: Clear steps for developing a powerful inner conflict This question is similar to this one. However, it is different based on what I am looking for. I know what inner conflict is, and I know

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A like the Chipperish Media "How Story Works" way -- instead of binary conflicts, characters are built on Triangles: weaknesses, vulnerabilities, and strengths.

The same trait may be any one of these: I may be bad at math, but if I don't care, it's only a weakness, not a vulnerability. If I'm a manager and I might miss some embezzlement because I assume the numbers people have that part handled, it's a vulnerability. If my problems with math has me focus on other ways to understand data (visually, for example), then it's a strength.

What matters is how a character's vulnerabilities and strengths/weaknesses affect their pursuit of their goal.
chipperish.com/2017/08/28/hsw-22-the-character-triangle/ (an episode of the How Story Works podcast) has more details.

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(I thought @what gave a great answer, which I upvoted, but it also made me want to look for counterexamples.)

In Remains of the Day the main character is a repressed butler who devotes his life to providing exemplary service to a family that may not deserve his loyalty. In the process, he misses a shot at love with the family's housekeeper. The conflict here is between the character's repression and his need to connect, and while the conflict is entirely internal, not notably momentous, and arguably unrelatable, it still provides compelling tension and drama throughout the course of the movie/book.

I think the decisive factor is not whether the conflict is "strong" or "weak", or whether it is character or plot-driven or both, it's how real it feels. If you are creating your characters and situations first, and then adding in inner conflicts as a way to add depth and drama after-the-fact, it may feel forced and cursory. In the example you gave in the comments, you admit that the vengeance subplot is a non-starter. "IC" can't just be a checkbox you hit on the way to the finish line.

Let's say that your character is a key figure in bringing an end to this disastrous war. Let's see her on the brink of signing the peace treaty --what's the real conflict here, what's true to her character? Maybe you can convert the weakness of the vengeance plot into a strength. Maybe her plan all along was to sabotage the peace, out of a misguided sense of family loyalty. She's told herself that everything she's done was just to maneuver herself into this position, but now that she's here, she realizes she doesn't really want to go through with it. She doesn't really want the war to go on, she just feels like she should. The point here isn't the specifics, it's that you have to seek conflicts that are inherent to your story, not ones that are tacked on.

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First, Imagine you are experiencing the same conflict as your character.

Next, imagine that your mortal enemy (seriously, think of somebody you really dislike) wants to go with Option 1, which would naturally make you want to take up Option 2. The beauty of this is that you are not your character and thus do not have an opinion or a preference either way; but by bringing somebody who you genuinly despise/hate/dislike/want to kill into the matter with a strong opinion of their own, tends to instantly make you want to take the opposite side and should open your mind to a line of thinking that you may otherwise not have explored.

Now play out the argument that would take place between yourself and your foe. Actually write down everything that you think would be said, be it offensive, expletive, sensible or otherwise.

Then all that remains is for you to tidy it up and apply it to your character and you should have (at least the basis for) a good internal conflict.

Finally, in order to also develop the character's desire for Option 1, merely write about Option 1 from your enemy's perspective and there you have it!

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