• 180 conflicts
  • Checked October 2026

Story Conflict Ideas

Press the button for three conflicts, each with two sides, something at stake, and what winning costs.

Story Conflict Ideas

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  1. An investigator suspects that her own carelessness lost the key evidence.She wants the truth, unless it is about her. Winning costs her record.
  2. The head gardener and the new owner disagree about the hundred-year hedge.He wants a view; she wants the hedge. Winning costs her job or his welcome.
  3. A farmer plants the crop the cooperative has voted against.One field against the common plan. Winning costs his place at the table.

Next step Build the person on the other sideDeal a hero, a want and an obstacle

All 180 conflicts

Against another person 30

  • A band's songwriter and its singer both claim the song that made them. Each wants the credit. Winning costs the band.
  • A chef and her second-in-command enter the same contest with the same dish. Each wants the name on the plate. Winning costs the kitchen its best pairing.
  • A clockmaker leaves her shop to two heirs, each with half of the instructions. Each wants the whole. Winning needs the other half.
  • A daughter wants to sell the farm's last field, and her father plows it at night. She wants out of debt; he wants a reason to get up. Winning costs him the mornings.
  • A grandfather and his granddaughter both want to tell the family story, and their versions differ. He wants it grand; she wants it true. Winning costs the legend.
  • A landlord wants the workshop back, and the tenant holds a lease made on a handshake. Law against a promise. Winning costs the landlord his father's word.
  • A master carpenter will not sign off on his apprentice's best work. He wants one more year; she wants her papers. Winning costs her his blessing.
  • A mayor wants a bridge, and the ferryman it would put out of work will not sell his landing. Progress against a living. Winning costs the town its oldest trade.
  • A new coach benches the captain who built the team. The coach wants a system; the captain wants her place. Winning costs the coach the locker room.
  • A queen's adviser and her general each believe the other is the traitor. Each wants to save her. Winning costs the queen one loyal servant.
  • A referee has to make a call against his own daughter's team. He wants to be fair; she wants a father. Winning costs the ride home.
  • A reporter and an investigator want the same witness, for different reasons. One wants the story out, one wants it quiet. Winning costs the witness her peace.
  • A rival publishes first, with a result the scientist knows is wrong. He wants credit; she wants it right. Winning means proving him wrong in public.
  • A student and a teacher disagree about one grade, and neither will back down. She wants it changed; he wants to be trusted. Winning costs the rest of the year.
  • An inspector has orders to close the last one-room school, and its teacher has other plans. Budget against belonging. Winning costs someone a career.
  • An interpreter softens what an ambassador says, and the ambassador finds out. He wants his words; she wants no war. Winning costs her post.
  • An older brother is left in charge for a week, and uses it. He wants respect; she wants the remote. Winning costs him his only ally by Friday.
  • Best friends are cast as rivals in the school play, and one starts to mean it. She wants the scene; her friend wants the friendship. Winning costs the curtain call.
  • Co-authors cannot agree how their book ends. She wants hope; he wants truth. Winning costs the other name on the cover.
  • The head gardener and the new owner disagree about the hundred-year hedge. He wants a view; she wants the hedge. Winning costs her job or his welcome.
  • The night guard and the day guard blame each other for the museum's missing key. Each wants a clean record. Winning costs the trust the job runs on.
  • Two beekeepers accuse each other's bees of raiding. Each wants an apology. Winning costs the only person who understands the work.
  • Two bidders at a small-town auction want the same locked trunk. One knows what is inside; one only suspects. Winning costs more than the trunk is worth.
  • Two brothers run the family bakery, one for the old customers and one for the new. Tradition against growth. Whoever wins bakes alone.
  • Two captains must share one ship after a storm takes the other. Each wants command. Winning costs half the crew's loyalty.
  • Two climbers reach the summit together, and only one can be named first. Each wants the record. Winning costs the rope team that got them there.
  • Two neighbors both claim the apple tree on the fence line. Each wants the fruit and the shade. Winning costs forty years of borrowed sugar.
  • Two roommates split over a stray cat that one of them is allergic to. One wants the cat, one wants to breathe. Winning costs a friendship or a cat.
  • Two shopkeepers on one street undersell each other until both are nearly broke. Each wants the other gone. Winning costs the street its second shop.
  • Two sisters inherit one house, and each has promised it to someone. One promised it to her son, one to a buyer. Whoever wins keeps the house and loses a sister.

