No story happens without a conflict of some sort.
- Man vs. Man
- Man vs. Self
- Man vs. Society
- Man vs. Nature
- Man vs. God/Supernatural
- Man vs. Technology
Some conflicts are considered external conflicts and others are considered internal conflicts. Internal conflicts take place inside a character’s mind or psyche. External conflicts pit a character against something outside him- or herself, such as another character, a government, elements of nature, or even technology.
Sometimes, you have both internal AND external conflicts in a story.
Let’s look back at our example story:
IT’S YOUR TURN.
Take a look at the stories linked here. I’ve supplied the next section of the three stories we started with in the last lesson. Read the section and annotate it like I annotated “The Reef” in the video above. Explain the conflict and write down whether it’s an internal or external conflict.
Here are the stories: