Conflict: DISCOVERING A DEAD BODY

DISCOVERING A DEAD BODY

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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.

Hiking in the woods and stumbling across a corpse in the underbrush
Renovating a house and discovering remains hidden in the walls
Draining a lake and finding bones at the bottom
Providing housecleaning services and coming across body parts in the freezer
Finding a corpse in the trunk of a friend's car
Walking home at night and seeing a body in an alley
The character checking on a friend they haven't heard from in a while, only to find them deceased
Visiting an elderly neighbor and discovering their body in the house
Uncovering remains in the wreckage following a bombing, earthquake, or mass shooting
Being the first person on scene at a fatal car crash
Finding a corpse used in a gruesome ritual in a remote location
A soldier grabbing an injured buddy to carry them to safety and discovering they're already dead
Being first on scene at a homicide
Finding a boat adrift and everyone on board is dead

Feeling unclean despite not making contact with the corpse
Vomiting at the discovery
Accidentally contaminating the crime scene
Having to speak to the police about what happened
The discovery hijacking the character's day, causing them to miss out on anticipated plans
No longer feeling safe in that location
Having to field questions from morbidly curious people
The character being rebuked because they handled the situation poorly
Suffering from insomnia
Feeling unsafe
Being questioned by the deceased's loved ones
Being hounded by reporters
The character's children being frightened by the experience
The character's house becoming part of the crime scene (if the remains were discovered there), forcing them to find lodgings elsewhere

DISCOVERING A DEAD BODY

HELPFUL TIP:

CATEGORY:

EXAMPLES:

MINOR COMPLICATIONS:

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: