Tackling conflict in storytelling
Rewatching Black Sails recently made me think about conflict in storytelling and how I approach it in the stories I write. Having grown up on Bond films and Star Wars, it’s no wonder that my own protagonists meet fleetingly with their antagonists throughout the story until facing off against each other in the final third. But what Black Sails got me thinking about is how the rise of the ‘boxset’ has got both antagonist and protagonist interacting frequently throughout a story. There are lots of ways of creating conflict, but having the main character and their adversary interact more is a very effective way. After all, good drama is built upon conflict; the more that opposing forces come together, the more conflict there is.
The traditional way of structuring conflict
Take Star Wars. Nerdwriter made a video essay a few years back showing how Darth Vader became an icon with only 8 minutes of screen time in A New Hope. It’s crazy that Luke doesn’t even meet Vader in the film. The subsequent films follow a more traditional pattern where they cause trouble for each other in the first acts before confronting each other in the finale.
The Mandalorian also follows this traditional approach. So far, Mando has faced off against his chief antagonist, Moff Gideon, only a few times.
This structure is ubiquitous throughout storytelling.
Now, I’m being too simplistic here. Vader and Gideon create many problems for Luke and Mando, respectively. But they do so indirectly. I find it interesting how you can get an antagonist and a protagonist in the same room throughout a story without them killing each other.
Getting a protagonist and an antagonist together
Quite often, the stakes are too high for a protagonist and an antagonist to come together, so how do many stories manage to pull it off?
Othello - Dramatic Irony. In Shakespeare’s play, Iago and Othello interact throughout. Othello doesn’t know Iago is his antagonist, but the clever thing here is that the audience does.
Peaky Blinders - McGuffin. There are some dramatic scenes between Tommy Shelby and Inspector Campbell in the first series, despite both characters wanting to see each other dead. But what stops this is a shared goal - the McMuffin of the stolen guns. Until both men get what they want, they need each other.
Game of Thrones - The Ensemble Cast. Though Ned Stark is the closest to being the main character in season 1, it’s fair to say there are almost countless other characters that are. The beauty of this approach is the unpredictability and tension that arise from such a plethora of characters coming up against each other. If there isn’t just one character driving the story and anyone can, the stakes are raised as everyone is expendable.
The North Water - Setting. Ian McGuire puts his protagonist, Patrick Sumner, up against his antagonist, Henry Drax, in a location where neither can escape - a whaling ship headed to the Arctic Circle.
Sharpe - Secondary Antagonists. The main antagonist of Bernard Cornwell’s Richard Sharpe is Napoleon’s French forces. But quite often, he faces enemies on his own side in the shape of Obadiah Hakeswill or Sir Henry Simmerson. Though they’d love to kill Sharpe as soon as they look at him (and vice-versa), they are prevented by being essentially on the same side.
So, back to Black Sails. It uses the same approach as Game of Thrones in the sense that both shows have an ensemble cast that engages in frequent conflicts, big and small. The payoff here, and what both shows use to good effect, is that there can be fatal consequences for anyone at any point.
For decades, cinema reigned supreme within storytelling. With only a limited time to tell a story, there was only time to invest in one character and tell their story. With series having 6, 10, and 20 episodes a season, there is much more time to tell the story of multiple characters. And if various characters are driving the story, then the fate of anyone can be in the hands of the writer gods. Lots of tension and lots of conflicts = good drama.
So, for my writing, what direction will I take? My debut novel, Marie Cadieux and The Fever Coast, tells one character’s story. A lot of conflict comes not just from the other characters she encounters but the situation and the environments she finds herself in.
I’d definitely like to tell a story where the protagonist and antagonist have to be in constant close proximity without killing each other, but instead, they create plenty of drama for each other.
What are your favourite protagonist vs antagonist conflicts, and how often are they pitted together throughout the story? If you’re writing a story yourself, how do you pit your protagonists against their antagonists?
Comment below!