Show, Don't Tell

For as long as I've been into writing, one of the pieces of advice I've heard the most is "Show, don't tell." And I think it's great advice. There's just one problem: I've never really heard people explain how to do it. Everyone's telling me to show and not tell, but no one is showing me how to show and not tell.

This is unfortunate for me because one of my struggles with writing is showing instead of telling. I try to do it but I never know if I've succeeded. As I write, I'm constantly thinking "Am I showing or telling? Did I show that right? How do I show this instead of tell it?"

For me, telling someone to show and not tell without telling them how to do that is like giving someone a math test without teaching them math. What are we supposed to do?

Obviously, I struggle with this aspect and if I struggle with it, somebody else probably does too. I wish I knew everything there was to know about showing and not telling, but, honestly, I need to read this information more than I need to write it. So, why am I writing it? Because I have to tackle it sometime.

So, obviously, when we talk about showing vs telling, we want the reader to see what we're talking about rather than just hear it. We need to be as vivid as possible without being too wordy, which is very challenging.

So, to get started, here is an example of showing vs telling.

Telling:  Mary was brunette.

Showing: Mary's hair cascaded down her back. It was a dark, rich color which reminded most people of  freshly melted chocolate or sitting in front of a fireplace with hot cocoa during the winter.

Though the description may be slightly overboard, hopefully you have an idea of what the goal is when talking about showing rather than telling if you didn't already. 

It's plain to see that those descriptions are different, but how are they different? What, exactly, sets them apart from each other? Verbs, adjectives, visual imagery. The difference is one is flatly telling you how things are, and the other one is describing it for you so you can see it yourself.

Descriptive language is how you show something. Instead of saying someone is tall, say they tower over everyone else. It gives your reader an image of what the person looks like. It all boils down to word choice. This is a great reason to write with a thesaurus next to you because synonyms have a way of livening up a scene. Don't say loud say ear-splitting. Don't say happy say delighted. Just changing one word is sometimes all it takes to show your readers what is happening rather than telling them.

In the above example, for the showing, I never said Mary's hair was brown, but you knew anyway. That's exactly what I mean; I literally never wrote that she had brown hair. I showed you. I described it so you could see it. I didn't have to say what color it was.

It might not seem like it's so difficult when you look at it like this, but it really is. When you apply it to your own writing, it becomes a real challenge. You have to make sure you're showing in every scene, that you're always being vivid and adding enough imagery without over-doing it. You can't be too wordy or flowery because that turns people off and if there's too many words then it confuses people and makes your storyline harder to follow.

One of my absolute favorite quotes about showing vs telling comes from Anton Chekhov: "Don't tell me moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." It really illustrates, for me, the difference between showing and telling. If you simply state the obvious, it's boring. Would you rather read a sentence such as:

"she threw herself onto her bed as the tears she'd been fighting all day finally escaped while she tried to stifle her sobs with a pillow,"

or a sentence like:

"when she got to her room, she started to cry."?

Both  sentences say the same thing, but one is showing you and the other is merely telling you. The second sentence is dull in comparison to the first. Even without being compared to anything, it's weak and doesn't have any descriptive language. It's as if we are hearing a story second-hand rather than watching it unfold ourselves. The first sentence, though, engages you by describing what is happening as it happens. It's not telling you that she cried, it's telling you how she cried.

Don't be black and white with your writing, be colorful. Adjectives and verbs are really helpful in this area because they paint the picture. But, as I said earlier, it's all about the word you choose. Angry is an adjective, but it's not nearly as descriptive as the adjectives irritated or enraged. Those give a much clearer idea of exactly what a character is feeling and paints a vivid picture for your reader.

I know that one of the reasons showing instead of telling is hard for me is because I can already see it all in my head. I see it without words and when I write that someone is happy, I don't feel the need to explain more because I already get it. I know my characters and my story and I don't have to describe it for myself. And it's hard to describe how it looks sometimes. Sometimes, you have such an exact picture in your mind of how something looks and none of the ways you describe it seem to do it justice. You just can't find the right words. It can be really, really difficult to be descriptive.

