How Your Character’s Internal Conflict Can Help You Plot

Janice Hardy

If you've been struggling with a plot, or you're looking for ways to deepen an existing plot, try looking at how your protagonist's internal conflict is driving her external actions.

Since today is Halloween, I thought it would be fun to look at ways a character's fear can help you plot. 

A lot of focus gets put on the core conflict of a novel—the main problem the protagonist has to solve to win—and for good reason. It's the whole point of the book. But sometimes, when we look too hard at the external problems, we miss out on opportunities to let the internal problems muck things up. This is especially true in a character-driven novel, since that inner journey is what's driving the entire book.

While you can’t plot with a character arc, you can use it to create your plot, because what a character has been through and fears, if what determines how they face their problems and make decisions.

At the heart of every good internal conflict is a fear created by trauma.

A 5-Minute Fix for a Blah Scene

By Janice Hardy

Sometimes the best fix isn’t changing what characters say—it’s changing where they say it.

Before I dive in, I did a guest post on Monday at Writers in the Storm, on "5 Paths to Plotting Your Novel".  Now, back to our regularly scheduled post…

This might be sacrilegious as a science fiction and fantasy writer, but I dislike writing description—especially settings. I’m more of a dialogue and action gal, and my first drafts (okay, sometimes second drafts as well), have a lot of “white room” scenes, where nothing about the setting is mentioned. This was a big problem in my early writing days, since SFF readers enjoy the world building and setting and all the things I had to slog through to write.

I got feedback such as:

• I can’t picture the setting
• Where is this happening? Could they interact more with the room?
• I feel unanchored, and there’s no sense of place

All of it was justified, and after a lot of reading, learning, and forcing myself to just do it, I found a way to enjoy writing setting descriptors.

The Difference Between a Task and a Goal When Plotting

By Janice Hardy

Does your protagonist really need to do that?

Many writers struggle with plotting because they add “stuff” to a scene without thinking about how that stuff affects the story. They think “All scenes need a goal, so let’s add a goal,” but what they write is a scene where someone cleans a room, delivers a package, or walks across the village to grab an ale. It feels like progress since the protagonist is active and moving, but they’re not pursuing a goal. They’re only completing a task.

And tasks aren’t compelling. They’re filler disguised as plot.

Tasks might fill pages, but they don’t fuel the story, because there’s nothing to be gained or lost by completing them. A room gets clean, a package arrives, and an ale is enjoyed, but they have zero effect on how the story turns out.

What the plot needs, are goals.

5 Ways to Create Nuance in Your Characters

By Janice Hardy

It’s not the big, flashy moments that make characters unforgettable—it’s the subtle differences and distinctions.

One of my favorite writing quotes is: “Readers come for the plot, but they stay for the characters.” It’s a good reminder that stories are ultimately about people and their problems, and no matter how interesting that problem might be, flat, dull characters won’t keep the reader engaged. I’ve flipped to the end of a few “great plot, bad characters” books because I wanted to know the ending, but I didn’t want to slog through the story to get there.

What could have saved those books from such a horrible fate was stronger characters. What could have made those books unforgettable was nuanced characters.

Where Was I Going Again? The Benefits of Re-Reading During a Revision

By Janice Hardy

A re-read might be the right path to find your story and fall in love with it all over again.

Many writers shudder at the very thought of revising their novel. Others curse. But I’ve always enjoyed the revision process (don’t hate me). I’ve found it’s where my best writing happens, because I know how my story turned out and I have a much better understanding of who the characters are and what they want and need to do.

Even if you’re a meticulous outliner, your final draft rarely matches your original plan exactly. And if you’re a pantser or discovery writer? Well, your manuscript may resemble your initial vision about as much as a squirrel resembles a spaceship. Though honestly, that can happen to plotters, too.

Because things change as we write. Motivations shift. New ideas pop up halfway through and suddenly alter our understanding of the plot. Characters do things we didn’t plan, and sometimes what sounded brilliant in Chapter Eight feels like a complete mistake by Chapter Twenty.

The Great Word Count Freakout (And Why You Can Relax)

By Janice Hardy

Figure out your word count without losing your mind.

You’ve finally finished the novel you’ve been working on for oh-so-long. You poured your heart into it, metaphorically bed on the pages, and finally typed “The End” before doing a little happy dance. Then you checked your word count—and panic set in.

Is it too long? Too short? Will agents laugh? Will readers riot? Should you cut 30,000 words? Add 20,000? Toss the whole thing into a fire and start over?

Take a deep breath. It’s all going to be okay.

Stressing out over your word count happens to pretty much every at some point.

Dramatic Irony vs. Surprise: Which One Should You Use (and When)?

By Janice Hardy

Should you clue readers in or keep them guessing?

It’s one of those sneaky little questions that pops up mid-draft, usually right when you’ve got a big moment brewing. You’re plotting a reveal, or writing a high-stakes scene, and BAM!—you're second-guessing yourself. Should readers know what’s coming, or should they be as shocked as the protagonist? Will a slow-building dread serve you better, or is it time for a jaw-dropping twist?

It's time to choose between dramatic irony and surprise.

Both are powerful narrative tools that, when used well, can hook your reader, raise your tension, and add a satisfying emotional punch. But used poorly? You risk confusing your audience, frustrating their expectations, or even undercutting your story’s payoff.

The Revision Ripple Effect

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Tiny tweaks in a story can cause a tidal wave of changes.

Maybe I’m a writing freak, but I actually love revisions. A single change can impact a novel on multiple levels, which is both cool, and terrifying.

