Goals, Conflicts, & Stakes: Why Plots Need All Three

By Janice Hardy

A strong plot is built on strong structure. 

Goal - Conflict - Stakes. They're the engine in every scene and the backbone of every novel. When something feels “off” in a story, when the middle sags, when scenes feel random, when tension fizzles, it’s almost always because one of these three pieces is weak, vague, or missing.

All three exist no matter what genre you’re writing:

• The protagonist wants something (goal).
• Something stands in the way (conflict).
• Something bad will happen if they fail (stakes).

What trips up many writers, is that each of these can be used in multiple ways. 

There are story goals and scene goals. Internal conflict and external conflict. Personal stakes and larger story stakes. If you don’t know which aspect you’re working with, it’s easy to stall around page 100, wondering why your “great idea” suddenly has nowhere to go.

Let’s break all this down.

Goals: The Fuel That Keeps the Plot Moving

The goal is the driving force of the plot. The protagonist (or protagonists if you have  multiple point of view characters) wants something. Probably a lot of somethings, such as:

• Find something to eat
• Win the competition
• Escape the dungeon
• Stop the terrorist attack
• Fall in love
• Fix a broken marriage

Whatever the goals are, they'll determine how the protagonist acts, and that will determine how the plot (and thus the story) unfolds. The goals drive the action, and the action creates the plot.

Plot Goals vs. Story Goals

But there's a difference between story goals and plot goals. 

Story goals are the larger thematic goals that typically describe the character growth or the idea behind the tale. They're more conceptual, and work as a guide in determining the types of plot goals your protagonist will encounter. 

Plot goals are the physical things your protagonist does to achieve those more lofty story goals. 

For example:

• Story goal: To find love again after a bad breakup. (This is what the story is about)
• Plot goal: To go to the museum and talk to cute guys. (This is one thing the protagonist does during the story, and the scene will show this action)

The story goal is thematic and conceptual. The plot goal is actionable. These goals work in tandem to create the novel and give the protagonist things to do between page one and the end. The protagonist knows what she wants and takes the steps to get there. 

What plot goals are not

Writers often struggle here because they use vague thematic statements about the goals, such as "find love again" or "learn to trust others." Those are great for a conceptual story goal or premise, and are important to your characters and their growth, but from a plotting standpoint, they don't help figure out what happens in a scene.

Think of it like this: Go out right now and find love again. Um, you can't, not really. It's not as if "love again" is something you can go buy at the store. 

But you can:

• Join a dating app.
• Say yes to a blind date.
• Show up at that fundraiser even though you’d rather stay home.

And that’s the key. Plot goals are things a character can physically do in a scene.

The story goal is the end desire, and the plot goals are the steps that will get the protagonist to that final desire.

(Here's more with Oh, Woe Is Me: Strengthening Character Goals)

Conflicts: What Makes the Goal Hard

But goals are only the first step, and without a struggle to achieve them, the story won't have the tension and drive to keep readers hooked. That's what conflicts are for.

Conflicts are the challenges standing in the way of the protagonist's goal that must be overcome for him to get what he wants. 

They might be:

• A person
• A system
• A situation
• A ticking clock
• A fear
• A belief
• A wound from the past

Whatever you choose to throw in your protagonist's way, it prevents him or from getting his goal or doing what needs to be done.

Internal vs. External Conflicts

Again, there are two types here. Internal and external conflicts. 

Internal conflicts are the issues the protagonist faces on a mental or emotional level.

• Loving someone you shouldn’t
• Being afraid to apply for a promotion a coworker also wants
• Wanting revenge, but knowing it will cost you
• Having to face a past trauma to get what you need
• Needing to ask for help, but fearing rejection

Internal conflicts makes the story problems emotionally harder to resolve.

External conflicts are the physical things in the protagonist's way. Things that require action to get around or overcome.

• Security guards blocking the exit
• A rival sabotaging the presentation
• A locked door
• A spreading virus
• A storm rolling in

External conflicts make the plot problem harder to physically resolve.

Using both creates a layered and compelling novel, because the external conflicts make the protagonist act, and the internal conflicts make those actions emotionally difficult. For example:

• Internal conflict: He loves the girl, but knows his family would disown him for betraying them.
• External conflict: He wants to sneak off to meet the girl, but he has to get past his suspicious father.

