict?

In the barest of terms, an internal conflict is the inner struggle a character goes through when they face down their fears, doubts or weaknesses. To understand how this happens we need to understand a little bit of where internal conflicts come from: from wanting two or more separate things.

This isn’t a case of wanting a slice of cake and a slice of pie either, this is a case of wanting two or more things that, to the character, are necessary for survival.

For example, let’s say a teenage character wants to run for class president because they want to make things better for their classmates. Goal and motivation are right there. The goal is class presidency, and the motivation is to improve lives. Simple.

This model relies on other classmates to provide the conflict that makes this worth a story.

If however, our teenage character is also shy and struggling with self-confidence, the road to class presidency becomes a little harder because they’re also fighting their own fears of inadequacy and the potential to become a joke to their classmates.

This is now an internal conflict.

Where To Find Internal Conflicts

Just as with people, there are some common places fears and doubts can come from for our characters.

• Mistaken Belief This is a belief or worldview that they hold onto even if it’s factually incorrect or actively harmful to them.
• Consequences The potential for negative consequences may discourage characters from going after their goals, even while they desperately want or need to make that goal.
• Conflicting Desires It is possible a character may want two things that are mutually exclusive of one another, and choosing which one to give up becomes difficult.
• Flaws and Weakness The self-aware may doubt their abilities to achieve their goal if a perceived flaw or weakness could lead to failure.

By identifying which, if any, of these apply to your character you can find out what their internal conflicts might be and why they may avoid the attempts to reach their goal entirely.

Exercise: Takes One to Know One

For this exercise, we’ll fall back on some standard fantasy classes. Choose at least two of the following in any combination: Ranger, Druid, Cleric, Paladin

Once you’ve picked out your classes, create two basic characters. Make sure to give them a long term and a short term goal. Then, answer the following questions about both:

• What are the consequences (positive and negative) of reaching their goal(s)?
• What incorrect belief is preventing them from reaching their goal(s)?
• What must they change about themselves to reach their goal(s)?
• How does their short term goal impede their long term goal?

Now, write a flash fiction piece where your two characters meet and help each other make progress on their internal conflicts.