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As with every story element described in this series, the goal relates directly back to the idea of <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/mastering-conflict-in-screenwriting/">conflict</a>. To reiterate, in its most basic form, conflict is when someone wants something and another person doesn’t want them to have it.
More specifically, narrative conflict is typically when one character proactively pursues a goal, which forces another character to react in an attempt to prevent the achievement of that goal. However, narrative conflict does not have to be initiated by an active protagonist. It may come from proactive oppositional character. Additionally, narrative conflict may be driven by an oppositional force that compels the main character to survive or endure.
Regardless of who or what initiates the narrative conflict, it demands resolution. A clear goal drives the narrative conflict towards its climax where the main character will achieve their desired outcome – or not. A clear goal will develop audience engagement and empathy by giving them something to rally for, and to root against. This can be true at the scene, sequence, or story-level.
While many of the lessons in this article will apply to the scene and sequence level, here we will explore the components of a goal that will drive the narrative conflict at the story-level. Describing a goal in this way will be vital when crafting a logline.
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<h3>Defining the Goal</h3>
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At the story level, <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/the-trigger-more-than-an-inciting-incident/">triggering events</a> impact the <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/more-than-the-protagonist-the-six-main-character-types/">main character</a>’s status quo. It is the threat of negative consequences for doing nothing that forces them into action. However, there is a persistent myth that the main character must actively seek a goal. Yes, a proactive protagonist will initiate their own goal, but as we’ll see, other main character types can be reactive to the goal of an <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/more-than-the-antagonist-the-seven-opposition-types/">opposition</a> character, or a force that challenges them to survive or endure. The reactive main character, however, will still actively oppose the opposition’s goal.
<blockquote>The story-level goal expresses a specific desired outcome that is external, trackable, and achievable.</blockquote>
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Let’s address each of these five elements separately. For our examples, we’ll return to A Quiet Place: Day One (AQP:D1).
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<div id="attachment_46931" style="width: 781px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-46931" class=" wp-image-46931" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/samira-in-a-quiet-place-day-one-1024x512.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="771" height="386" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/samira-in-a-quiet-place-day-one-1024x512.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/samira-in-a-quiet-place-day-one-150x75.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/samira-in-a-quiet-place-day-one-250x125.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/samira-in-a-quiet-place-day-one-768x384.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" />Samira (Lupita Nyong&#8217;o) in A Quiet Place: Day One</div>
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Specific &#8211; When a goal is not clear, the audience may not know what success or failure looks like. In AQP:D1, more than surviving the alien invasion, Sam simply wants a slice of pizza from her favorite childhood pizzaria.
Desired Outcome &#8211; The character must be willing to struggle to return to their original status quo, or to achieve new acceptable circumstances. A failure to achieve the desired outcome in the climax will lead to immediate negative consequences. Sam starts AQP:D1 in hospice. Surviving the alien invasion can not lead to a new acceptable status quo. However, getting the pizza is so important to her it becomes the heart of the story. It is the thing she must do before she dies.
External &#8211; Show, don’t tell. Cinema is a visual medium. An external goal leads to an easily visualized climax. An internal goal forces the character to declare their success which could be made at any time. Eating a slice of pizza is external. Sam will either eat a slice of pizza or she will die trying.
Trackable &#8211; Given limited time or options to achieve the desired outcome, a trackable goal allows the audience to follow the character on their journey, seeing how a scene or sequence will bring the character closer or farther from success. AQP:D1 is all about the ebb and flow of Sam’s journey north to Harlem for the pizza. With each obstacle or roadblock, the audience knows whether Sam is getting closer to the Harlem Pizza place, or to death.
Achievable &#8211; Audiences engage more with stories where the character’s desired outcome is out of their reach, but attainable. If a goal seems impossible to achieve at first, the main character will likely discover something about the opposition or themselves that changes the dynamic. A truly impossible goal may leave the audience wondering why they’re watching the character’s struggle. New York City is in shambles in AQP:D1.
