External Conflict: 6 Outside Forces in a Story World

M.L. Bull
3 days ago
6 min read

External conflict is the impact of outside forces that come against characters in a story. There are a number of different types of conflict, obstacles, and challenges characters could face during the plotline, but specifically there are six forces that characters are more than likely to deal with in some way or another. These include natural disasters or storms, supernatural or evil spirits, governments or institutions, people or villains, animals or creatures, and social problems. Okay, now, let's go over each one of these in further detail below.

A group of uniformed soldiers fighting in warfare.

WATCH THE EPISODE

See episode 32 of season 2 of my Journey of a Christian Writer series, External Conflict: 6 Outside Forces in a Story World or continue reading the blog post below.

EXTERNAL CONFLICT: 6 OUTSIDE FORCES IN A STORY WORLD

External conflict is the outside conflict in a story meant to hinder a character or characters during their journey in a story world. This can range from a number of different things from a twister in a farm community and powerful dictatorship to antagonists or evil magic systems in a sci-fi or fantasy world. Anything or anyone that comes up against characters to prevent them from reaching their goals is considered external conflict. Specifically, there are six main outside forces of external conflict that will likely collide with your characters in a story:

NATURAL DISASTERS OR STORMS
SUPERNATURAL FORCES OR EVIL SPIRITS
GOVERNMENTS OR INSTITUTIONS
PEOPLE OR VILLAINS
ANIMALS OR CREATURES
SOCIAL PROBLEMS

All right, now, let's go over each of these with some examples.

NATURAL DISASTERS OR STORMS

A thunderstorm at night over a neighhborhood.

One of the main external conflicts is natural disasters or storms. Hence, inclement weather, such as thunderstorms, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, blizzards, flooding, fires, or heatwaves or extreme dangerous temperatures. Many of these different types of weather I went over on a previous Interior vs. Exterior Settings & Subtle Details settings post. This type of conflict is referred to as Person vs. Nature, meaning a character or group of characters are faced up against the dangers and forces of nature. For example, a pioneer family fighting the high winds and brutally cold temperatures of a blizzard while crossing a Wisconsin territory, or a stranded crew tossed in strong waves after escaping a shipwreck. These are two examples of the external conflict of natural disasters.

Besides storms, this conflict could also be just a matter of survival in the great outdoors, such as the children's story "Hatchet," or the short story, "To Build a Fire" by Jack London, which is a story about a man and his dog who struggle to survive the frigid environment of the Yukon wilderness. Other examples of this first external conflict are the 1994 film Twister and the 2004 film The Day After Tomorrow.

SUPERNATURAL FORCES OR EVIL SPIRITS

This second external conflict of supernatural forces or evil spirits are most commonly used in sci-fi or fantasy stories but can also be within different types of psychological thrillers, or even Christian fiction stories. There are various kinds of supernatural forces writers can describe that characters must strive to overcome, or that hinders the pursuit of characters during their story journey. Some of these could be angels, demons, ghosts, or other otherworldly beings, but it can also be other types of phenomenon or objects. For example, maybe there's a boundary field blocking characters from entering through or reaching a needed destination, or maybe characters are battling against spiritual warfare while trying to return a sacred artifact to a royal queen in a palace. Some movie examples of this type of external conflict are the Ghostbuster movies.

GOVERNMENTS OR INSTITUTIONS

This third external conflict of governments and institutions may not seem like a possible threat, but it actually can be to characters, depending on the laws enforced and powers held by the authority figures, such as presidents, queens, and kings. As we know, not all people of power use their abilities lawfully, but some people abuse their power to control others or gain the upper hand. The same can be true within fictional story worlds, such as the institution of slavery in my Christian and Historical fiction novel, The Pact of Freedom, which is based on the fugitive law of the Compromise of 1850 that oppressed runaway slaves and was enforced for white slave owners in the South during the antebellum period. Some movie examples of this external conflict are the 2019 film Harriet about the real-life story of Harriet Tubman and her fight against the institution of slavery and the 2008 film American Violet, based on the true story of a single mother who was falsely accused of distributing narcotics in her Texas underprivileged neighborhood.

PEOPLE OR VILLAINS

A witch, a vampire, and a police officer.

This fourth external conflict is of people and villains is probably the most common ones, and can range from a number of antagonistic characters in a protagonist's life, such as family members, friends, coworkers, or lovers'; or if in a more sci-fi or fantasy story, characters like witches, monsters, vampires, or other opposing antagonists that try to hinder or disrupt the protagonist and supporting characters from reaching their goals. The concept of villains is most prevalent in superhero stories or movies, such as the Captain America, Batman, Wonder Woman, or Spiderman comics and movies.

ANIMALS OR CREATURES

This fifth external conflict of animals or creatures may be more present in action or adventure stories and movies, such as the children's book and 1995 film Jumanji about a boy in the 1960s who discovers a magical and mysterious, jungle-themed board game that unleashes a world of adventure for him and other involved players. The more the players play the game, the more wild animals are released and enters into their reality, threatening the lives of the players and other people of their real world.

Another example of animals or creatures putting the lives of characters in danger is the novel and 1993 film Jurassic Park, about an island theme park of dinosaurs created by prehistoric DNA. Although the park is firstly considered safe, the crew discovers the mastermind's assumptions were wrong, leaving them striving to survive and running for their lives.

SOCIAL PROBLEMS

This last and sixth external conflict of social problems can actually include all the previous conflicts I've mentioned previously, but primarily are challenges or obstacles characters face within their society. For example, maybe characters are fighting for racial equality or their civil rights within a segregated community, or maybe characters in a neighborhood are getting poisoned by a factory and protest for a cleaner, healthier environment. Social problems can be various different situations, but the main point is the characters are striving for justice. One example of characters going against social problems is the 2015 film Selma based on the true story of Martin Luther King, his push for each voting rights or African Americans, and the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama known as "Bloody Sunday."

Another example is the 2019 film Miss Virginia, the story of a black mother's fight to create a movement and improve the educational system in Washington, D.C for the sake of her son's future who's in danger of dealing drugs and being lost to the rough city streets.

CLOSING REMARKS:

The following six external conflicts aren't the only ones characters try to overcome in a story world, but by knowing the most basic and common types, it allows writers to know how they can experiment with external conflict and what tests or challenges they could throw in their characters' paths to raise the stakes, keep the momentum of the plot going, and make their stories more interesting to readers. For more writing videos or tutorials, subscribe to my channel Journey of a Christian Writer series. That's it for this post. If you liked it and found it helpful, please, give it a (heart❤️), take part in the poll 🤔, and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.)

Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻

🤔Hey, writers, how you ever included social problems in your stories or books?