Against oneself 30

  • A baker throws away every loaf as not good enough, and the shop opens at six. Perfect against done. Winning costs her the idea of perfect.
  • A boy who lied to make friends can't remember which version each friend knows. He wants to be known and is afraid of it. Winning costs every version but one.
  • A chess player sees the winning move, and it gives up the piece her grandfather carved. The game against the keepsake. Winning costs a superstition.
  • A climber's fear arrives a hundred feet below the top. Up for the summit, down for safety. Winning costs her the story or the nerve.
  • A coach knows how to win and no longer wants to. Skill against meaning. Winning costs another season of her life.
  • A collector is asked to give away the piece the collection was built around. Having against giving. Winning costs the center of the shelf.
  • A girl has outgrown her dream and does not know what replaces it. The old self against no self yet. Winning costs the answer she always gave.
  • A girl must choose between the sport she is good at and the art she loves. Talent against wish. Winning costs the other future.
  • A girl who never cries has to give the speech at her teacher's farewell. She wants to hold steady and to mean it. Winning costs the armor.
  • A knight has sworn two oaths that now point in opposite directions. Honor against honor. Keeping one breaks him as surely as the other.
  • A lifeguard has grown afraid of deep water and has told nobody. Duty against fear. Winning costs the secret first.
  • A lifelong saver comes into a fortune and can't spend a coin of it. He wants to enjoy it and can't stop guarding it. Winning costs who he has been.
  • A man keeps almost quitting the job he almost loves. Staying against leaving. Deciding costs the comfort of almost.
  • A man who always says yes is asked for the one thing he must refuse. He wants to be liked; he needs to say no. Winning costs his easiest habit.
  • A man who never forgets a slight is asked to forgive one at his brother's birthday. Pride against family. Winning costs a grudge he has polished for years.
  • A messenger can't decide whether to open the letter he was told to deliver sealed. Curiosity against his word. Winning costs either trust or sleep.
  • A pianist with stage fright has one audition left before the age limit. She wants the seat; her hands want out. Winning costs the excuse she has lived by.
  • A pie contest judge likes best the pie baked by the man he can't stand. Fairness against a grudge. Winning costs him the grudge.
  • A procrastinator has until dawn, and the kitchen has never looked so in need of cleaning. The work against everything else. Winning costs the comfort of later.
  • A proud inventor has to ask her rival for the one part she lacks. Pride against the machine working. Winning costs the sentence "I did it alone."
  • A runner must decide whether to report the shortcut that won her the race. She wants the medal and a clear conscience. She can have one.
  • A singer can sing only when nobody is listening. She wants to be heard and can't bear it. Winning costs the safety of the empty room.
  • A teacher who dreads public speaking is elected to speak for all the teachers. Duty against dread. Winning costs her the back row.
  • A woman is offered her dream job abroad and cannot make herself leave her town. Ambition against belonging. Either win costs a life she can picture.
  • A woman who plans everything is handed a day with no plan. Control against rest. Winning costs the list.
  • A woman who speaks five languages can't find the words, in any of them, for her father. Fluency against feeling. Winning costs the silence both have kept.
  • A writer has promised a truthful memoir and wants to look good in it. Honesty against vanity. Winning costs the flattering chapter.
  • An heir does not want the family business and cannot say so. Loyalty against his own life. Winning costs his father's plan.
  • An investigator suspects that her own carelessness lost the key evidence. She wants the truth, unless it is about her. Winning costs her record.
  • The funny one in the class wants to be taken seriously for an hour. He wants respect and reaches for a joke. Winning costs the easy laugh.

