CONFLICT THESAURUS

BEING IGNORED OR BLOWN OFF



Never struggle with Show-and-Tell again. Activate your free trial or subscribe to view the Conflict Thesaurus in its entirety, or visit the Table of Contents to explore unlocked entries.

CHOOSE MY PLAN

HELPFUL TIP:

Conflict is your story’s secret sauce, supplying tension, friction, and complications to a character’s journey. It comes in a million different forms, so identify the obstacles and problems that will hit your character the hardest by using the Character Builder to uncover their primary insecurities, fears , and desires. Don’t forget to include everyday conflict scenarios that will frustrate them and keep the pressure high.
CATEGORY:
Power struggles, relationship friction, duty and responsibility, ego-related conflict

EXAMPLES:
Emails or texts going unanswered
Being talked over at a family dinner
Talking to someone who doesn't bother to respond
Calling someone who always lets the call go to voicemail
Being stood up for a first date
The character's ideas being dismissed without fair consideration
Being ditched for someone else by a friend or love interest at a social event
A friend cancelling plans with a lame excuse at the last minute
Being relegated to the outskirts of a group; being denied access to the inner circle
Being assigned only menial work tasks; not being considered for a promotion, important project, etc.
Discovering that the friend who cancelled their plans is out with other people

MINOR COMPLICATIONS:
The character's time being wasted
An assignment falling through the cracks when the character forgets that the other person didn't get back to them
Venting to someone about the offending party, and them hearing about it
Not doing anything and being viewed as weak by others
Temporary insecurity as the character wonders if they did something wrong
Accusing the other person of deliberate disrespect when it was really a misunderstanding

POTENTIALLY DISASTROUS RESULTS:
...

RESULTING EMOTIONS:
...

POSSIBLE INTERNAL STRUGGLES:
...

PEOPLE WHO COULD BE NEGATIVELY AFFECTED:
...

NEGATIVE TRAITS THAT COULD MAKE THE SITUATION WORSE:
...

IMPACT ON BASIC NEEDS:
...

WOUNDS THIS COULD LEAD TO:
...

POSITIVE TRAITS TO HELP THE CHARACTER COPE:
...

POSITIVE OUTCOMES:
...