What motivates our characters to wander into danger, risk everything, and face a fate worse than death? Outer conflict.

Now that we have created a Conflict Map, let's look at ways to deepen the conflict and uncover what drives our Hero(ine) and Villain. We will expand our character's story from just the drama and emotional journey to the outer conflict.

Example: Sophia is a successful businesswoman always willing to go the extra mile for her clients. When a young man moves to her neighborhood, Sophia becomes the victim of an invisible stalker. The stalking quickly escalates to threats. Sophia knows it is only a matter of time before she becomes ensnared in his trap.

Brainstorm: What are our Villain's motives? What will he do to create conflict in our Heroine's outer world? 

The Story Behind The Story

When creating an outline, many people neglect the Villain's side of the story; he is just the pawn to be moved from place to place, tripping up the poor Protagonist. To create a story with depth and a hooking plot, we will focus on both characters' storylines; the Protagonist and the Antagonist. We understand that our Antagonist hates our Protagonist; if he didn't, then we wouldn't have an intriguing story. This is just the beginning. We want to know why our Antagonist has turned evil; why he has taken to stalking the Protagonist, why he has gone on a killing spree. We want to look at the conflict that started the Villain's journey to the dark side. Otherwise, we will just have a shallow shell of a plot, with two-dimensional characters that are unrelatable. 

Let's look deeper below the surface, and dive into the murky depths of our Villain's conflict. To better understand why our character is behaving in such an unhealthy and violent way, we will create a sketch listing the cause and effect. We will create the story behind the story.

The Villain's Cause and Effect

We can start by asking ourselves what causes our Antagonist to break? Most Villains will push the protagonist to the brink while living on the very edge themselves. They are so far beyond normalcy that they are willing to disregard the Rules and break laws without fearing the consequences. Why is this? Many times it is a mental breakdown brought on by injustice. The Villain is, generally, first the victim, then the Villain. Much like the bullied that turns into a bully, or the abused morphing into their abuser, our Villain needs a reason for his complete disregard of laws and punishment.

Example: What has caused our young man to prey on Sophia? She holds a dark secret close. As a teen, Sophia killed a man in a drunken hit-and-run accident. Now, her past has come back to haunt her. The young man is the son of the hit-and-run victim. Soon after his father died, his mother committed suicide. He was placed in an abusive foster-care situation from which he carries deep scars that he allows to dictate his hideous present and his darker, more hopeless future. Before he dies, he wants to avenge his parents' deaths.    

Brainstorm: What has caused our Antagonist to dislike our Heroine so badly that he is willing to endanger his freedom and future happiness just to exact revenge and/or destroy our Heroine's life?

What is his inner conflict? How can we meld his inner conflict with his outer world?

What kind of outer conflict is our Antagonist facing?

Bringing The Two Worlds Together

Once we understand what motivates our Antagonist, we can expand our conflict map to include our Villain. Then, comparing the Antagonist's conflicts with the Protagonist's conflicts, we will be able to see how we can mesh their two story goals together to create an action-rich storyline.

Brainstorm: Consulting our conflict map, what actions can our Heroine take to cause conflict in our Villain's outer world?