Use the Conflict template to write about ANY type of conflict between two (or more) people or groups. Think wars, street fights, and even a heated after-dinner discussion!
Contents
What should I use this template for?
If you want to write an article about some people disagreeing and doing something that shows that disagreement, that's a conflict! This something could be anything from a rap battle to an intergalactic war. And remember that a conflict can have smaller conflicts inside; feel free to divide the topic into as many articles as you need!
Here are some examples of what an Organization template could be used for.
Conflicts between countries
This type of conflict is very common in fantasy and sci-fi, because the effects of a war can be felt at all levels of society and often last many years. However, not all wars need to be this impactful! For example, the Whisky War was "fought" between 1973 and 2002 and resulted in the creation of a new border between Canada and Denmark. Adding variety to the conflicts in your world will make it feel more real and alive.
Factions conflicts
Wars between factions (such as criminal organizations, companies, or religious groups) are usually on a smaller scale, but can still have devastating effects on everyone. The entire cyberpunk genre is built around the consequences of conflicts between tech megacorps, but most genres have some element of this. For example, The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch, is all about the conflicts within the criminal underworld of a fantasy city.
Competitions
The stakes in a competition are usually lower than a war, but they can definitely feel just as high sometimes! Be it a sports tournament, a dino-wrangling competition, or a song improvisation match, these can be great ways to introduce a different kind of conflict into your story. These happen much more often than wars (fortunately), so use the Tradition template to explain how these kinds of events work, but create a Conflict article if you want to write about a specific competition that's relevant to the story you want to tell.
Family and personal disputes
Family disputes are usually the ones with the lowest stakes in the grand scheme of things. But, at the same time, they can have the highest impact over on the affected people. And as most stories are about following the lives of a bunch of characters, they are really powerful!
Template walkthrough
Remember that all template prompts are optional! In fact some prompts might not be relevant to you. As always, there's a free-writing section at the top (which we call vignette) and the prompts are under the Expand prompts & connections button. Here's a quick explanation of each tab:
- Action: use this tab to write about what happened during the conflict and the different parts it was divided in.
- Repercussions: this is about everything that happened after the conflict. How were the world and characters influenced by the aftermath of the conflict?
- Specifications: this contains some quick drop-down options to include quick data and relations to other articles.
- Conflict sides: use this tab to write about the different sides involved with the conflict.
Special features for conflicts
The Conflict template has a couple specific features:
- Conflict tree: If the conflict is part of a larger one (for example, a battle of a larger war), you can add a visual representation of all related conflicts. Use the Specifications tab and use the Parent Conflict drop-down. Learn more about it here
- Conflict sides: In the Conflict Sides tab, you can add basic data about the different sides that took part in the conflict. They will be displayed in the article's sidebar (or article footer if there are more than 2).
Feature recommendations for organizations
Here are some ideas on how to use other features with conflicts:
- Map layers and Chronicles: With either feature, you can show how a conflict evolved and which areas were controlled by whom at different points in time! Learn more about layers and Chronicles
- Diplomacy webs: Display and interactive representation of how different factions involved with the conflict feel about each other! Learn more about Diplomacy Webs.
Step-by-step guide to writing a conflict
There are many ways to approach a conflict, but here's some advice to get you started!
- Why did the conflict begin?
Conflicts don't suddenly happen out of nowhere; there's usually a long string of actions that lead to two or more sides clashing and fighting. If it's a war, think about who's interested in the war happening too! This will be usually someone who's not directly involved but has some stakes in it (such as an enemy of one of the sides). If you're writing a more personal story, why couldn't the characters find an agreement before they began fighting? - How is the conflict perceived by people?
Think about how the characters in your world would react to this conflict. There are so many angles you can take this on; the victims of the conflict, third-parties with no stakes in it, and the people directly affected will all have different takes. So focus on the people that are the focus of your world's story. - What were the conflict's long-term consequences?
The short-term consequences are easy to think about (people dead, buildings destroyed, financial crisis, political instability...) but if the conflict you're writing about happened many years ago, the long-term consequences are even more important! So, what's the version of the conflict that has been promoted? The history people learn is never completely objective; after all, it's written by humans, and humans have biases and are not perfect. So consider how could their understanding of the conflict have shaped their current society. Is there still resentment? Are there prejudices that have appeared because of that conflict?
Community examples for inspiration
Need some inspiration? Here are some conflict articles written by our amazing community!