Against society 30

  • A boy sits at the wrong lunch table, on purpose, every day. He wants the lines gone; the room wants them kept. Winning costs him his old seat.
  • A child asks at the town meeting the question the adults agreed not to ask. Honesty against politeness. Winning costs the room its comfortable silence.
  • A choir member will not sing the one line of the town song she thinks untrue. Her conscience against the chorus. Winning costs the choir its unison.
  • A clerk follows every rule exactly, until the office can no longer function. The letter of the rules against how things get done. Winning costs him his desk.
  • A farmer plants the crop the cooperative has voted against. One field against the common plan. Winning costs his place at the table.
  • A farmer's son wants to paint in a valley where sons take the plow. He wants the canvas; the valley wants a farmer. Winning costs the role already written for him.
  • A fisherman keeps to the old catch limits after everyone else has stopped. The long view against this season. Winning costs him this year's income.
  • A girl of twelve wants to drum in the town band, which has never had a member under sixty. She wants in; they want quiet rehearsals. Winning costs the band its habits.
  • A girl speaks her grandmother's language at a school that asks for one language only. Home against the rule. Winning costs her a clean record.
  • A grandmother will not sell to the developers who have bought every other house. One porch against a plan. Winning costs her every neighbor she had.
  • A librarian is told to take one book off the shelf, and does not. One reader's right against the board. Winning costs her the quiet job she liked.
  • A man comes home from the city with new ideas about how the harvest is shared. Fair shares against the old shares. Winning costs him his uncle's goodwill.
  • A new captain ends the team's "welcome" for first-year players. Decency against tradition. Winning costs her the seniors.
  • A new teacher grades honestly at a school proud of its perfect scores. The truth against the reputation. Winning costs the school its banner.
  • A newcomer mows on Sunday morning in a town that does not. His weekend against their quiet. Winning costs him the first invitation.
  • A scholar proves the town's founding legend false a week before its anniversary. Fact against a beloved story. Winning costs the parade its hero.
  • A school paper asks why the trophy case holds nothing from any girls' team. A fair question against "how it is." Winning costs the editor her adviser.
  • A small newspaper prints the story its biggest advertiser wants left alone. The news against the bills. Winning costs the paper its income.
  • A street musician plays on the corner where a new rule says no music. A song against an ordinance. Winning costs him the corner, or the town its rule.
  • A student refuses the uniform, politely, for a reason she won't give. She wants to choose; the school wants one rule. Winning costs her the easy path.
  • A village rule says nobody whistles after dark, and the new baker whistles while she works at night. Custom against habit. Winning costs the village a reason nobody remembers.
  • A woman builds a house the planning board calls too strange. Her drawing against the street's look. Winning costs years and most of her savings.
  • A woman runs for mayor in a town where one family has held the office for a century. Change against habit. Winning costs her the town's easy friendliness.
  • A young inventor's cheap lamp threatens the candle makers' guild. Light for all against a hundred livings. Winning costs the guild its trade.
  • An apprentice questions a guild rule whose reason nobody remembers. Why against because. Winning costs her the elders' goodwill.
  • The barbecue festival's new judge does not eat meat. Her honesty against the town's pride. Winning costs the festival a category, or gains it one.
  • The giant pumpkin crown has always gone to a grown man, and a ten-year-old enters. A good pumpkin against "always." Winning costs the old champions their certainty.
  • One family on the street does not decorate, and the street enters a contest. Their plain house against the street's prize. Winning costs them the wave from next door.
  • The town expects the lighthouse keeper's son to keep the light, and he wants to bake. A calling against an inheritance. Winning costs the town a keeper.
  • The town votes to cut down the old oak for parking, and one man chains his bicycle to it daily. A tree against convenience. Winning costs him his neighbors' patience.

