My story needs conflict

As I said in the Mary Sue test thread, I don't know what kind of conflicts could arise in my story. To reiterate from there, it's sort of a coming-of-age story in a futuristic setting populated by furries. The main focus is a set of otter triplets raised by an adoptive family in a sort of foster care center-y thing — sort of like an Orphanage of Love but with adoptees instead of orphans. (One thing I didn't mention is that the central triplet, my main character, ends up marrying a childhood friend.)

What kind of conflicts could arise in such a setting?

Well that kind of depends on what you mean.
I'd presume you've heard of the concept of there being three core types of conflict?
If not, quick run-down: there are three conflicts a character can face: Internal, relational and external. Each of these can be further broken down dependent on your characters and setting.

In terms of what you've written, you need to generate some sort of "threat" based on these. For example, whilst the end intention of your story could be to have the Orphanage of Love style family, maybe the kids don't initially feel at home/comfortable with this foster family. If they had been raised by their parents for any amount of time, they'd be understandably cagey about these new unfamiliar people trying to take over the job.

I hope this was somewhat helpful.

Orphanage of Love actually mentions one stereotypical but workable conflict; such a place needs money to keep running, and they're almost always running on a shoestring and just one disaster can put them in a very bad place indeed.

What if the kids do something that ends up bankrupting the place, without realizing the risk they're playing with?

What if there's a benefactor whose motives aren't as pure as the place would like, but they're too hard up to refuse the cash? What if there are strings attached, or said benefactor wants to change things?

What if the kids just THINK that the benefactor has bad motives? Kids sometimes add two and two and make seven, and orphaned & adopted kids might be especially prone to this, because stuff has gone badly wrong in their lives — they're probably terrified of it happening again.

edited 11th Jul '12 1:12:16 AM by Morven

If your world is populated by furries then you would have the quite natural conflict of predator and prey types trying to coexist peacefully.

The predator type furries would ahve to learnt to control their more violent instincts around the prey types, in particular they would have to condition themselves not to react to signs of fear that they might inspire in prey types and resist the urge to hunt. Whereas prey types would have to overcome their natural fear of predators and would have to try their best to remain calm around them so as not to provoke their more violent feelings. But at the same time they would have to learn to recognise when a predator was showing signs of losing control so that they could be ready to make a run for it if needed. Omnivorous furries would be in a unique position as they could be seen as both predator and prey by some and therefore treated with suspicion by those around them. What about insectivors? would they be looked down upon for eating insects?

I assume this foster family would include various types of furry. Having predator/prey/omnivore all under the same roof and trying to live together would lead to natural conflict especially with children/teenagers who will often see everything in such black and white life or death terms and treat thinsg adults would view as trivial with deadly seriousness.

Maybe a predator type furry is one of the adopted. If their biological parents tracked them down and wanted them back how would they react to finding them sharing a home and acting nice with prey/omnivore type furries? What if two seemingly incompatable types become romantically attracted to one another?

I would strongly recommend that you try reading the webcomic Kevin and Kel if you havent already as it is set in a world populated by Furries and about a male rabbit and female wolf who are married.

Kel has been disowned by her parents for marrying a prey animal and has to deal with her incompetant brother constantly trying to kill her husband. Her son Rudy, from a previous marriage, has to come to terms with the alpha male in his pack also being prey. Kevin has also been disowned by his family and his daughter Lindesfarne, a hedgehog he adopted, has to deal with feelings of abandonment over her first foster mother running off and her new foster mother being a predator with seemingly incompatable interests/outlook on life. She also has issues with her boyfriend, a Bat who is a nocturnal insectivore.

Hmmm...based on your description, it almost sounds as if the "conflict" isn't necessarily the lynchpin of the story. It feels like it could make for a slice-of-life story, if I'm interpreting your post correctly — and in that case, the conflict could be just going through day-to-day life. Or as others have suggested, conflict through relationships.

If that's not to your fancy, then let me ask this: is the main character happy where he is right now? Are his relationships/place in life/obligations things that he enjoys and looks forward to day after day? Or is he tired of things as they are, and decides he needs a change? How do his desires line up with those of others — that is, does what he want clash with what others want?

I'm assuming that even if you haven't nailed down the conflict, you've got a pretty good idea of your characters — so use that to your advantage. Work out their desires and opinions of themselves, their world, and one another, and you may be able to find something that works.

That's kind of what I'd figured, that it'd be a slice of life thing about the characters growing up.