Despite what the creators of the television show "Seinfeld" maintained, all story lines incorporate some sort of conflict, even if only a minor development. A well-written story has some sort of conflict facing the main character. The plot involves either direct or indirect conflict or a combination of both.
Conflicts involve external and internal forces or a combination of both types of conflict. External forces include conditions outside the control of the character, while internal forces involve conditions in the character's mind. External conflicts feature things such as natural phenomenon, including hurricanes, tornadoes or floods; the role of fate in the story; another character opposing the main character or societal pressures, including legal and political struggles. Stories and novels using internal conflicts detail a struggle within the character's mind over a course of action. The character may deal with internal conflicts such as fear, indecision or physical limitations.
The kinds of conflict pit the main character in the story against a variety of forces. A common conflict involves man against man or woman against woman. This conflict is also known as the physical conflict between two characters. Another conflict involves man versus the circumstances presented in the story This kind of conflict, known as the classical conflict, features life's circumstances as presented in the narrative or the character struggling against simple fate. Man against nature tells the story of the characters fight against weather or geographic features, including rivers or conquering nature, such as climbing a tall mountain. Man versus society pits the single person against a government, popular customs or the legal system. The conflict of man versus himself includes the psychological conflict between doing what is correct and what the character believes to be wrong. Other internal conflicts involve isolation or physical problems that limit the character's actions or choices. The internal struggle might also include fighting with what the character, or the author, interprets as his soul.
The resolution step in a short story or novel unravels the conflict in the climax and resolves the issues creating the conflict. In a traditional storytelling format, the conclusion follows the resolution of the conflict. The conclusion wraps up any loose ends and answers any question the reader has about the resolution. The Purdue University OWL Writing Lab notes that not all stories involve a resolution, also known as a denouement, after the unraveling of the conflict. The use of a resolution depends on the writer's personal style and the genre of the short story or novel.