Although the specific desired outcome never really feels possible, it is understood from the inciting epiphany that getting the pizza is really an external, trackable symbol of her taking control of her last days on earth. While the consequences of failure are clear, it always feels like it might be possible in some way. The audience won’t be surprised when the character redefines success later in the story, when additional context for this specific goal is made clear.
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<h3>The Story-Level Goal In the Logline</h3>
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&#8220;The goal activates the conflict,&#8221; as Christopher Lockhart says. The logline describes the goal that activates the central conflict, the proactive goal, regardless of who initiates it. Let’s explore how story-level goals affect each of the different main character types and how they can best be described in the logline.
In the inciting epiphany, if the protagonist fails to act they face powerful initial stakes (deeply personal negative consequences). This forces them to proactively devise a goal that they hope will solve their problem. Their antagonist reacts to prevent this goal from being achieved. The goal in the logline belongs to the protagonist. Describing the goal of AQP:D1 we might describe the goal as, “...sets out on a treacherous trek to Harlem for a slice of pizza from her favorite pizzeria…”
The hero is reactive to their opposition, whether a villain, monster, or oppositional force. For the hero, the climax resolves the opposition’s goal. Without the opposition initiating their plan, the hero cannot rise. Even if the hero appears to be “actively” pursuing something like justice, it will still be a reaction to the opposition’s story-level goal.
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<div id="attachment_46932" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-46932" class="size-large wp-image-46932" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/deadpool-and-wolverine-box-office-record-1024x576.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/deadpool-and-wolverine-box-office-record-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/deadpool-and-wolverine-box-office-record-150x84.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/deadpool-and-wolverine-box-office-record-250x141.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/deadpool-and-wolverine-box-office-record-768x432.jpg 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/deadpool-and-wolverine-box-office-record.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) &amp; Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios/ Disney</div>
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In Deadpool &amp; Wolverine, the villain (Paradox) initiates a plan to accelerate the destruction of Deadpool’s universe, annihilating everyone he loves. When the two titular would-be heroes discover the villain’s plan and its negative consequences (inciting epiphany) they are thrown into what is essentially a supermax prison for superheros (The Void). Before the heroes can bring the villain to justice, they must first escape their prison, then they will need to work together to destroy the villain’s powerful weapon (the time ripper).
When a main character faces many of the oppositional forces, or a monster, often the main character must endure or survive. This is reactive, and certainly not descriptive of the main character’s central conflict. Instead the “goal” of the oppositional force or monster should be described in a way that clarifies the central conflict.
We might ask, as an example, what does mother nature, as an oppositional force, “want?” While it may not have a motive as an antagonist or villain might, its actions will nonetheless force a character into conflict. For instance, when describing a character directly in the path of a hurricane, unable to evacuate, it would be better to describe the destructive strength of the hurricane and why they must survive. This is much stronger than describing the character’s reactive goal to simply survive.
With the resister, the story is driven by the opposition’s desire to enforce a new status quo. More specifically, to get the resister to conform, or die. The resister refuses to conform and the initial stakes do not force them to change. The opposition must continue to raise the stakes for the resister until the climax. Self-preservation is, by its very nature, reactiveto the intention of the opposition. Audiences will of course want the main character to endure or survive, therefore it doesn’t need to be stated in a logline. Instead it will be vital to describe what the resister must survive, and why. The logline for the resister will make clear the oppositional force that they must endure or survive.
In Megan Park’s wonderful coming-of-age dramedy My Old Ass, the main character, Elliot is warned by her older self to avoid a boy named Chad. Enter Chad! The younger Elliot doesn’t know why she should avoid him, and the older Elliot isn’t saying. But it must be bad because it has really affected her older self. Despite the warning, the younger Elliot wants to resist, but keeps having coincidental interactions with Chad that bring them closer and closer. This conflict is resolved in the climax, when the older Elliot finally reveals Chad’s secret.
