The "Conflict Fusion" method of Short Story Writing

Credit: Gemini pundit

The core idea is to “fuse” Character Need with an Unusual Constraint.

Story plot = Character need + Unusual constraint

 

Three main steps

Step 1: Define the Character and their Need (Who and Why)

Choose a protagonist (Name and what they do. For example: Rupa, the librarian. Monty, the hair stylist. Chabukranga, the sorceress)

 

Choose a core emotional need, goal, or purpose that the character is inspired to fulfil or accomplish. For example, Rupa’s purpose is to inspire the world to love books and read more books. Chabukranga’s purpose is to hunt an ancient locket with which she could break an old curse on her son. Daniel, a writer, needs to finish a poem before sunset. Arman, a clockmaker, wants to repair a broken heirloom watch.

 

Step 2: Create the Constraint (The "What" and "Where")

Take the need from step 1 and place it inside a highly contradictory situation or constraint. Add a single strange element that would make it incredibly challenging for the character to achieve the need. For example: Uninvited guests turn up to meet Daniel and sunset is approaching soon. He needs to finish the poem but can’t avoid attending the family members. Arman, the clockmaker can repair the heirloom watch, but can’t do it without a bizarre magical tool: this tool works only in moonlight.

 

Step 3: Fuse the Conflict

Story idea = Need + Constraint

For example: Conflict Daniel is facing. Conflict Arman is facing. The process of how they resolve this conflict and arrive at the solution is the trajectory of the story.

 

Step 4: Action

Once it is clear that the “process of arriving at the resolution of the conflict” is the essence of the story, the next step is to actually start navigating this process by writing “action.” How does this process look like for the character? That’s action. How the character struggles, what they experience during this process, both good and bad, both positive and negative, that all comes under the action.

 

To build the momentum of drama in Action, focus on a single obstacle or a unique challenge of the constraint. One obstacle after the other, the momentum builds. By the time the story ends, the need is either met, denied, or transformed. For example: In case of Daniel, he is able to write the poem or he fails to write the poem or he realizes that the goal wasn’t writing the poem but to interact with someone and express his feelings, which he already did with the family members.

 

The “Conflict Fusion” method draws inspiration from several creative sources. For instance,

The "Story Spine" method from Pixar/Dan Harmon's Story Circle -  It simplifies plot down to a core chain of events and character needs.

The "Idea Generator" (from writers like Neil Gaiman): Taking two disparate concepts and forcing them to interact—creating instant conflict and novelty.

The Power of Constraint: Like the famous constraint given to Ernest Hemingway to write a six-word story ("For sale: baby shoes, never worn."), a simple constraint forces you to be creative in your short story.