One of the most popular types of conflict in novels for a long time is mans versus destiny, or the characters in a story against their destiny. You can call the great works from Macbeth to The Godfathers as proof that this type of conflict is very interesting as the topic of the story.
So, what is human conflict against destiny in literature and how do you make it work to get the perfect result?
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How to Make Conflict Man versus Destiny in Novel Writing
How to fight destiny in various fictional stories get very varied depictions, depending on the imagination and characteristics of the author himself.
Destiny itself has a meaning as a destiny, fate, God’s will for the journey of human child life. In Islam destiny will be closely related to Qada and Qadar which are part of the foundation of a Muslim’s faith.
In literature, human mans versus destiny itself means human struggle against fate, provisions, predictions, predictions or handwriting from God or any entity that is the greatest power in the world of literature.
Story conflicts that deal with the topic of a character’s resistance to destiny are very popular. In addition to this topic, other conflicts that writers usually use, for example, are humans against humans, humans against technology, humans against nature and humans against themselves.
Words against destiny in this topic refers to the struggle of story characters or humans. In his telling, this struggle will become the backbone of the story later.
So, if you are interested in writing a novel with the main theme of the story’s character’s struggle against fate, the following tips will be very useful for you to practice.
1. Create Strong Story Characters to Defy Their Fate
In almost any type of fiction, no matter what you choose, the first step always starts with the main character of the story.
So, who is the main character of your story is the main key to success in building a strong story conflict. Included in the story with the human conflict against his own destiny.
Creating a strong protagonist in a novel will take a lot of time for you to think through all the components. You need to determine what are the strengths of the character in the story, what weaknesses does he have, what is his main motivation and so on.
To make it easier to create strong story characters like this, you can use the following character checklist.
But the point is, the main story character in this mans versus destiny conflict must be able to represent a total human struggle to avoid one path of fate that will befall him.
It didn’t matter whether he succeeded or failed, but the total struggle against fate was an important part.
2. Determine the Kind of Destiny the Protagonist Will Be Against
The second tip when you choose human conflict against destiny is to choose the type of destiny itself.
So, what kind of destiny do you want the characters in your novel to strive for?
Destiny, fate or prediction will be very many and varied. You can choose the one that you think is the most ideal for exploiting your story. It is also important when you choose the type of destiny is to determine what message you want to convey to the reader at the end of the story.
For example, you can create a story character who receives a verdict from a doctor who says that he only has three months to live. In this context, the destiny that the main character of the story faces is the prediction of modern medical science which tends to be accurate and reliable.
Or in other cases, for example, you want to make the main character of your story a defendant who received a death sentence from the court. In this case, the destiny is a justice system that is also strong and binding.
In an even more unique example, you might have your novel’s protagonist accidentally break the rules of a spiritual figure or saint. In this context, the power of a holy man and his supernatural powers can become the fate of the antagonist that the main character of the story must face.
The point in this step is that you determine what kind of destiny will be the main character’s battlefield.
The simple tip is to make sure the story characters are ready to fight tooth and nail in an effort to fight against their destiny.
3. Provide a Relevant Connection Between the Character and His Destiny
The formula that most best seller writers use in creating a strong conflict on the topic of mans versus destiny is to make most of the story contain the character’s efforts to avoid this destiny.
For example like this;
You had the protagonist cursed to die in one month for accidentally breaking a sacred rule. The only way to fight this destiny is to find an antidote for the curse which is very difficult for the main character to get.
So, when part of your story tells about the efforts of the story characters who struggle to get the antidote to the curse, then that’s the formula for the story.
But of course you can experiment with more creativity to get a more lively storyline.
You, for example, can subvert the reader’s expectations with a character who misunderstands the noble purpose he is doing but instead leads him to bad luck. Or on another occasion, you make the story character break all the rules which actually makes him achieve something he didn’t expect at all.
The point in this step is, you can play a story plot twist by exploiting the role of fate and destiny that the story characters face.
4. Design What Obstacles the Characters Will Face
To ensure that the conflict that you build is really interesting, makes sense and is able to increase the tension of the story appropriately, you need to design it from the start.
This will give you the opportunity to make a sort of list of the obstacles the characters will face in fighting their destiny.
Designing obstacles in the theme of human conflict against fate is certainly not the same as making an outline or framework of a novel. But in practice, the method of setting the type of obstacles, the number of obstacles and their effect on the story, is not much different.
It’s just that in this case, you will focus more on determining what will be the tests and obstacles in the story’s character’s efforts to fight his destiny.
To make it easier to do this part, try to brainstorm in real life according to the conditions of fate that you choose as the antagonist of the story.
5. Give an Interesting Story Ending
The last part you can do to make the perfect conflict in the theme of humans against destiny is to provide an interesting story ending.
In the traditional formulation of human conflict against fate, the storyline will mostly show the character’s struggle to avoid his fate. The happy ending that usually appears in conflicts like this is the success of the story characters after a long and sacrificial struggle.
But then again, you can break all the rules to create a more unique ending.
You can subvert the reader’s expectations by giving a plot twist at the end of the story. You can even bump into some of the conventions in traditional literature of human versus destiny conflicts that are common.
Even so, remember to always provide an ending that is relevant, makes sense and is able to convey the message of the story that you want to convey to previous readers.
READ ALSO:
- 7 POPULAR PLOT DEVICES AND HOW TO USE THEM
- HOW TO MAKE GREAT SETTING IN THE STORY
- HOW TO WRITE GREAT REALISTIC FICTION
Do you have an interesting life story to tell into a novel but are confused about how to write it?
Anton Wan Bong
I am a Indonesian book writer, content writer, ghost writer, copywriters and also an email marketer. I have written 23 book titles, fiction and non-fiction, and thousands of articles since mid-2018 until now.
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