…conflict is to storytelling what sound is to music…
Robert McKee, Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting (2010, p. 210)
Contradiction is the essence of conflict. …Where there is no contradiction there is no conflict.
Lajos Egri, The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives (1942, p. 85)
As I said before, and will say again, all drama is conflict. If you know the need of your character, you can create obstacles to fulfill that need. How he/she overcomes those obstacles is your story.
Syd Field, Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting (2005, p. 41)
In well-written screenplays, conflict plays out on two dramatic levels at the same time. The first level of conflict is duked out in the external world, the world of sight and sound and physical action. …The second level of conflict is emotional, internal, and personal. It is turmoil within the hero as he struggles to overcome some psychological roadblock that must be surmounted before he will be able to triumph in pursuit of his physical goal.
Eric Edson, The Story Solution (2011, p. 37–38)
Antagonists and heroes in conflict are like horses in a team pulling in different directions, while villains and heroes in conflict are like trains on a head-on collision course.
Christopher Vogler, The Writer’s Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers (2020, p. 76)
Under these circumstances, dramas where the conflict comes from an outside source, such as a natural disaster, alien invasion, or a super challenging physical environment/games, will likely work best for heroines. Your human enemies coming from within the group are most likely to have a hero’s mentality of solo action and violent tendencies.
Gail Carriger, The Heroine’s Journey (2020, p. 204)
Don’t let anyone tell you that only certain types of conflict possess dramatic or theatrical value. Any type will do, if you have tridimensional characters with a clear-cut premise. Through conflict, these characters will reveal themselves, assume dramatic value, suspense, and all the other attributes which theatrical jargon terms “dramatic.”
Lajos Egri, The Art of Dramatic Writing: Its Basis in the Creative Interpretation of Human Motives (1942, p. 173)