Painting a picture with words is a talent you have to work for. You're lucky if it comes naturally. But, if you work at it and achieve it, you can create a literary masterpiece.

Killing a Character? Why?

As readers, we rejoice when the villains are killed and devastated when our favorite characters die, but, as writers, killing is just part of the job - and many times it's a part of the job we look forward to.

We want to make our readers feel all sorts of emotions while reading our book. We want them to feel happy, scared, angry, surprised, disgusted (in a good way) and, yes, sad. Any emotions we can evoke are good ones. And you want to them feel several different emotions, not just one of them the whole time because, in the end, that will bore the reader. They come looking for adventure, and they expect their emotions to be toyed with. Sometimes characters just have to die.

But it's not just about the reader. It's also about your story. Sometimes we want to kill a character for the sake of killing them and because we want our reader to react to the death. But, before you kill them, you have to ask yourself a question.

Why am I killing this character?

If you don't know why you're killing the character, no one else will either. Your character must have a reason to die. If there is no reason and you're killing them just because you want the reader to mourn them, it's not going to work out that way. It's all about reason. If there's no reason, the reader is not going to react or care the way you want them to. If you are sentencing a character to death, but are unable to pinpoint exactly why they have to go, then you should think twice before getting rid of them. Maybe they need to die, maybe they don't. If you're unsure, ask yourself these questions.

Is my character in the way?
Sometimes we end up with a character who just gets in the way of everything. They started out with real purpose and you had some big plans for them but, along the way, they sort of got kicked to the side and now really serve no purpose. It happens to the best of us. If you have a character that's just there and isn't really helping to move the plot along, don't kill them. When you kill for the sole purpose of getting rid of a character that you no longer have a need for, it shows. You won't be fooling anyone. It's taking the easy way out. So, obviously, this character needs not to be in the story because they're just getting in the way of everything but you don't need to kill them off. What you need to do is acknowledge they have no purpose and go back and completely write them out. This way, instead of having to kill them later, now they just never existed. You don't need characters in your story who serve no purpose, so don't have them in there in the first place.

Will killing this character move the plot forward?
If the answer to this question is no, you need to think again about killing them. Everything that happens in your story, every scene, every event, every death, has to help the plot along. If killing your character puts a pause on the plot or is completely irrelevant to the plot, then what's the point of killing them?

Is killing the character really necessary?
Sometimes, the plot demands we kill the character and sometimes it doesn't. Don't kill your character if you don't need to. You really want to avoid just going around killing characters because if it keeps happening and it doesn't need to happen, the reader isn't going to cry, they're going to get annoyed. We need to really plan out the character deaths and make sure it's necessary in order for the reader to care when the character dies.

How will the death affect the main character?
If you're going to kill a character, the death has to affect the main character. Whether positively or negatively, the main character has to have some reaction to it. Remember that the death of whoever you're killing has to push the plot forward, and your main character is carrying the plot with them, so they must be affected one way or another by the character's death. It doesn't have to be an emotional reaction. They may not have even known the character, but the death needs to come back to them somehow. Maybe it just makes their task more difficult, or maybe easier. Just make sure the death affects the main character either directly or indirectly.

Am I killing the character to make the reader sad or to shock them?
It's important that you don't kill off characters for the purpose of getting a reaction from your audience. You won't get the reaction you want if you kill for the sole purpose of getting a reaction. If your character dies in the right way, at the right time, for the right reasons, the reader will react. But don't try to get a reaction from them. Do not kill for the reader, kill for your story.

Am I killing the character because it's the bad guy?
It's common for the villain to die at the end of a story. But it's not written in stone that every villain ultimately has to die. In fact, it's not even suggested anywhere. Don't kill the villain just because they're the bad guy. They must have as much reason to die as any other character and that reason can't just be that they're the opposing force. Kill the villain only if they have to die for the sake of your story. Only if it makes the story better and they have no other option. When killing a bad guy, you have to ask yourself the same questions you would before killing any other character.