Tweak a character’s backstory or change the rules of your world’s magic, and bam! Your entire novel starts to shift under your feet. One change leads to another, and another, and then you realize the larger ramifications of all those changes and before you know it, it’s practically a new book.

Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you want to make sure it’s what you want.

Some rippled-revisions are massive, while others are more nuanced.

4 Must-Ask Questions Before You Start Your Novel

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

A little thinking before you start writing can make a huge difference in how easy that story is to write.

For some writers, a blank page is a scary thing to face. For others, they see all that white space as an opportunity, and can't wait to dive in and tell their story. The vast majority of us probably fall somewhere in between, with some ideas making us eager to write, and some fighting us for every word.

I've discovered through (often painful) trial and error, that my novels go smoother when I spend some time planning them before I write them. I don't have to figure everything out, but knowing what my core conflict is, what my protagonist needs to do, and who my antagonist is makes it a lot easier to write the first draft. I struggle less, my plot comes together more quickly, and the manuscript turns out much cleaner.

Why You Should Write a Novel "Just for Fun"

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Not everything you write needs to be published—or even publishable.

A few years after I published my third novel (Darkfall), I fell into a dark time with my writing. I was drafting a novel that did not want to work the way I wanted it to, and I dreaded sitting down at the keyboard every day. Writing was no longer fun.

With sad relief, I set the manuscript aside and worked on a non-fiction project I'd been wanting to do (my very first writing book, Plotting Your Novel: Ideas and Structure). I fully intended to return to fiction afterward, expecting my dread of the novel to have passed by then.

It hadn't.

I'll be honest—it was terrifying.

Throw Rocks at Your Characters (It’s Good for Them!)

By Angela Ackerman

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: Sending a character into an emotional spiral is a great way to add conflict to scene or build more tension in a novel. Angela Ackerman joins us today to share tips on how to stress out our characters to create better stories.

Take it away, Angela...

 
If there’s one thing we all know, it’s that life is stressful. Each day, we’re bombarded with obstacles, challenges, and upsets. We navigate what we can, go to bed, and do it all again the next day.

Do we like stress? No. But adversity builds resiliency. Problem-solving under pressure means we push onward, try new things, and learn on the go. Our trials help us gain new skills, competency, and confidence. In short, we grow!

Turning Good Writing into Great Writing

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

The first words you write aren’t always the right words to use.

Tuesday, I spent at least a half hour writing one line—and it wasn’t an opening line. I was working on a new scene for my science fiction detective novel, and it’s an emotion-packed scene right after the Dark Moment that tacks onto the All Is Lost Moment. It’s one those “this is where the protagonist reveals secrets they’d been keeping from someone important in their life, and it goes badly” situations.

I reached the end of the scene and had my upset character storm off, and then dropped the last line of the chapter.

I knew the final line was the right way to end, but it just felt meh.

I also knew the action lines leading up to it were the right ones, but they also felt meh.

When Stuck in a Scene, Look Around

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Sometimes the answer to making a scene work is inside the scene itself.

I’ve been struggling with a major turning point chapter revision the past week, and one scene was really giving me a headache. It’s the end of Act Two, and the scene that triggers my protagonist’s Dark Night of the Soul and All Is Lost moments. So yeah, it’s important.

What’s worse, is that I knew how the chapter needed to end (because of those oh-so-critical moments), I just wasn’t sure how to get there based on where the story was after all the new revisions. I had to connect Point A with Point B, mixing the original mystery plot with the new personal subplot I’d added.

This scene depended on my protagonist getting face-to-face with the antagonist’s minion and realizing something world-shattering about himself and the Big Problem of the plot. And after all the revising I’d done, I had no idea why that minion was in the scene now.

3 Places Told Prose Likes to Hide

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Told prose can steal the oompf from your story and make readers want to skim.

As a science fiction and fantasy writer, I was guilty of a lot of telling in my early work. I’d infodump, I’d write pages of backstory, I’d explain how rules worked and which gods did what to whom. It was a total mess.

But as my writing improved, I discovered how helpful showing could be. It let me put all those wonderful details I’d created into the scene without having to explain them. It let me suggest the backstories and create layered, nuanced characters. It let me background the description and not write boring paragraph after paragraph on what something looked like.

Are You Missing These Opportunities to Write a Better Story?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Transform your story by mining its hidden gems.

One of the many reasons I adore my critique groups is that they push me to tell better stories. When I slack off, they call me on it. When I miss something, they point it out. When I’m not sure what works and throw all kinds of gunk into a scene, they tell me what worked and what needs to go.

After a while, their words started echoing in my head even when we weren’t meeting. When I slack off, miss something, or have too much gunk, and I hear what I know they’re going to say when they read those pages.

Which makes me change it.

Granted, I don’t catch everything, and my changes aren’t always the right changes, but it’s made me much more aware of what I’m doing when I’m drafting a novel. I’m much better now at spotting the gems hidden in the rough words and turning them into diamonds (or at least cubic zirconia).

I guarantee you’re not taking advantage of all the hidden gems in your story.

3 Steps to Crafting a Story Arc that Sucks

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Sucks readers in…of course.

A novel is a series of smaller story arcs all leading toward “an exciting conclusion,” whatever that may be. These smaller arcs fit together like puzzle pieces and make up the larger plot and story of the novel.

At its most basic, a story arc is the trajectory that a story takes from its beginning to its end. But a well-crafted story arc is much more than that. It's the engine that drives a story forward, the structure that gives it shape, and the journey that takes readers on an emotional roller coaster.

Let's explore the three essential components of a story arc: the beginning, the rising action, and the climax.