The trailblazer’s transformation comes early in the story, sometimes motivated by the opposition, sometimes by an internal drive. Like the resister, the opposition will continually raise the stakes until the climax. The narrative question is whether the trailblazer can endure or survive against an oppositional force that wants them to conform.
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<div id="attachment_46933" style="width: 783px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-46933" class=" wp-image-46933" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/oppen-1024x576.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="773" height="435" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/oppen-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/oppen-150x84.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/oppen-250x141.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/oppen-768x432.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 773px) 100vw, 773px" />J. Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy) Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures</div>
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In my article on the main character, the example for the trailblazer was Oppenheimer. The non-linear structure makes describing the story a bit more challenging, but again, we can look to the climax to see the central conflict. The opposition has the goal that drives the narrative. The audience needs the context of his career to understand how dropping the atom bomb fundamentally changed him. When he expresses his opposition to nuclear proliferation, the mysterious oppositional force must silence him by denying him his top secret clearance in a rigged “trial” that escalates the stakes. He must endure accusations that threaten his reputation, patriotism, and personal relationships.
With an observer as the main POV character, the story will belong to the focus character, who may not have all of the elements of a main character. Not all main characters will be active or reactive. Some may be a passive character who interprets, narrates, or witnesses the story of the focus character. The observer narrator has the benefit of hindsight to explain why the desired outcome is necessary; they guide the audience through the story. The observer interpreter acts as the audience surrogate, helping the audience to understand how the desired outcome is necessary; they may track the efforts of the focus character to make clear that the goal is achievable. The observer may also realize late in the story that they are changed because of what they have witnessed.
In Killers of the Flower Moon, the goal belongs to DeNiro’s character, the villainous William”King” Hale. His murderous scheme to inherit Mollie’s family fortune is told through the perspective of Mollie’s dimwitted husband, Hale’s nephew Ernest.
When a leader emerges from an ensemble cast with the primary POV, they will have developed the traits of another main character type. In Avatar: The Way of Water, Jake and his family are reactive to the ruthless Quaritch, who has returned to Pandora in avatar form, seeking revenge. Quaritch drives the story-level goal. Jake is the leader/hero of the ensemble because he’s the primary focus of Quaritch’s revenge plot. These two characters resolve the central conflict in the climax. However, Jake’s family is also important to an ensemble, so deserves mention in the logline.
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Goals – Driving the Narrative 

While even the non-writer will recognize that the climax is the character’s final battle, the end of the story, fewer know what to call the start of the story. Remember, there is no story without conflict. Therefore the story starts with a clear conflict. Writers will know the Inciting Incident or Inciting Event is often described as an occurrence that thrusts the main character into conflict. 
This simple explanation seems pretty straightforward, but just as we discussed with the Main Character and Opposition, the terms are also dramatically incomplete. A single incident/ event/ occurrence will rarely incite story-level conflict, and, more importantly, these events won&#8217;t happen on a certain page in a script. In order to define the events that spark story-level conflict for the different types of main characters and opposition, we’ll need a different term. 
A more accurate description for this term would be the Trigger. To fully understand how events can trigger conflict we must take a deeper look into the concept itself and how these events fit into a story. Whether the character must find their grail, stop some villain, escape some monster, or simply endure the wrath of mother nature, their search for a new, acceptable existence is the story’s conflict. 
In this article, we will break down the trigger into three parts of the trigger in order to find the reasons for the central conflict. The three parts are the status quo, the triggering events, and the inciting epiphany. We will then look at the four criteria of effective trigger. Finally, we will review how the trigger might appear in an effective logline.
 
<h3>1) The Status Quo</h3>
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The main character’s status quo can be described as how the character lives prior to the story’s central conflict, no matter how different, strange, undesirable or unrecognizable a character’s life might be from the audience’s experience. The status quo has no stakes, nor does it force the character into action. The main character simply accepts their status quo. 
