CONFLICT THESAURUS

AN UNEXPECTED CHANGE OF PLANS



Never struggle with Show-and-Tell again. Activate your free trial or subscribe to view the Conflict Thesaurus in its entirety, or visit the Table of Contents to explore unlocked entries.

CHOOSE MY PLAN

HELPFUL TIP:

Conflict is your story’s secret sauce, supplying tension, relationship friction, and complications to a character’s journey. It comes in a million different forms, so identify the obstacles and problems that will hit your character the hardest by using the Character Builder to uncover their primary insecurities, fears , and desires. Don’t forget to include everyday conflict scenarios that will frustrate them and keep the pressure high.
CATEGORY:
Loss of control, miscellaneous challenges, relationship friction, increased pressure and ticking clocks

EXAMPLES:
A flight being delayed
The character's child getting sick and needing care
Bad weather forcing the character to postpone vacation plans
Learning that a parent has had a heart attack
Someone with whom the character has plans calling to cancel 
Finding a stray animal on the roadside and needing to care for it
Going for a run and finding someone who has collapsed on the sidewalk
The character leaving for an anticipated date and discovering their car battery is dead
Construction causing a detour during a road trip 
The character becoming ill while traveling
Witnessing a crime while going to meet a friend and having to report it and talk to the police
Getting injured at work and needing to go to the hospital
Going into labor prematurely
A routine doctor's visit resulting in emergency surgery
A merger at work changing the character's responsibilities or doing away with their position
A retiree being scammed out of their nest egg and having to go back to work
An unexpected divorce changing the trajectory of the character's future

MINOR COMPLICATIONS:
Missing an important meeting or appointment
Not having certain items that would help navigate the change of plans (access to a digital calendar, contact information for someone, a cell phone charger or spare change of clothing)
The delay causing other people to wait on the character
Having to reschedule 
Missing a meal
Having to renege on a promise
Apologizing for not being able to follow through
The change causing tension with loved ones who are also inconvenienced
Having to fill out paperwork, file reports, or talk to officials
Appearing frazzled or disheveled to others
The character taking their frustration out on others and causing a scene
The character panicking and saying or doing something they later regret
Losing money in the form of non-refundable deposits
Having to give bad news (about a canceled trip, etc.) to children

POTENTIALLY DISASTROUS RESULTS:
...

RESULTING EMOTIONS:
...

POSSIBLE INTERNAL STRUGGLES:
...

PEOPLE WHO COULD BE NEGATIVELY AFFECTED:
...

NEGATIVE TRAITS THAT COULD MAKE THE SITUATION WORSE:
...

IMPACT ON BASIC NEEDS:
...

WOUNDS THIS COULD LEAD TO:
...

POSITIVE TRAITS TO HELP THE CHARACTER COPE:
...

POSITIVE OUTCOMES:
...