The point here is that you really need to think before killing your character. Really question your motives for doing it and make sure it's absolutely necessary for your story. Especially if you find yourself unable to pinpoint exactly why you're doing it. The truth is, sometimes, no matter how much we want to kill a character, they really don't need to die and we have to acknowledge that.

But, also, sometimes we really don't want to kill a character even though the plot is demanding they die and we must acknowledge that as well. Readers often imagine that authors love to kill and do it out of enjoyment and, sometimes that's true, but the other truth is that, many times, it's just as hard for the author to kill the character as it is for the reader to read about it. We love our characters, but we know that they can't always make it through alive. If you're having a hard time executing a beloved character, just remember the words of Robert Frost: "No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader." If your story is messing with your emotions, you can be sure it will do as much for your reader.

How to Start (And Not Start) Your Novel

So you've got the perfect idea for a good story and you can't wait to get started. It's just itching to get out of you.

When you finally have time to sit down and work on it, though, you have to be careful how you start it. If it doesn't have a good beginning, readers won't be interested enough to read further, even if the rest of it is amazing.

The beginning of your story is supposed to tell the reader how good the rest of it is. It's like you're saying to the reader "Hey, this is how good the story is. This is why you should read it." The beginning has to be as good as the rest of it, if not better. It is, after all, what makes your reader want to finish the story.

Your beginning has to hook the reader and pull them in enough to make them keep turning the pages, and that isn't an easy task.  There is no one way to start your novel that always works, but there are several different types of beginnings that tend to grab a reader's interest.

Do use humor. Humor is an excellent way to begin just about anything: a speech, a conversation with someone you just met, a novel. This is because people are almost immediately put at ease with a little bit of humor. It is also beneficial, for you, as the writer, because if you start off with something witty, your reader opens up your book and the first thing they see is something clever, then they are likely to continue reading. People like to laugh, and if you can get them to early on, then you are very likely to catch a devoted reader. Humor is also effective in a different way. If your reader is captivated by the humor, then in the very first line, they have a reaction to your story and they are subconsciously pushed to read on. But you have to be careful with humor. Don't just open with a joke, unless it works with your story. Don't just be funny, the humor has to tie in to your story somehow or you'll lose the reader a couple of paragraphs in. It has to introduce your story.

For example, think of the opening line in The Voyage of The Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis: "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it." This opening line is witty and introduces us to the main character. In one sentence, we have been given a good amount of information. By C.S. Lewis' use of the word "boy" we know Eustace is a kid and not nearing adulthood. We know that he pretty much an unpleasant person to hang out around with. He's probably bratty or something of a bully.

Your humorous opening can't just be humorous. It has to give information about your story or you will quickly lose your reader's interest.

Don't begin with description. Of anything. Not the landscape, not the weather, not the protagonist. The first thing the reader wants to know when they open up a book is the answer to "Why do I care?" and it's a question you have to answer right away. If the first thing the reader sees is a description of a sunrise or the Smith family at dinner, they're not going to read much farther. When a reader opens a book for the first time, they don't want to know what the protagonist looks like, they want to care about the protagonist and feel involved right away. Telling them the character's hair color doesn't provide much of a connection.

Do have something significant going on. There has to be something happening when your story starts, otherwise, why are you including the scene? Your characters need to be doing something or in the middle of something that will get your reader involved in the action right away. Opening with you protagonist waking up in the morning and getting ready for school isn't significant, even if your story is about a kid in high school. Opening with a police interrogation is significant.

Don't begin with a backstory. Starting with a history is saying to the reader, "Wait a minute. Before the story starts, here's something you need to know." And that won't do. The book is open, your story should already be started. If your reader needs to know backstory, there's ways to work into your story without taking a time out. And the reader is more likely to be interested in the backstory if they are previously engaged in the story and care about your character.

