Tuesday's Inspiration - Arthur Koestler - On Conflict

"Conflict always reveals a paradox in the human condition." These words by Arthur Koestler written years ago struck me on many levels. Conflict of some kind is the driving force in every fiction story. And even some that are non-fiction. Deciding which conflicts to use brings us to choices of which kind of conflicts to use to drive the story.

There are characters in conflict with society, with another character and with themself. To me finding which conflicts to use for my characters can be difficult. In my current WIP the hero has conflicts on several levels. He stands in opposition to the bad guys but there is also the conflict set up in the beginning of the story which sends him into conflict with his society.  This brings him to an inner conflict that rises from within. The odd thing is that I never looked at what the conflicts were in the story until I read the article where I found the quote by Arthur Koestler.

The other main characters in the story have their own conflicts and these conflicts impinge on the hero's conflicts though they aren't necessarily the same. But without conflicts from within and without the story would remain a series of incidents with little meaning.

What about you? Do you consciously decide on what conflict your characters will have before you begin or do some of them arise during the writing when you aren't aware there is a conflict? Just remember without conflict whether it is within the character, between two characters or from society without conflict the story goes nowhere. So think, On one hand but on the other hand and you have a recipe for conflict.