Conflict: LEARNING THAT ONE WAS ADOPTED

LEARNING THAT ONE WAS ADOPTED

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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.

A forgetful elderly family member referencing the adoption during a conversation
A parent spilling this secret to an adult child in a moment of anger
A birth parent contacting the character out of the blue, wanting to meet
A character meeting their doppelgänger and finding out they are siblings who've never met
Completing a DNA online registry and getting wildly different results from family members
Finding adoption papers when cleaning out a deceased parent's attic
A young character overhearing adults whispering about the adoption
Being contacted by a lawyer about a class-action lawsuit against the adoption agency

Being derailed by hurt feelings and betrayal
Having to make complicated decisions
Arguments with the character's adoptive parents
Having to keep the news secret from important people until the character knows what to do
The character's image of their background being shattered
Having to do research and file paperwork to gain information
The character realizing they know nothing about their medical history
Feeling disconnected from adoptive family members
The character meeting their birth parents and not liking them
A birth parent or sibling wanting a relationship while the character does not (or vice versa)
The character being pressured by adoptive family members not to find their birth parents
Awkwardness when adoptive and birth family members are together
Additional expenses for hiring a lawyer or private detective

LEARNING THAT ONE WAS ADOPTED

HELPFUL TIP:

CATEGORY:

EXAMPLES:

MINOR COMPLICATIONS:

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: