If you’ve set your heart on writing a screenplay and you’ve been following our series “Screenplay Articles”, by now you may know how to create a hero for your story. To get you one step closer towards your goal, today I’m gonna borrow some ideas from The Anatomy of Story by John Truby to share with you 3 tips you can apply right now to infuse your story with conflict.

 

1- Let your hero fight many opponents in succession

 Use this tip when you want your hero to discover his deepest power. Take him on a journey to fight many opponents in succession and let him learn a lesson from each opponent he defeats. At the end, bring your hero home so he can look back and realize how powerful he is.

 

2 – Let your hero be chased by his own weakness  

Use this tip when you want your hero to do what it takes to hid his weakness – instead of acting to defeat his opponent, your hero struggles to prevent his secret from being revealed. This approach works well when your story takes place in 24 hours, in one place, and it’s crafted to solve only one complex problem.

 

3- Let your hero in the dark  

 Use this tip when you want to maximize surprise. It works well when your hero and his opponent know each other quite well, but a great deal about them is hidden from the hero and the audience. At the moment the opponent uses the secret to attack your hero, says John Truby, your hero must overcome his weakness and change or be defeated.

 

I hope this works for you!