Do use suspense. It's never too early for suspense. If you have your readers on the edge of their seats at the beginning, that's a good sign. If your opening scene is suspenseful, they may not have a connection with the protagonist right away, but they certainly are involved in the story. Be careful, though. You don't want to throw too much at them at once. Don't be all suspense because you still have a story to tell and you need to introduce your story to the reader.

Don't start with a dream. A dream is teasing the reader. You have something interesting going on and then, when your character wakes up, it's like saying, "Just kidding! None of that happened. Here's the real story." As a reader, it's aggravating. We don't want to be pulled into a story to find out it's not the story at all.

Do have some kind of introduction or reference to important secondary characters. No, they don't all have to be present at the beginning, or even mentioned in the first chapter, but you need to introduce all important characters early on. If your story is already going on and your reader is used to the flow and has already become familiar with your protagonist and then in chapter five, you introduce a significant secondary character that should already have been at least mentioned, it's going to throw your reader off balance.

Don't start off by telling your readers that your work of fiction is a true story. It's a waste of time because no matter how many times you say everything really happened, we know it didn't and the more you try to convince us, the more annoyed we will become. The Percy Jackson series starts off this way, and though they are fine books, the beginning does tend to annoy me somewhat. Just know that your reader knows it's fiction and you don't want to spend time telling them it's real. It can get in the way of your story.

These beginnings, are, of course, not your only options. There are several different theories out there about ways stories should begin and if you're still unsure after reading this, keep looking around. You don't want to start your story when you're still not sure how you should start it.

Keep in mind that the beginning is one of the most important parts of your books and, consequently, one of the hardest to write. You have to hook your reader (without being too crazy) and at the same time, give them enough information to understand what's going on right away. Don't spend time writing about a situation while keeping your reader in suspense of what, exactly, the situation is. They need to understand right away. Beginning a book is tough job.

Remember the words of Richard Peck: "You're only as good as your opening line." If your opening doesn't make the reader want to read more, they're not going to read more. The beginning is the only chance you have to hook your reader's interest. If the opening isn't good, they'll assume the rest of it isn't any good, either.

Don't be discouraged if you're having trouble coming up with a good beginning. It takes time to find the perfect opening for your story. We all struggle with this part of writing because the beginning is only a few lines long, but they have to say a lot. But the better you understand what the reader is looking for in those first few sentences and the job your opening has to do, the better your beginning will be.

Dealing With Dead End Stories

Don't you hate when you get a brilliant idea for a story and you're itching to get started on it so you do, and then halfway through it (or somewhere in the middle) you can't write anymore? The story isn't going anywhere and nothing is happening. You've hit a dead end. What are you supposed to do when you hit this roadblock? Wait and see if inspiration hits? Give up? Should you give your seemingly dead story a funeral? How do you deal with it?

Fortunately, just because your story seems to have lost its point, doesn't mean it's a lost cause. There are some tactics you can try before throwing in the towel.

Outline
I don't like making outlines and it's a step I often skip (and usually end up regretting). But, the truth is, you're less likely to hit a dead end in your story if you make an outline for it before you start writing. If you have an outline, you'll always know where the story is supposed to go and the major events that are going to take it there, lessening the chances of a dead end creeping up on you. But not eliminating them.

Brainstorm
Brainstorming is a good way to dig yourself out of a hole. When you're faced with a dead end story, grab a paper and pen (sometimes it can help to actually hand write it instead of typing) and write down any ideas you have of ways the story can progress. Even if you think the idea is dumb, write it down. The goal is to write down any ideas to get the story moving again. You don't have to use one of them, but it might give you the inspiration you need.

Discipline
If you make yourself sit down and write the story, you might find that once you get some words out, it will start flowing more easily. Give yourself a goal and stick to it. When you sit down with your story, tell yourself you're not getting up until you've written 100 words or 1000 words or give yourself a time frame where you do nothing but work on it, like one or two hours. Do it consistently for a few days and see if you get back into the natural flow and the story is slowly starting to come back to life.