Against nature 30

  • A balloonist is carried out over open water by a wind that will not turn. Height against fuel. Every choice spends one or the other.
  • A beekeeper faces a summer without flowers. She wants the hives alive; the drought wants the meadow. Winning costs her the honey.
  • A caravan guide loses the stars to a week of dust. The route against the sky. Going on costs water; waiting costs water too.
  • A cave guide's lamp fails with a tour of twelve behind her. The way out against the dark. Winning costs her the calm she is pretending.
  • A city bakes under a week of heat, and one street has the last working fan. Comfort against fairness. Sharing it costs its owner his sleep.
  • A dog is lost in the woods as the temperature drops. The owner wants to search on; the night wants her home. Going on costs her own safety margin.
  • A drought sends two herds to one waterhole. Two families against one shrinking pool. Sharing costs both; fighting costs more.
  • A family's house stands where the river has decided to go. They want the home; the river wants its old bed. Staying costs a little more each spring.
  • A farmer has one well and a third dry year. The herd against the water table. Winning costs half the herd.
  • A ferry captain has to cross before the ice closes the strait. She wants the mail delivered; winter wants the water. Winning risks the boat.
  • A gardener fights a vine that grows a foot a night. Her fence against its reach. Winning costs the roses it has already wrapped.
  • A girl's first garden has one very determined rabbit. Her lettuce against its appetite. Winning costs her the wish to be kind to it.
  • A hiker finds the trail gone under a rockslide with an hour of light left. Forward, back or stay. Each choice costs daylight.
  • A lone sailor is becalmed with a week of water, two weeks from land. She wants wind; the sea offers none. Winning costs everything not needed.
  • A mail carrier on a mountain route walks into a whiteout. The route against the weather. Finishing costs her the safe way home.
  • A photographer waits for a rare bird while the tide comes around her rock. The shot against the sea. Staying one minute more costs the dry way back.
  • A rescue dog and its handler search for a lost skier before dark. Their legs against the mountain's size. Going higher costs the light to get down.
  • A sailor's daughter has to bring the boat in alone when the squall hits. What she was taught against what the wind does. Winning costs the sail.
  • A shepherd's flock is on the high pasture when snow comes a month early. He wants every sheep down; the pass wants to close. Winning costs him the night.
  • A town on a volcano's slope hears it clear its throat. Stay with the harvest or leave it. Leaving costs the year; staying risks more.
  • A town on the dunes wakes each spring to find another street under sand. They want the streets; the dune wants to walk. Staying costs a fence line every year.
  • A village has one day to bring in the wheat before the hail. Every hand against the sky. Winning costs the feast day they had planned.
  • A wagon family crossing the plains reaches a river in flood. Wait and lose the season, or cross and risk the wagon. Either costs something carried.
  • A wildfire turns toward a ranch with forty horses and one trailer. Time against distance. Saving them all means opening the gates and trusting them.
  • An expedition's sled dogs refuse to cross ice that the map calls safe. The plan against the dogs' noses. Trusting them costs three days.
  • An orchard keeper lights fires all night against a late frost. The blossom against the cold. Winning costs every stick of next winter's wood.
  • The fish do not come to a fishing village for the first time in memory. A way of life against an empty sea. Staying costs the young people.
  • The spring flood takes an island's only bridge. The islanders against the water. Rebuilding costs the summer they needed for the fields.
  • The supply plane cannot land at a polar station for a month. Six people against the cold and the count of cans. Winning costs comfort, then patience.
  • Two children are out in a canoe when fog comes down on the lake. They want the shore; the fog hides it. Getting home takes silence and listening.

