How to Create Strong Conflict in Fiction Using Social Psychology
The secret is frames of reference
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Why is it so hard to change people’s minds regardless of proof? I mean, if we are rational, we should be able to come to logical conclusions based on hard facts.
Or are we not?
How often do you find yourself in an argument where you are certain that the other side is wrong? You can’t understand why they can’t see the flaw in their argument. The harder you try, the more they stand their ground, which makes you lose your mind a little bit more.
For example, there are some people who believe that climate change isn’t real, or that the earth is flat. It is very tempting to think that these people are incredibly stupid, but this doesn’t resolve the eternal question of why such stupidity can feel so right.
This perplexed me for a long time until I encountered the radical concept of frames of reference. Finally, I got an explanation for why human beings will forever be on opposites sides of many issues regardless of facts. It’s a feature of our psyche, not a bug (though that depends on how you choose to see it.)
How does this relate to creating stronger conflict? The most intense conflict requires that two characters be on opposite sides of the same issue, or in other words, that they have mutually exclusive wants. But this isn’t enough.
For this conflict to leave the outer world of the story and enter the inner world of the viewer/reader, the reader/viewer must believe that both characters believe that they are right. This means that the audience must understand their points of view. Yes, including and especially the antagonist. This is the secret to a solid story.
But how do you create characters with mutually-exclusive wants who both believe that they are the hero of the story? This article will explain the concept of frame of reference and how you can use it to create stronger conflict in your story. We will cover:
- Frames of reference
- The key to creating strong conflict
- How to create strong conflict with frames of reference
Frames of reference
Although your senses may convince you that there is one reality, the truth is that there are more than 7 billion realities, and this is just counting the human sphere. Quite a radical claim, but read on and you’ll understand.
Contrary to popular belief, people rarely make decisions from an objective consideration of facts. In fact, it’s impossible to do so. Instead, everyone has a frame of reference that influences their decision making (including worldview) on a subconscious level. Families, countries, groups, friends, etc., are able to get along better because they share a similar frame of reality. What this further entails is that we are all living in our own worlds.
Frames of Reference are a set of assumptions or criteria by which a person or group judges ideas, actions, and experiences. A frame of reference can often limit or distort perception, as in the case of prejudice and stereotypes. — https://dictionary.apa.org/frame-of-reference
This became so clear to me during a recent argument with a friend. We were talking about climate change and the role of fossil fuels in it. He was of the opinion that fossils weren't so bad.
I may have agreed with him four days prior to this argument. But my frame of reality had been recently influenced by David Attenborough’s A Life on Our Planet documentary on Netflix. As such, what he said sounded crazy to me, bordering on stupid and cruel.
This holds wonderful implications in relation to storytelling especially with regards to creating intense conflict.
The key to creating strong conflict
The biggest cause of weak conflict is framing clear goods against clear evils. When this happens, even though the characters are on opposite sides, the story doesn’t draw our attention as much because the question of right and wrong is easy to answer.
There is nothing complex in asking me to choose between someone who wants to kill other people and someone who wants to save them. Of course, I want people to be saved.
But what if the person who wants to kill people has a valid reason for wanting to do so? Now the conflict becomes greater because the question of right and wrong isn’t so easy to answer anymore.
This is why Avengers: Infinity War is one of the most loved superhero films of all time, because the conflict is worthy of consideration. Thanos wants to wipe out half of all life in the universe. As evil acts go, this is quite a feat.
However, the writers were able to ground Thanos’ evil intention in a rational and emotional character arc (backstory + character design + actions). The argument isn’t so easy when Thanos makes the proclamation that “the universe is finite, its resources are finite. If life is left to go unchecked, it will destroy itself.”
Whether you believe what Thanos says is not the point. The point is that the story anchors his evil intention to a logical argument. This anchoring is possible thanks to frames of reference. To prove just how strong Thanos’ position is, recall that he is never engaged in a reasonable debate as to why he is wrong. The closest the Avengers come to countering his argument is that “you can’t just kill people”.
Hence, the key to creating strong conflict is to present an argument (between protagonist and antagonist) that isn’t black and white. As in, it’s not easy to say the antagonist is totally wrong. Without this, the argument won’t be balanced.
Thanks to frames of reference, any argument can be made, no matter how outlandish. Read on to learn how.
How to create strong conflict with frames of reference
The first step to taking advantage of frames of reference is to bootstrap your story with as many high-profile mutually-exclusive wants as possible — order vs chaos, poverty vs riches, truth vs lies, oppression vs rebellion, love vs hate, etc.
Naturally, the protagonist will represent the positive value, while the antagonist goes negative. But recall that every character’s position is positive to them. The question is how the negative becomes positive.
For example, why would a greedy man want to embezzle more money and leave the masses impoverished? Answering this question honestly will be the key to creating an antagonist that isn’t just bad for bad sake. There is no human being in the world who identifies as an antagonist in his head. We are the protagonists of our own stories, and the same goes for the antagonist.
This is why Thanos is one of my favorite villains to date. In Infinity War, he is on a mission to wipe out half of life in the universe and he believes he is the only one who understands the necessity and has the will to act. He sees his path as the right path because his frame of reality positions it that way. Without the backstory that anchors his character to his goal, he would come off as someone who just wanted to be bad.
To turn a lie (in this case, a bad act) into the truth (a good motive based on the individual) you must interrogate the character’s frame of reality to find the right combination of events, personality, backstory, etc. that fit this warping of reality.
Below are a few questions to help you determine the frame of reality:
- What value(s) does the character hold dear?
- What is the character’s goal?
- What happened in the past to create this desire?
- What psychological biases does the character have? How do these biases influence him?
- What good/wrong did the world do to him?
- What society (strata) is the character from and how did it shape him?
- What kind of childhood did they have and how did it mold them?
When Captain America and Iron Man fight in Captain America: Civil War, that fight feels heavy because it’s not just fists clashing against flesh, rather it is ideas and points of view which we understand fighting each other.
We see that Iron Man’s position has been shaped by a past he can’t escape. Having made some terrible mistakes that cost many lives, he wants the Avengers to be reigned in by governmental oversight. We understand this guilt. We also understand the betrayal he feels against Captain America for knowing who killed his father and saying nothing about it. To make matters worse, Captain America is protecting the killer.
While we understand Iron Man, we simultaneously understand that Captain America will always stand by a friend no matter what (the killer). Plus, he has experienced first-hand what having full trust in the government can lead to, given the fact that he was manipulated in the past (in Captain America: The Winter Soldier).
Conclusion
If the argument between the antagonist and protagonist is profound, one where both sides are equally weighted in their motivations and arguments, the viewer/reader will be more invested in the battle because they have a more emotional and intellectual investment in the struggle.
With frames of reality, any false argument can be turned into the truth (for a character — subjective) by anchoring his false argument to a frame of reality that supports this false argument.
As a guide, ensure that the argument driving the core conflict of your story is worthy of a debate. If you do this, you will reap great rewards in the form of higher emotional and thematic intensity, thus elevating your story to the greatest heights.
Gilbert Bassey is a writer, filmmaker, and story consultant dedicated to telling great stories and helping other writers do the same. Subscribe to his Storycraft newsletter and get a free copy of the ‘how to fix a boring story’ checklist + a free in-depth email course on how to transform an idea into a good story.