Someone told me recently that they didn’t like books with any romance. It made me a little sad because everyone needs a little romance.
But it also made me a little philoshophical about stories and relationships.
Some say there are only seven possible types of conflict used in any story.
- person vs. person
- person vs. him or herself
- person vs. nature
- person vs. society
- person vs. technology
- person vs. supernatural world
- person vs. destiny
Person vs. person is obviously a story about a relationship, no matter what genre we’re reading. Sometimes it’s about love, but sometimes it’s adversarial or competitive. If so, it may end with someone winning and someone losing, but it is still about people learning about each other and dealing with each other.
A story with person vs. him or herself conflict is about that important relationship with ourselves.
The other 5 kinds of conflict might seem trickier at first. But if our main character is dealing with nature, society, technology, the supernatural world, or destiny, three things can be true of that story.
Either that conflicting thing is anthropomorphized–given human characteristics. In this case, the story becomes, in effect, a person vs. person conflict. (Moby Dick, by Herman Melville).
Although in this very complex novel, we meet more than one type of conflict. Ahab vs. Moby Dick (a malevolent God or destiny), but it is also about Ishmael, Queequeg, and the other sailors, their relationships with each other and with themselves. And it is about Ahab’s relationship with himself, his anger and fear.
Another possibility is that that entity (society or technology, etc.) is embodied or typified by one person. (President Snow in Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins becomes the figurehead for a society).
I wonder if, at heart, all of these faceless conflicts are really about our main character learning about him or herself. The story just happens to be set in a world of technology or supernatural happenings, or the other conflicting entities.
(Think about Louie in Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. The outward conflict with his captors is at the forefront, but what he learns about himself might be what makes the story so enduring).
I’ll add this: If the conflict is person vs destiny (or possibly sometimes vs supernatural), it might be about a relationship with some kind of divine presence–still a relationship.
This is a theory, which means you might prove me wrong. I’d love to hear what you think. Have you ever read or viewed a story that isn’t about relationships?
If not, what is your favorite story relationship?