To be or not to be, what a man to do.
My name is Ken Mears.
And I'm Alyssa Fales.
And welcome to Writer's World.
To start, there is a difference between external and internal struggles.
This is our first ever two-part episode series, which is a amazing and great time for celebration.
But today we will be talking about internal struggles.
And next week we will talk about external struggles.
Really briefly, we are going to mention what external struggles are and then go into our
in-depth discussion on internal struggles.
So Ken, what is an external struggle?
So an external struggle would be just about anything outside of the character.
So that could be something like a huge rock in the road or an evil army.
Basically, it's any person, place, or thing that may be getting in the way of the hero's
goal or anything like that.
But this doesn't really affect the hero deep within their soul.
I will note though that if you're really smart about it, you can both mesh internal and external
struggles so they mirror each other and compound on one another.
Yeah, and we'll talk more about that later.
And I really like how you mentioned a huge rock in the road would be a great example
of an external struggle.
I thought that was creative.
While internal struggles is more of the struggles within a character, just like there are two
types of horror, there's psychological and physical, there is the psychological aspect
of stories, which is the internal struggle, and the more physical parts would be external.
Some examples of common internal struggles and some ways a writer could include internal
struggles.
One way could be a character is forced to work in the gray area.
Another tip comes from livewritersthrive.com and he she says, where you can make a character
contradict her belief system or make a character act against her ethics.
And I thought that was a great example of an internal struggle.
And this next one comes from thoughtcategory.com, quote, where you have two coexisting but conflicting
wants or desires.
Political, religious, moral, love, self image, lack of clarity or self knowledge, end quote.
And this one comes from now novel.com where quote, a character might struggle with an
emotional problem such as fear of intimacy or abandonment.
And I just thought these were really great because they're great at showing that there
are a lot of different options to create internal struggles.
And I thought it might be fun if I randomly picked a book for Ken.
And then sorry, Ken, and I would see if you could list out the internal conflict.
So are you ready?
Sure.
Okay.
What is the internal conflict in Lamis?
Oh, probably kind of the struggle of trying to become a better man, you know, trying to
turn the life around, I guess.
Yeah, it's kind of fun to just pick a book and see if you can find the internal struggle
because it's interesting to see the internal and external struggles.
And so Ken, what are some examples of common internal struggles you can think of and some
ways a writer could include internal struggles in their writing?
So I would say that some of the more common internal struggles would be struggles with
a character's moral compass.
The sort of thing where it's like, when is it right for me to kill or when is it right
for me to steal?
Another great one is guilt.
If your hero has done something they regret, that is gold for creating internal conflict.
And when they wonder if they should have done something, that can really tear a person apart.
And another one is difference of duty.
So the hero might be torn between his duty to his family and his duty to his love.
Think Romeo and Juliet.
Both are kind of torn between their duty to their families and their love for each other.
Now you may be asking, why should I include more internal struggles into my characters?
NoFilmSchool.com said, and I thought they summed it up really well, writing conflict
may seem like a challenge, but it's the key to making your story leap off the page and
live in the minds of audiences forever.
End quote.
Simply internal struggle is writing conflict.
Writing internal conflicts makes your character lifelike and most importantly, believable.
In your personal life, you will have to deal with gray area, religious conflicts, fear,
et cetera.
And writing a character that struggles with these same aspects makes him human too.
NoFilm.com also had a good point where, quote, an internal struggle like Indiana Jones coming
to terms with his relationship with his father, end quote, makes the story more than Indiana
Jones trying to get something before the bad guy can, which we have seen hundreds of times.
And it's just a way to add this depth and this conflict and make the story more engaging.
I have a really bad tendency in my writing to make all the conflicts external.
And researching for this episode has made me realize that I need to include more internal
struggles.
And we'll hear more of Ken's idea right after a quick break.
We are back.
Ken.
I'm curious, do you think it is a good idea to have a story that only deals with internal
struggles?
I honestly think that many good stories can be told with just internal struggles, but
the best stories have both.
To me, internal struggles are the deepest and also the hardest kind to write, but they
also pay off really well.
We all understand the fundamental internal struggles.
Guilt, duty, decisions, all of those are essential to human existence.
So the hero and the reader really connect between that internal struggle.
How do you create internal struggle?
I normally create internal struggles by taking a look at kind of what kind of person I'm
working with.
There's a huge difference between the noble do no wrong hero and a bloody mercenary.
They will both have very different moral codes and as such have very different internal struggles.
Then based on what kind of person the character is, I try to find what will be the most painful
for them.
I know, kind of makes me sound like a jerk, but that's the way we writers work, right?