Don't Limit Yourself
Whatever your plan was when you started the story, know that it's perfectly acceptable to change it and head in an entirely different direction. If you made an outline, you don't have to stick to it, especially if it's not working out for you. You are the writer, you can do anything you want so don't think you're bound to write it one way if it will work better another way.

Keep Calm and Carry On
Don't stress out if you feel like you've lost the story. Just take a break from it for a while and then come back to it and see if it's going better. Write it even if you feel like it's dumb or not working out. It might be dumb, it might not be working, or it might be going really well but you're not going to know until you're finished. It's okay to have doubts about where your story is going, but don't let it keep you from writing.

Get a Second Opinion
It's common to not want to share our unfinished work with others, but if worse comes to worse, you might want to give it a try. Having someone who doesn't know the story like you do read it with a fresh pair of eyes can be beneficial as they can tell what doesn't seem to be working from the reader's point of view. But you want to be careful. Don't hand it over to just anyone. Let someone see it who knows what they're doing and how to spot things that don't fit into the story too well. If a reader can help pinpoint why you seem to be at a dead end, you just might be able to write your way out of it.

Deadline
Set a deadline for yourself and work to finish it by then. The pressure of a deadline can be more help than you might think. Knowing you have to have it completed by a certain time motivates your brain to work harder on getting back into the flow of your story.

Re-Evaluate Your Story
Take some time to look over your story with a critical eye. Look for things that may have caused it to come to a stand still. Is there a character that keeps getting in the way? Get rid of them. Is there a moment in the plot where everything seems to start heading downhill? Fix it. Is there a specific scene that seems to bring the story to a halt? Change it. Did something happen in the beginning to make it unfold into a dead end? Rewrite the beginning. Just make sure there's not something in the story that's causing it to seem like a dead end story. Maybe all you need to do is fill in a missing plot hole, or add an exciting plot twist. Don't be afraid to experiment. 

These are all ideas you can try if you want to complete your story but feel like it's just not do-able anymore. If you want to get the story out, you can get it out. You just have to find the method that works best for you.

You also need to know when it's time to give up on the story. If you're not passionate about finishing and find the whole thing dull, then you might need to call it quits because if you're not passionate about your story, chances are the reader isn't going to enjoy it, either. If you've lost focus on your story or your gut is telling you to stop, you might need to heed those signs and realize that it might be better for you to start a brand new project.

Don't give up, though, if you're just finding it difficult and make sure you've exhausted all resources before letting it go. Ultimately, it's up to you to decide if your story is something you can complete, or if you need to give up on it.

Hopefully this has given you some ideas on things you can try when you come to a dead end before calling it quits. I've made the decision to quit on a few stories that weren't working out, but then a year or two later, I looked at them again and found new ideas and ways to keep it going. So even quitting on the story doesn't always mean it's over forever. Sometimes it's just a matter of time.

Does Your Protagonist Have Too Many Pros?

Writing a protagonist is hard. You have to come up with someone who your readers will like to spend time with. If you're going to achieve this, you're going to need to create a character that has likeable traits.

Your protagonist has a big job to do: they have to carry the weight of the story. If your protagonist is weak, your story is going to be weak as well.

When you're creating a protagonist, remember that protagonist is not synonymous with hero. They don't have to be the good guy. But they do need to be likeable.

Even if your protagonist isn't the good guy, your reader is going to be spending a lot of time with this character and getting to know them. They need some good qualities.

Because of this, what tends to happen is that people create their protagonists and make them too good. Sometimes, we want our protagonist to be a role model so we emphasize their goodness. But many times, when that's the case, we don't realize that there is such a thing as too good and it's easy to make our protagonist too perfect. If that happens, your reader won't relate to your character or even like them.

Remember that your character is human, so he/she must have flaws. That's how readers relate. No one is able to connect to a character who is always perfect. Make sure your character is wrong sometimes.

