Internal Conflict vs. External Conflict: How They Differ and How to Use Them Effectively

M.L. Bull
5 days ago
5 min read

Imagine you're a firefighter that rushes to an emergency house fire. The burning flames and suffocating smoke of the house fire is the external conflict. Startled, you look on at the house fire and feel a tremble race through your heart, frightened by the burning flames and the possibility of no surviving civilians. Your fear of the outcome is the internal conflict. This is just a simple example of how to tell these two different conflicts apart from each other. Now, let's dive deeper in distinguishing internal and external conflict and discover how exactly writers can use these effectively when writing their short stories or books.

A fireman standing on the outside of a house fire.

WATCH THE EPISODE

See episode 28 of season 2 of my Journey of a Christian Writer series, Internal Conflict vs. External Conflict: How They Differ & How to Use Them Effectively or continue reading the blog post below.

INTERNAL VS. EXTERNAL: HOW THEY DIFFER

When it comes to internal and external conflict, it seems simple and self-explanatory to most of us writers. Internal conflict is within the characters, and external conflict is everyone or everything on the outside. However, these two conflicts aren't just a matter of differences in position. They also have significant characteristics that can be used to help writers use them creatively and tell them apart shown in the detailed definitions below:

INTERNAL CONFLICT: the inner, emotional battle of characters that influences character motivation and inhibits or develops character transformation. This would include emotions, inner dialogue, or subconscious thoughts of characters.

EXTERNAL CONFLICT: the outside forces, people, or systems within an external story world meant to hinder a character or characters' progress toward their goals.

Internal conflict are the emotions, inner dialogue, and subconscious thoughts of characters. It's the anxiety a character has about walking on stage for a performance, the worrisome thoughts of a little girl whose kitten has gone missing, or the mental doubts of a man before being interviewed for a job promotion. External conflict are things like human antagonists or other antagonistic forces like natural disasters, certain institutions, or possibly governments.

INTERNAL & EXTERNAL: HOW TO USE THEM EFFECTIVELY

Two paramedics helping an elderly black woman in an ambulance

To use internal and external conflict effectively in writing, there are a list of key points writers should use or take into consideration:

3 Key Points:

Use logic and critical thinking to create believable story scenarios. How would characters react or respond in given situations? What things would be expected of the characters and their surrounding environments?
Ask yourself how you would feel in the character's shoes. Identify the mental and emotional effects characters would experience in certain situations + what obstacles or challenges they could face in the external story world.
Know the stakes. Create tension and suspense. What is at stake for the characters? What will happen if a character don't succeed or overcome a story situation?

Once writers can answer all these three key points, it will make it easier for them to create a logical balance between internal conflict and external conflict, write realistic, story scenes, build believable imagery, and emotionally connect with their readers. It can also be helpful to use the 5 W Questions Method when creating possible occurrences, sounds, and other sensory details in the external story world, and scenarios that involve internal and external conflict in them.

Here's a short passage example I wrote of my fictional character Dustin Michaels, a close friend of the Savage family from one of my book series in progress:

Fear captured Lieutenant Dustin Micheals' heart after he climbed out of the passenger's seat of Engine 23 and studied the two-story house blazing with violent flames. Dear God...help me. He marched like an army soldier toward the front door. As soon as he turned the knob, the house coughed up gigantic clouds of smoke, blinding his vision. He couldn't see anything for a moment, except gray, thick mist before his widened eyes.

A skitter of panic ran through his chest. "Hello! Is anybody in here?" His mellow voice was muffled from his oxygen mask.

The shimmering wave of scorching heat made the multiple layers of his uniform and the weight from his oxygen tank strapped on his shoulders more overwhelming. His lungs tightened. He had a serious job to do, but he couldn't wait to remove his helmet and mask from his sweaty head and face and get another breath of the cool night air.

Dustin took a couple of slow breaths and surveyed the living room. Inhale...exhale...inhale...exhale...

Bright, orange flames consumed a tan two-seat sofa and an embroidered carpet rug and spread across the floor, engulfing a wooden rocking chair and the side banister of the hardwood staircase and first couple of steps. It was utterly amazing how quickly fire ate up and destroyed a place in a short period of time.

"Help! Somebody help me!" a young woman's frantic voice called from a room on the second floor,

catching his attention.

Dustin glanced up and shifted his watery eyes toward the staircase of the home. "Hold on! I'm on my way!" He scurried up to the staircase, squeaking the weak steps from the vibration of his heavy boots. Debris of white specks fell off the popcorn ceiling and sprinkled down upon his hard helmet and yellow jacket uniform like flurries of snow. The sound of crackling wood startled him with a gasp. God, help us. Will they be able to make it out alive?

Below is an example of an outline for the scene's internal and external conflict:

INTERNAL: Fear captured Lieutenant Dustin Micheals' heart after he climbed out of the passenger's seat of Engine 23 and studied the two-story house blazing with violent flames. Dear God...help me.

EXTERNAL: As soon as he turned the knob, the house coughed up gigantic clouds of smoke, blinding his vision. He couldn't see anything for a moment, except gray, thick mist before his widened eyes.

INTERNAL: A skitter of panic ran through his chest. "Hello! Is anybody in here?"

EXTERNAL: The shimmering wave of scorching heat made the multiple layers of his uniform and the weight from his oxygen tank strapped on his shoulders more overwhelming.

INTERNAL: His lungs tightened. He had a serious job to do, but he couldn't wait to remove his helmet and mask from his sweaty head and face and get another breath of the cool night air.

EXTERNAL: Bright, orange flames consumed a tan two-seat sofa and an embroidered carpet rug and had spread across the floor, engulfing a wooden rocking chair and the side banister of the staircase and first couple of steps. It was utterly amazing how quickly fire ate up and destroyed a place in a short period of time.

EXTERNAL: "Help! Somebody help me!" a young woman's frantic voice called from a room on the second floor, catching his attention.

EXTERNAL: "Hold on! I'm on my way!" He scurried up to the staircase, squeaking the weak steps from the vibration of his heavy boots.

INTERNAL: The sound of crackling wood startled him with a gasp. God, help us. Will they be able to make it out alive?

As you can see, the emotional impact Dustin feels from the house fire is the internal conflict, whereas the physical effects of the fire and his challenge of rescuing a frightened woman are the external conflict.

CLOSING REMARKS:

Internal conflict and external conflict are two of the most beneficial literary tools to create realistic characters in stories. Practice getting used to utilizing these two conflicts in your own writing to connect with your reading audience and give them a memorable tale they'll never forget. It'll add fulfilling meaning to your short stories and novels that your readers will appreciate you for and enjoy. For more writing videos or tutorials, subscribe to my channel Journey of a Christian Writer series. Okay, that's it for this post. If you liked it, please, give it a (heart❤️), take part in the poll 🤔, and share your thoughts or comments 💬 below.)

Happy Writing! 😊✍🏽💻

🤔Hey, writers, which of the two conflicts do you think it more significant for the momentum of plot in stories?