Like if they're the do no wrong hero, then killing somebody will be very hard for them
and create lots of internal struggle.
All that wouldn't even really faze the mercenary.
I'm just struck by all the great ideas you have to create internal struggle and it's
just getting my wheels turning.
And you may be wondering how, why you could have more internal struggles in your writing
and kind of like what we've mentioned earlier to add depth.
It gives more to read than what they are physically doing the characters and it adds layers.
And Ken, why should people consider adding more internal conflicts to their writing?
Because internal struggles and conflicts really connect.
Everybody understands struggling deep inside.
The struggle is to be human.
While having external battles with orcs, dragons and ancient evils may be really exciting,
what will really connect and hit home are the internal and moral struggles.
That is what bonds your reader with your characters.
That is what makes your reader care about your characters and see them as people, not
just entities acting out a story.
I really like how you said to struggle is to be human and how that makes them more than
just entities.
I really like that.
And now that we have crossed our T's and dotted our I's, we can move on to how to create internal
struggles in your novel.
My number one plot, I mean, my number one point, oops, is to plot it out beforehand.
This next explanation comes from nownovel.com.
Quote, when creating a character for your novel, create a cheat sheet for internal and
external conflicts they will grapple with.
For example, this could be a character conflict cheat sheet for Odysseus' wife in Homer's
Odyssey.
Enter your name, Penelope, who and where?
Wife of Odysseus awaits his return in Ethika.
Internal conflict.
Doesn't know if Odysseus is still alive and unsure whether or not to take his advice to
remarry if he has not returned from war.
External conflict.
She's be seized by persistent suitors, vying for her hand in marriage, forcing her to find
ways to deter them until she receives word of Odysseus.
I thought this was a brilliant idea to plan out your character's internal and external
conflicts beforehand.
I thought it might be an interesting way to start writing your novel, where you start
by figuring out your character's internal conflicts and then plan out your external conflicts
and then decide how that plays out.
It's kind of interesting how as I have very high planter tendencies, I'm like, man, guys,
if you plan this out, it's amazing.
I can understand how this wouldn't be big for someone else, but for me it was just like,
oh my gosh, this is amazing.
Of course, everything I quote or mention or if you want to see the little graph that they
have, it will be in the show notes if you decide to look at it.
As I sort of mentioned earlier, when you're creating internal conflict, it should be something
your character really wouldn't struggle with.
An assassin wouldn't really struggle with killing people, whereas the do no wrong hero
would have any issue about whether to run into a burning building and save people.
An assassin may have a conflict between doing that and preserving their own health.
We're all unique and our struggles are unique.
Don't forget the characters are their own unique individuals and with their own unique
struggles as you're writing.
And adding onto that, my number two tip would be to pick an internal struggle you are familiar
with.
If you have your uncle struggles with, say, picking from a long list of potential struggles,
relationships, maybe write about someone who struggles with relationships, but if you don't
want to, you don't have to.
My number three comes from wellstory.com and their how to craft rioting internal conflict
for your story.
They had a good point that quote, the key to crafting successful internal conflict lies
in consequences.
In essence, your character should be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
No matter which decision they make, negative consequences should ensue, or at least your
character should believe they will ensue.
End quote.
She says to ask questions like, will they really risk all of that just for this?
Will they really face those consequences?
And I thought this was a really good idea to lay down your character's beliefs and then
have this struggle between a rock and a hard place.
Moving on, our favorite internal conflict examples.
We'll go ahead and we'll start with Ken.
So my favorite internal conflict usually comes from my own writings and in particular, it
comes from my next book in my Stones of the Middle Land series.
One of the characters is starting to get his memories back and is realizing he may not
have been the best person before he lost his memories.
This then sparks memories back and is causing him to have a huge internal conflict between
his current moral compass and the guilt and horror of what he did before he became who
he is now.
And that to me is just powerful, amazing internal conflict.
My absolute favorite.
Dude, that's amazing.
And I'm personally not sure what my favorite internal conflict is, but my current favorite
right now is Valette.
I'm not sure if I'm saying the title right, but it's by Charlotte Bronte in which a lot
of the conflict is her doing something new and the struggle of making her own decisions
and going throughout thought.
That was really great internal conflict that so far I have enjoyed reading.
We hope today's episode was helpful.
If you like our podcast, please share it with your friends and family.
For sources and the transcript, visit writersworldpodcast.weebly.com.
And our Instagram is writersworld and I feel I should make a note here.
It's not writer apostrophe S, it's writers with no apostrophe.
Anyways, at writers world podcast official.
Our Patreon is patreon.com slash writers world podcast and until next time, I've been Ken
Mears and I've been Melissa Fales with writers world and keep on writing.