I like the book Inkheart a lot. I think it's a really great story but I absolutely cannot stand Meggie, the protagonist. She is definitely a flawed character, so that's not the problem. She's selfish, arrogant, rebellious and disobedient. The problem with her is that, despite these flaws, she's never wrong. Every decision she makes ultimately ends up being the right one. She flatly disregards things her father says and it ends up being the right decision. Which just makes her more arrogant and there's very little character development with her.

So even if you make your character flawed, they can still be too perfect if they are always right, even in the midst of their flaws. They can't just have flaws because that's not enough. Their flaws need to get them in trouble, they need to make mistakes. Otherwise, there's no point to having them. If your protagonist has flaws, but he/she never struggles with them, the flaws may as well not exist.

Having a flawed protagonist helps you story in several ways. If your character has no imperfections, or not enough imperfections, there is no room for development and character development is important. Flaws add depth to your character and make them far more realistic than they otherwise would be. Flaws also add to your story by creating minor conflicts that your protagonist must learn to correct.

Don't just give your character random flaws, though. Give them flaws that will help your plot unfold and be significant to your story. Have someone who is burdened with making decisions be impulsive so that they must learn to think before they act, or make them indecisive and have their inability to make choices affect those around them. Flaws are part of being human, so don't make your protagonist flawless.

Everyone makes bad decisions, so don't be afraid to let your protagonist do so as well. Be careful, though, when creating your character, you don't give them too many faults, either. Don't be so focused on giving them imperfections that you forget about giving them some good qualities, too. Even if they're not a hero, or the good guy, if there's nothing likeable about them, your reader isn't going to like spending the whole book with them. Don't go overboard with the good qualities, and don't go overboard with the flaws. You need to find a balance between the two.

When used correctly, some traits can be used as both a likeable characteristic and a flaw. One such trait is sarcasm. In a positive light, it can add humor to a dry or humorless scene and relieve tension in an uncomfortable or awkward situation. It can be helpful to you, as the writer, to have a character around with a quick wit. It can also function as a flaw, though, when used at the wrong moments. It can make your character look insensitive at times or they can use their sarcasm to speak derogatorily to or about others.

Don't put yourself in a box. Look at the traits your character has and see if you can use them for good and bad qualities alike. If your protagonist is a know-it-all, that trait doesn't always have to hinder the process. Sometimes it might actually help the situation. You're not limited one way or the other.

So take a good look at your protagonist. What traits do they possess? What flaws? What virtues? How do these characteristics contribute to your story and deepen the character? If you can't answer these questions, it might be time to re-evaluate your character and focus more on giving them some of the characteristics they are lacking. Make sure it adds to your story, though. The whole point of this is to help your story be the best it can be, so whatever traits you give to your character need to be beneficial to the story you're writing.

No Conflict, No Story

People say there are no rules for writing, and that's true to an extent, but, in reality, there are a few standard rules one should follow when writing a story.

One rule that everyone should absolutely follow is you must have conflict! If you don't have conflict, you don't have a story.

Think about it.

You have a character who is trying to reach a goal. Let's say you have a guy, John, who has the goal to own a big company. His friends and family are entirely supportive. He gets hired and quickly moves up the corporate ladder until he's given the company. Well, that's great for John, but boring for the reader. No one wants to read a story like that. Take that same scenario, though, and add a few complications. John has rivals at the company who also want the job. There are some co-workers he doesn't get along with. He is so focused on achieving his goal and so work oriented, that he alienates some friends and family in the process. His father threatens to write him out of the will if he doesn't take over the family business. His girlfriend/wife announces she's pregnant but he's not the father. His parents are divorcing.

See how much better that makes it already? Now, all that conflict might be a bit much, but you can see what I'm talking about, right? If your protagonist doesn't have obstacles to overcome, then your story is hardly a story.

I cannot emphasize enough how crucial conflict is. It makes your story a story. No one will read your story if there's nothing to read about. I saw firsthand how conflict makes a story once. I was reading a story someone on the internet had written and there was no conflict. Not one. Everyone got along so extremely perfectly. It was unreal. The siblings never argued, everything was perfect all the time. BORING! I couldn't finish it.