Against technology 30

  • A boy loses his phone, and it keeps posting as him. His name against a stranger's thumbs. Getting it back means saying which posts were really his.
  • A chess master plays a machine that learned from her own games. Her against a perfect copy of her habits. Winning costs her favorite opening.
  • A city loses power, and only the oldest tram, cranked by hand, still moves. A modern city against its own wiring. Winning costs the plan to scrap the tram.
  • A dam's control room locks its engineer out during heavy rain. Her judgment against the safety system. Getting in costs every rule in the manual.
  • A driver trusts the dashboard map over the road signs, and the road ends at a river. The screen against his own eyes. Turning back costs the appointment.
  • A factory's robot arm is faster than the last worker on the line, who trained it. Pride in the work against the count per hour. Winning costs her the job or the factory its edge.
  • A farmer's self-driving tractor plows a pattern he did not order. His field against its plan. Stopping it costs the planting week.
  • A ferry is replaced by delivery drones that will not fly in fog, in a town that is mostly fog. A captain against a contract. Winning costs the town its pride in being modern.
  • A girl's homework helper refuses to give answers and asks questions back. A shortcut against a stubborn tutor. Winning costs her the evening, and teaches her the chapter.
  • A grandmother's recipes are locked in an old computer that nobody can start. The family against a dead screen. Winning costs the afternoon she spends cooking from memory.
  • A lighthouse keeper is replaced by an automatic lamp, and the lamp keeps failing. He wants to be needed; the board wants savings. Winning costs him the retirement he was owed.
  • A newspaper's last typesetter is asked to train the machine that replaces her. Her skill against her living. Teaching it well costs her the job sooner.
  • A photographer's new camera adds people who were not there. What she saw against what it shows. Trusting her eyes costs the wedding album.
  • A pilot disagrees with the autopilot above the clouds. Her eyes against its instruments. Overriding it costs her the report if she is wrong.
  • A program finishes a musician's songs before she does. Her slow way against its fast one. Refusing it costs her the contract.
  • A robot vacuum maps the house and finds a room that nobody uses. A family against a floor plan. Opening the door costs a story they agreed on.
  • A school replaces teachers with screens for a semester, and one class refuses to log in. Thirty students against a schedule. Winning costs them their grades.
  • A scientist's weather machine works on the first try and will not switch off. Her invention against her town's picnic season. Stopping it costs the machine.
  • A space station's computer and its crew disagree about how much air is left. Four people against a number. Proving it wrong costs air.
  • A storm takes a town's only phone tower, and the town rediscovers its notice board. Habit against silence. Winning costs a week of not knowing.
  • A town's new traffic system sends every car past one shop and none past another. A program's logic against a street's living. Winning means someone must read the code.
  • A translating machine gets one word wrong in a treaty. Two delegations against a sentence neither wrote. Fixing it means admitting nobody read it.
  • A village clockmaker faces a factory that makes watches for a tenth of his price. Craft against cheap. Winning costs him the idea that everyone needs his clocks.
  • A watch that counts steps starts counting something else. Its owner against a number that keeps rising. Taking it off costs her the answer.
  • A woman's house locks her out after an update. She wants in; the house wants a password she never set. Winning costs a window.
  • A writer's spelling tool starts improving her sentences. Her voice against a better one. Switching it off costs the deadline.
  • An inventor's helpful robot takes every instruction exactly as spoken. Her words against what she meant. Winning costs her the habit of loose talk.
  • An investigator must clear a man whom every camera places at the scene. One witness against a wall of footage. Winning means doubting the cameras in public.
  • The elevator in a ninety-floor tower starts deciding where its riders ought to go. Riders against a helpful machine. Taking the stairs costs their knees.
  • Every instrument on a ship fails on a night with no moon. The navigator against the dark. Winning takes the old methods she mocked.

