: What is the Purpose of an Inner Conflict? I've long known what the purpose of inner conflict is. Indeed, it was one of the simplest concepts for me to grasp when I was learning about it.

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Without some degree of inner conflict you have virtually no meaningful narrative. A debate between two agreeing a parties is a very short debate. A story may contain a major internal conflict or a series of conflicts. Life is a series of decisions - each of which is in itself a conflict.

In characterisation a conflicted character comes across as lacking confidence. If you go beyond the basic grammar and editing guidelines evidence of conflict is portrayed in the language.

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Inner conflict, as I define it, is simply a character's conflict with themself, rather than a character's conflict with the outside world. Inner conflict might be caused by an outside conflict (it usually is), but this is typically because the external conflict reveals something conflicting within the character.

Inner conflict can take many forms. Often, a character holds a certain worldview, but goes through an external conflict that forces them to reevaluate that worldview. Take, for example, the movie Cars. Lightning McQueen, the main character, is a famous race car who is accustomed to living in big cities and being carried everywhere in his trailer. When he gets stranded in the small, rural town of Radiator Springs, he comes to question his own values and morals as he meets the people there.

Or, an inner conflict might take the form of a difficult decision. This would be a major decision, one that calls into question (again) what the character truly values.

What is the purpose of inner conflict? It helps us connect with the characters more. Connecting with characters is critical to good storytelling; we don't care what happens to characters we don't care about.

Inner conflict makes your characters more human. Real people have inner conflicts. In fact, most of the inner conflicts in literature are real conflicts that many real people face.

Having a character go through such an inner conflict allows us to connect with them. Have you ever battled an evil wizard? Have you ever blown up a Death Star? Most of us haven't [citation needed]. But we can relate to the situations these characters are in, largely because we can relate to their inner conflict. We can think about a character's dilemma: Would I hand myself over to the guy who wants to kill me in order to save my friends? and ask ourselves if we would do the same. We can watch Luke's inner turmoil as he is tempted by the power of the Dark Side and compare it to our own temptation.

TL;DR Inner conflict is simply a conflict that occurs within a character's mind, usually involving their morals/beliefs/values. All types of conflict are engaging if they are written well, but inner conflict is one of the most relatable, because we all experience it.

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Since you say you know what an inner conflict is, I'll try and avoid explaining it.

Instead, I should point out that the definition of 'inner conflict' is why it is used in a novel.

Having your character disagree with himself excites the reader. The reader wonders what the character is going to choose, and the consequences of that choice. Let's say the character has someone he doesn't want to lose, but that person could potentially ruin the goal he has been trying to achieve throughout the novel. What does he do? He is now in conflict with himself, and the reader is given the opportunity to guess what is going to happen. This has the reader wanting more.

Inner conflict is seen so often, in almost every novel, because of the reason I've just explained.

Hoping this answers your question.

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