Engaging Readers: Relatable Conflicts in Fantasy
As fantasy writers, we often weave vast worlds of magic, epic battles, and grand adventures. Yet, even the most detailed worldbuilding wont dazzle if the conflicts don’t resonate emotionally with readers. So how do we craft conflicts that feel both emotionally powerful and deeply relatable, even in the most fantastical settings?
1. Start with Core Emotions
Relatable conflict stems from core emotions that reflect our experiences as humans. Emotions are universal, but the experience and stimulus surrounding them change by region and culture.
NOTE: I wont dive into researching your audience here, but it is important to know who you are writing to. Your story is a wonderful and powerful thing, but it does not live solely in your mind. There is an optimal audience that will receive and love that story the most and the earlier you identify who they are in your creative process, the more potent your book will be.
Readers may not know what it feels like to face a fire-breathing dragon or wield a sword of destiny, but they do understand grief, fear, courage, betrayal, and hope.
2. Provide Catharsis Through Resolution
Conflict is only satisfying if it leads to meaningful resolution. This doesn’t always mean a happy ending, but it should feel earned. Let the resolution tie back to the character’s emotional journey.
For example, in The Stormlight Archive, Kaladin’s battles are as much internal as they are external. When he breaks through his deepest waves of depression and finds direction as a protector, it’s not just a victory for the plot—it’s a deeply emotional resolution that ties his arc together.
To write emotional and relatable conflicts, you must first empathize with your readers and find the core emotional bridge that connects them with your story. Understand their fears, dreams, and flaws. See the world through their eyes. When you approach conflicts with this mindset, you’ll create moments that feel authentic and powerful.
3. Align Conflict with Character Motivations
The emotional stakes that drive conflict stem from your character’s deepest motivations, fears, and flaws. Before introducing a conflict, ask yourself:
- What does this character want?
- What are they afraid of losing?
- What are their values?
- What are they willing to sacrifice to achieve their goals?
The answers to those questions should on some level be at odds. A conflicted character has depth that a reader can relate to intimately. Diving into a character’s motivations allows us to tie in core emotions that make it easier for readers to connect. When the stakes are personal, the conflict hits harder.
Imagine an artisan determined to prove their skill after a lifetime of humble dedication to production. Now, trap them in a contract with a merchant that refuses to acknowledge personal achievements and unique works- forcing them to decide between betraying their resolution or leaving their life’s work behind and starting anew. The external conflict—a clash with the merchant—gains emotional weight because it reflects the artisan’s internal struggle with self-worth and validation.
To tie in core emotions, don’t just look at the emotions your character experiences. The reader’s experience is a reaction to the character’s experience. There is a lot of meta that the reader is consciously or subconsciously tracking. A character might be experiencing joyful exuberance while the reader senses the dread of an upcoming conflict. Look at your character arcs, your focal conflicts, and the themes in the context. Layering themes across internal, interpersonal, and external conflict help core emotions endure in the reader’s experience.
For example, The Lord of the Rings resonates not just because it explores Frodo’s internal conflict with weight of responsibility and fear of corruption, but because we see them mirrored in the interpersonal and external conflicts as well. Aragorn’s core conflict as Isildur’s heir and the corruption of Smeagol demonstrate the two themes on an interpersonal level. Externally, in the context, we have Isildur’s failed responsibility to destroy the ring, Denethor’s corruption and failed responsibility as Steward of Gondor, and Theodin’s redemption from corruption/failed responsibility as king of Rohan. On top of all of that, there was the corruption and failed responsibility of the nine kings of men who became the nazgul. By anchoring core emotions to internal, interpersonal, and external levels of conflict, we can create powerful connection within our stories. These are feelings anyone can relate to, even if they’ve never carried a magical ring.
4. Let Characters Make Painful Choices
Relatable conflict involves hard decisions. A character torn between duty and love, revenge and forgiveness, or survival and morality provides readers a window into their own humanity. These dilemmas are where emotions run high. When a character makes an actionable choice in their struggle always contextualize that choice through the character’s relationships.
Whether they’re romantic, platonic, familial, or antagonistic, relationships are fraught with charged conflicts. The closer the relationship, the more painful the conflict. Its easy to see how a betrayal between characters with a close bond amplifies a conflict, but go beyond direct conflicts. Perhaps the artisan, keeping to their resolution to prove their skill, decides to start their craft from scratch. While there is the obvious conflict with the merchant when the contract is dissolved, what about the uncertainty the artisan’s family feels as they make major life changes? How do the merchant’s customers feel about the changes in product quality and availability as the change is navigated. Are friends worried about the artisan’s success?
Explore the emotional stakes within these relationships. Emotional conflict is most effective when it’s shown through actions, reactions, and subtext, rather than explicitly stated. What does each character stand to gain or lose? How do their conflicting goals and values create tension? These dynamics make your conflict feel personal and relatable.
Emotional and relatable conflicts are the threads that connect your fantastical worlds to your readers’ hearts. By grounding your conflicts in core emotions, aligning them with character motivations, and layering internal, interpersonal, and external tensions, you’ll craft stories that readers will love.
What are your favorite techniques for creating relatable conflict? Share your thoughts in the comments—I’d love to hear how you approach your storytelling.
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