Against fate or the unknown 30

  • A baker's bread rises into the same face every morning. A practical woman against her own oven. Asking around costs her reputation for sense.
  • A captain steers by a star that is not on the charts. His crew's trust against the sky. Holding course costs him their confidence, nightly.
  • A climber finds footprints above the last camp. Her plan against someone ahead who should not be. Following costs the safe schedule.
  • A coin lands on its edge every time one boy flips it. A boy against chance itself. Showing anyone costs him every game of heads or tails.
  • A deep-sea crew hears knocking from outside the hull. Six people against one sound. Opening the hatch costs the mission; not opening costs their nerve.
  • A door stands at the end of a school corridor that no plan of the school shows. One student against a locked unknown. Opening it costs the comfort of the rumor.
  • A family saying holds that the third child always leaves for good, and the third child likes home. Her wish against the pattern. Staying costs her the chance to find out why.
  • A fisherman keeps netting the same bottle with a different note in it. His routine against a sender. Answering costs him the quiet.
  • A fortune teller tells a careful man that he will be late exactly once, and it will matter. His habits against a prediction. Being early for everything costs him his ease.
  • A girl dreams the next day's weather every night, and then something that is not weather. Her against tomorrow. Warning people costs her being thought ordinary.
  • A girl finds her name on the winners' board of a race that has not been run. Her training against a result already written. Winning costs the fun of not knowing.
  • A lighthouse logbook holds entries for dates that have not come. The keeper against her own handwriting. Changing one costs her trust in the rest.
  • A man born on leap day is told that his luck comes only once in four years. Three flat years against one day. Believing it costs the three.
  • A mapmaker is ordered to chart the blank region her teacher never came back from. Duty against the edge of the map. Going costs the comfort of the blank.
  • A message arrives from an expedition that set out a hundred years ago. The living against a question from the past. Answering costs an explanation nobody has.
  • A prince foretold to lose the kingdom tries to give it away first. His will against the telling. Winning means nobody will take it.
  • A runner has finished second in every race, by the same half step. Her legs against a pattern. Breaking it costs the rival she has measured herself by.
  • A sailor is told the sea will have his ship, sells it, and the buyer names it after him. A man against a prophecy with a sense of humor. Winning costs the sea he loved.
  • A shepherd counts one more sheep each night than he owns. A tired man against a number. Finding the extra one costs him a night on the hill.
  • A traveler takes a room at an inn that is not on the road the next morning. A sensible man against one night he can't explain. Looking for it costs the trip he was on.
  • A village sits beside an unmapped forest that closes one path every year. The villagers against a shrinking way out. Mapping it costs the mapmakers.
  • A woman cannot leave a town, because every road returns her to its square. Her will against the roads. Leaving may cost whatever is keeping her.
  • A woman gets a key in the mail every year, and this year a map. Her safe life against an invitation. Going costs the life that fits the old keys.
  • An astronomer sees a light where no star is listed, and it blinks back. Her need to know against the size of the answer. Telling anyone costs her standing.
  • An heir has to spend one night in the house to inherit it, and the house is very polite. Her nerve against good manners in the dark. Staying costs her certainty that houses are just houses.
  • The old woman who has called every storm for sixty years says nothing today. A village against her silence. Sailing costs the certainty they relied on.
  • Three strangers tell a boy, on the same day, to stay off the bridge. His shortcut against a warning with no reason. The long way costs him the race.
  • The town bell rings by itself the night before anything changes. A town against a warning it can't read. Ignoring it costs sleep; heeding it costs sense.
  • Twins are told at birth that only one will be remembered. Two lives against one sentence. Trying to win costs them each other.
  • The village well answers one question for each person, and one girl has not asked. Her curiosity against the fear of wasting it. Asking costs the only question she gets.

How it works

These story conflict ideas are 180 conflicts, each one line with two sides and something at stake. Under each is what the sides want and what winning costs. They are sorted by six types of conflict.

Read the full guide

Six types of conflict

Three types are usually called basic: a character against another person, against nature and against oneself. A fourth, against society, is sometimes added, and longer lists go on to machines, fate and the supernatural. A list under the button holds six groups; fate and the unknown share one.

Conflict ideas for short stories

Under the list, More filters adds size. Fits a short story keeps those that one scene and a few people can settle. Carries a novel keeps those that need time, a town or a family.

  • Give the better argument to the side you like less, and see whether the conflict still holds.
  • The cost in the note is the price of the ending. Decide who pays it before you start.

Questions and answers

Is there a list of story conflict ideas to read through?

Yes. All 180 are written out under the tool, each with its note. The button deals three at a time; the link All 180 jumps to the whole list.

What are the main types of conflict in a story?

Character against character, against nature and against self are the three usually called basic. Against society is sometimes added as a fourth. Against technology, fate and the supernatural appear on longer lists.

What is the difference between internal and external conflict?

Internal conflict takes place within a character's mind. External conflict is between a character and an outside force. Here, Against oneself is the internal group and the other five are external.

Can one story have more than one conflict?

Yes. A character may want more than one thing or face more than one opposing force. Take two, pair a person with a storm, and decide which of the two is settled first.

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