You have to be careful, though, when creating conflict because if it's not good conflict, it will bore your readers as well.

So, how do you keep readers from giving up on the book? Well, there are different types of conflict to consider when you are planning out your story. Here are some of the more common ones.

Man vs. Man
This type of conflict is a person against a person. It involves a protagonist and a villain. Two people getting in the way of each other's goals. But it doesn't have to be just one person. Your protagonist may be up against a group of people. This type of conflict often involves a physical confrontation between the opposing parties, but that's not required. It may be a battle of different ideas. Examples of books using this type of conflict are The Count of Monte Cristo, Harry Potter, and The Wizard of Oz

Man vs. Nature
In this case, your protagonist is up against his surroundings. Nature could mean the weather, animals, or the land, to give you a few examples. This type of conflict can make for a really good story because nature isn't something you can reason with or defeat. It's just something you have to survive. Man vs. Nature is a conflict that creates a story showing your character's strength. Examples of this in literature are The old Man and The Sea, Jaws, Moby Dick, Into the Wild, Lord of the Flies and Robinson Crusoe

Man vs. Society
Going against the laws of the land, rejecting traditions, institutions and fighting against your own culture, falls into this category. When your protagonist sees that they are living in a corrupt society and fight to change it or get out of it, the antagonist is their own culture, their way of life. Some books you may have read with man vs. society are 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Giver, The Hunger Games, Crime and Punishment, and Brave New World

Man vs. Self
If you haven't already figured it out, this type of conflict occurs when a character is at war with their own mind. They are fighting a battle with themselves. They may struggle with self-doubt, low self esteem, maybe an inferiority or superiority complex. They have to fight off their own prejudices. They may have a mental disease or are struggling with external vices such as drugs or alcohol. I typically find stories based around internal conflict intriguing. It is an interesting story when your main character is both the protagonist and antagonist. Stories that use this conflict are Hamlet, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Requiem for a Dream

Man vs. God
Some people don't count this type of conflict as it can be similar to most other types. When done in certain ways, it can be seen as Man vs. Man or Man vs. Self, Society and even nature, so this conflict type is often left out of the list. But it's also included many times, occasionally under a different heading such as Man vs. Supernatural or Man vs. Fate. I like to include it, though, because even though it can fall into the other categories, there are some things about it that I see as unique. If there is God, a god or any supernatural power or being in your story that your protagonist is fighting against, it would fit better into this category than it would into Man vs. Man or Man vs. Society because even though those might cover it, there are some elements to the supernatural powers that don't quite fit into those categories. This conflict can also include a character attempting to change their predetermined destiny. Books like this are The Odyssey, Slaughterhouse Five, Oedipus Rex and Seventh Seal

These are the main type of conflicts in literature, although some lists may add some or leave one off. Be aware, though, when creating your conflict, most books have more than one type of conflict. The books I mentioned all have more than one type of conflict. A lot of them could also go under other categories. So don't limit yourself to one type of conflict. The best books have more than one problem for the protagonist to face.

What I do when I'm creating the conflict for my story, I don't think about the categories or the rules, I just decide what the conflict is going to be and then later see what category it fits into. Don't fit your story to the category, fit the category to your story.

Whatever you do, make sure your story has a conflict at the center of it. Conflict does more than create your story, it makes the reader connect with your character. If John, our character from the beginning of this post, never has problems and gets what he wants right away, the reader isn't going to like him or care about him. They will be annoyed by him and hate him. But not in the way we want readers to hate our characters. If John doesn't have problems, if his family isn't dysfunctional or his boss doesn't hate him or he doesn't get fired, no one can relate to him. If his life is free of conflict, then there's nothing real about him for real readers to connect with. Readers are happy for the character when they get what they want, reach their goal or have good things happen to them only if they've faced hardships along the way.