Trying to plot using only internal conflicts will likely leave you frustrated, because there's no actionable thing in the way to overcome. Look at the external actions a character can physically do to satisfy that internal need.

What conflicts are not

Conflict isn’t automatically two characters arguing or a huge knock-down, drag-out fight. While sometimes fighting or arguing is required to deal with the conflict, "arguing with Bob" might not be actual conflict. Is Bob preventing the protagonist from achieving the goal or are they just having a difficult conversation about it?

If nothing is being blocked, delayed, complicated, or made worse, then it’s not really conflict—it’s just noise.

(Here's more with 3 Common Mistakes Writers Make with Conflict)

Stakes: The Reason the Plot Matters

What makes all this matter are the stakes. They're the motivating factor for the protagonist's goals, and why she has to overcome those conflicts right now. Stakes are what happens if she doesn't succeed. They're the "or else" in every threat, and the higher they are, the more tension you create and the more compelling the plot. 

Story Stakes vs. Personal Stakes

You guessed it—there are two here as well. 

Story stakes are the big-picture consequences if the protagonist fails. Such as:

• The bomb explodes
• The serial killer kills again
• The kingdom falls
• The company collapses

Story stakes show how the plot problem will affect the "world at large," no matter how large that world is. For example, an office might be "the world" in a RomCom.  

Personal Stakes are how those outcomes affect the protagonist on a personal level. Such as:

• Her sister is trapped in the building with the bomb
• The killer is targeting his child
• If the kingdom falls, she loses her throne
• If the company collapses, he can’t pay for his mother’s treatment

Personal stakes show why the protagonist doesn't want to fail. They make readers care about the outcome as much as the protagonist does, which keeps them reading. 

What stakes are not

Trying to decide between two different things when either choice gives basically the same reward. For example, being torn between two women who are both great women, and you just don't want to hurt one of them. Taking a job in New York vs California where the only difference is geography. Stakes are also not having to decide between two things where the answer is obvious, such as pull the level and save the world, don't pull it and everyone dies. Well, duh, you're going to pull the level. 

Good stakes force the protagonist to make a choice, and every options should cost the protagonist something.

(Here's more with 3 Mistakes to Avoid When Creating Stakes in Your Story)

Having solid goals, conflicts, and stakes will give your story a strong foundation you can build a novel on. 

The stronger that foundation, the more you can put on it and the more interesting the final story will be.

EXERCISE FOR YOU: Pick a scene in your current draft and answer these three questions: What does the protagonist want in this scene (specifically and concretely)? What is actively preventing them from getting it? What will happen to them personally if they fail? If you can’t answer one of these clearly, odds are good that scene could use some work.

What's the main goal-conflict-and stake in your story?

*Originally published January 2011. Last updated February 2026.

Find out more about conflict and tension in my book, Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means).

With in-depth analysis and easy-to-understand examples, Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means) teaches you what conflict really is, discusses the various aspects of conflict, and reveals why common advice on creating conflict doesn't always work. It shows you how to develop and create conflict in your novel and explores aspects that affect conflict, as well as clarifying the misconceptions that confuse and frustrate so many writers.

This book will help you:

• Understand what conflict means and how to use it
• Tell the difference between external and internal conflicts
• See why conflict isn't a "one size fits all" solution
• Determine the type of conflict your story needs
• Fix lackluster scenes holding your writing back

Understanding Conflict (And What It Really Means) is more than just advice on what to do and what not to do—it’s a down and dirty examination and analysis of how conflict works, so you can develop it in whatever style or genre you’re writing. By the end of this book, you’ll have a solid understanding of what conflict means and the ability to use it without fear or frustration.

Available in paperback and ebook formats.

Janice Hardy is the award-winning author of the teen fantasy trilogy The Healing Wars, including The Shifter, Blue Fire, and Darkfall from Balzer+Bray/Harper Collins. The Shifter, was chosen for the 2014 list of "Ten Books All Young Georgians Should Read" from the Georgia Center for the Book.

She also writes the Grace Harper urban fantasy series for adults under the name, J.T. Hardy.

When she's not writing novels, she's teaching other writers how to improve their craft. She's the founder of Fiction University and has written multiple books on writing.

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