He wants to ask someone out-but since it’s someone he sees every day, he fears it’ll be excruciatingly awkward if they say no.Ĥ. It seems like she’s changed, and he still has feelings for her, but they had so many struggles before.ģ. He’s not sure whether he should get back together with his ex. She’s not sure whether she and her team should continue on their mission, or stop everything to attempt a rescue of one of their own.Ģ. 25 Examples of Internal Character Conflictġ. Obviously, you can change the pronouns as you like.

All of us deal with inner conflict in our own lives every day, so it’s easy for us as readers to relate to characters who deal with it, too! I’ve tried to include several types of internal conflict in this list. It may include wrestling with a moral quandary, pondering a difficult decision, or coming to terms with one’s sense of self.Įven stories with clear external conflict are stronger when they have internal conflict as well. If a struggle takes place in the character’s mind…or heart…then by definition, that’s an internal conflict.

Internal conflict has to do with psychological barriers to a decision or a goal. You want to get home to your loved ones after a visit in Barcelona, but due to an alien invasion, all flights are grounded. You’ve fallen in love on your semester abroad, but he lives in Barcelona and you live in Idaho. You want to go to college, but you don’t have enough money. External ConflictĮxternal conflict has to do with real-world circumstances.

I hope this list of internal conflict story examples gets your creativity flowing, and you can bookmark it or save it to Pinterest so it’s always handy!īut before I get to the list, let’s talk about. Hi friends! A lot of times when we’re discussing a book proposal at work, we’ll ask, “What’s the conflict?” or say, “This could use some internal conflict.” What we’re talking about, of course, is the conflict getting in the way of a character’s goal-or, in the case of a romance novel, getting in the way of love and a happy ever after.

Internal conflict quotes