Is it possible to have a good story with no conflict?

In such a case, it might be less a matter of making your antagonist something that they're not than of paying enough attention to them that you do more than briefly sketch them in as "the villain".

That said, I do think that there are cases in which a villain kept largely in the background can actually be particularly effective. Sauron from The Lord of the Rings comes to mind, for example.

In this context, "conflict" isn't restricted to only large-scale issues. "Conflict" here might be defined simply as "something is getting in the way of an uneventful experience"—it can be the impending end of the world, but it can also be the character stubbing their toe just before being asked to walk to the shops. Look at the discussion between Last Hussar and myself above: we were discussing day-to-day "trials and tribulations" as examples of conflict.

I suspect that you may be correct that there are some forms of entertainment that lack conflict, albeit that in others the conflict might simply be easily missed. (As to Let's Plays, I imagine that in most, at least, the conflict is with the game, whether figuring out what to build and how to build it in Minecraft, solving the puzzles of Portal 2, or defeating the opposing team in Team Fortress 2. One exception might be in the case of relaxation Let's Plays, which might feature little more than the player wandering a pretty word while rambling softly about one thing or another.)

edited 5th Mar '16 5:57:36 AM by ArsThaumaturgis

My Games & Writing

Even with all the cutesy little stories, there's generally conflict - often internal: a character has to do something that they find terrifying or feel they can't do. The other characters could be as supportive as all hell, not a dissenting word from them, no conflict there, but the character is convinced that they'll fail and has to overcome that internal conflict to get it done.

They might not have a "bad guy" or be facing the end of the world, they might have all the support in the world, but there's still conflict and - ultimately, no matter if all their mates are saying positive shit and cheering them on - they're the only one that can screw their courage to the sticking place and get the job done.

So, something can be as "fluffy bunny" as you like, but still have conflict.

I've been thinking about it in light of your replies, and you are right, there is conflict, but in the style of, say "When Harry Met Sally". You know they will end up together (because Genre). The conflicts are the day to day stuff - the 25 years between meeting and going 'Oh...its you then!', including relationships, children etc.

I think the problem is I'm a mumble-mumble forty-something-mumble year old bloke- I didn't expect my mid-life crisis to take the form of Chick-lit! I've done SF/Fantasy up to now!

Can there be conflict in an utopia?

If that utopia allows sports, yes.

Non Indicative Username

Does MLP:FiM count?

A lot of things considered minor in real life become major things in an utopia. Sort of like first world problems.

edited 7th May '16 8:31:41 AM by hellomoto

Whose idea of "utopia"? I'm pretty sure my idea of utopia would create conflict for the large number of people who don't share my views - just as their "utopia" would be a source of conflict for me.

I should read up some fictional examples of various authors' versions of utopia...

MLP defininitely does not count as conflict free. Every single episode contains an identifiable conflict.

It also does not count as a utopia. Either as a paradise or as a literature utopia. Since a literature Utopia always hides a dark secret.

Wait, we weren't talking about literature utopias?

bookworm6390 didn't exactly clarify which kind of utopia they were referring to, and not everyone has the same thing in mind when they think of a utopia. For instance, when I think of a utopia, I think of classical descriptions of Heaven, which state that everyone is in a state of eternal bliss at all times. Of course, one could also state that's an example of a literary utopia, if you consider its 'dark secret' the fact that you can only get there by exhibiting a specific pattern of behaviors and belief in a higher power.

"Jack, you have debauched my sloth."

... and have to spend eternity singing the praises of said higher power - doesn't sound particularly good to me... But YMMV.

That is a common misconception. Of course, there's a reason universalism is impossible.

Just my random thoughts. Imagine a short story about a man who lives a happy life and all that. Readers will understand that the world around the hero is far from utopia and has its own issues, but the hero doesn't. All is right with the world for him and his crowd and other people's opinions are not shown in the story. We realize that there is something wrong with the world, and the hero, based on our experience and author's description and possibly some hints. So this story hasn't got a conflict between the hero and the world, the hero and his family or friends or even between the hero and himself. Yes, the creation of that kind of story would be a very difficult exercise because an author's ways to write it are extremely limited. But I don't think it is impossible. What do you think?

edited 26th May '16 1:22:51 AM by Vylosipe27

I think what you are saying is that the protagonist is deluded in thinking that he lives in a utopia, and the short story is told from his perspective, a horror story of sorts where the narrator is made to seem blind to the horrors of the world, but the readers can see?

edited 19th May '16 2:07:30 PM by war877

I would take that as a perfect opportunity to write about various forms of discrimination. Misogynism, misandrism, homophobia, transphobia, racism, ageism, ableism, etc, all on top of conformity. All these forms of discrimination will be plain as day, but the protagonist fails to even recognize that it's discrimination. "Hey, did you hear about Bob McCool who broke into his girlfriend's house?" "Yeah! So awesome and romantic! I don't understand why his girlfriend refuses his love. Women, I tell you, can't see what's good for them."

Where utopia meets dystopia.

Bonus points if it's totally possible that the society is our society, whether in the future or even the present.

edited 19th May '16 7:35:58 PM by hellomoto

Aren't those issue conflicts by definition?

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Anything that could've been a conflict is quickly shut down into a supposedly clear-cut case. A couple got drunk and had sex? The man is arrested and made to pay the woman's alimony for life, not even a trial is done (or there is a trial but it's incredibly one-sided). An woman has a tubal pregnancy? God clearly thinks you deserve it, no abortion for you. On a lighter note, every advertisement has a near-naked skinny white woman on it.

This story won't deal directly with the conflicts that arise, in the sense that it won't follow up on the woman whose house was broken into, or the couple in eternal alimony, or the woman who died of tubal pregnancy, or the women who're made to pose as sex objects in ads day in day out. Nevertheless, the issues of discrimination are made very clear just by letting residents express their highly bigoted views on the issues-made-out-to-be-non-issues.

No one other than the victims even think there's anything wrong with the values they place so much importance on. Of course women Stay in the Kitchen! Of course men don't cry! Of course gays are a sin! Of course retards deserve their suffering!

The lack of conflict is what makes the story. Things that should be a conflict, that should be thought over carefully, are dismissed off-hand for "the harmony of society".

edited 19th May '16 7:49:42 PM by hellomoto

Yes, that's what I meant too. At first I was talking about more real stories. For a horror story it's debatable though. It should be a horror story for the reader. The hero must not realise the truth until the end or even after. And this story, obviously, shouldn't have an unhappy ending (like death, madness, etc.) but what's the point then? For example, Ray Bradbury's The Third Expedition doesn't make sense as a horror story without a martians vs human conflict and its ending. But if we take his Dark They Were, And Golden-Eyed, delete an atomic war/Harry's protest we get a story about people's changing/developing in response to a need to adopt to new conditions and it doesn't have a conflict, does it? Honestly I think as was said earlier these are conflicts by definition, in other words "No conflict, no life". With this point of view a good story without conflict cannot exist. Even if the author hasn't put one into the story readers will find one by themselves. It is a question of conflict's definition after all. My answer to the question above is "Yes, if you mean by conflict the conflict you put in intentionally". In addition to all that I have said before I must say that a real problem will be the unreliability of the writer's characters reactions to the hell which is going on around them. So my example (change a little Dark They Were, And Golden-Eyed and you have a story you asked for) is not good enough. However I believe it has some potiential.

edited 26th May '16 1:51:43 AM by Vylosipe27