An example everyone knows, in Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope, Luke lives on a moisture farm with his Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen. We may not know what a moisture farm is, but it implies someone who lacks worldly wisdom, a stark contrast with the villain Darth Vader. Good David vs Evil Goliath.
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<div id="attachment_45950" style="width: 781px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-45950" class=" wp-image-45950" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/A-Quiet-Place-Day-One-movie-review-1024x683-1024x683.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine" width="771" height="514" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/A-Quiet-Place-Day-One-movie-review-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/A-Quiet-Place-Day-One-movie-review-1024x683-150x100.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/A-Quiet-Place-Day-One-movie-review-1024x683-250x167.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/A-Quiet-Place-Day-One-movie-review-1024x683-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" />Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) in A Quiet Place: Day One. Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures.</div>
More recently, in the surprisingly effective A Quiet Place: Day One (AQP:D1), the pessimistic loner Sam lives in a hospice outside of New York City with her service cat, Frodo. These names alone reveal the theme of friendship.
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<h3>2) Triggering Events</h3>
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These events provide the audience context for the conflict that will ultimately be resolved in the climax. The triggering events are in stark contrast with the character’s status quo. They change the circumstances of the main character, even if the character is not aware of them. However, the events themselves do not trigger the conflict.
The triggering events that eventually lead to Luke’s change of circumstances are numerous: There is Princess Leia’s capture, the escape of the droids to Tatooine, their capture by the Jawa traders, the purchase of the droids by Uncle Owen, the removal of R2’s restrictor bolt and subsequent escape. However, none of these describe a change in circumstances for Luke. Even Luke meeting Obi Wan doesn’t force Luke to act.
Back to AQP:D1, Sam is invited to go to a theater in New York City. She agrees, but only if they can stop for pizza afterwards. Very relatable. Then sound-sensitive aliens attack. While this forces her to endure, this is actually not the central conflict.
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<h3>3) The Inciting Epiphany </h3>
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The final triggering event makes it clear to the main character that the negative consequences of ignoring the trigger events are too great to accept. Only when a character recognizes their circumstances have changed in some intolerable way can they be forced to find an acceptable existence. Their desired outcome may be an active goal, such as for the protagonist, or a reactive goal as we see in the hero. It may also be the recognition of why it is so important that they endure or survive. 
Returning to Star Wars, when Luke discovers his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru have been murdered, he recognizes the imperial forces will stop at nothing to retrieve the droids. He must join the rebellion.
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<div id="attachment_45951" style="width: 780px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-45951" class=" wp-image-45951" src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/thumb-1920-664144-1024x768.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="770" height="578" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/thumb-1920-664144-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/thumb-1920-664144-150x113.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/thumb-1920-664144-250x188.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/thumb-1920-664144-768x576.jpg 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/thumb-1920-664144.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px" />Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) in Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope. Photo courtesy of 2oth Century Fox</div>
In AQP:D1, Sam and some others watch as military planes blow up the bridges, cutting off any escape by foot. She realizes that everyone on the island is being sacrificed to slow the alien advance. While survival seems remote for others, that could never be her goal. AQP:D1 brilliantly shows how the goal, stakes, and climax can grow organically from the status quo and triggering events. Sam doesn’t have long to live, alien invasion or not. Instead, she and Frodo must endure a treacherous trek north to Harlem for a slice of pizza from a particular pizza parlor. Although this goal seems impossible, it comes with deeply personal stakes. 
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<h3>A Triggering Event Doesn’t Always Lead to an Inciting Epiphany</h3>
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For the protagonist, the inciting epiphany comes early when they realize the negative consequences for doing nothing are personal and immediate. It is important to understand that the inciting epiphany is not required to come on a certain page, or even at the start of a story. While the epiphany may come early in the story for a hero, for the so-called reluctant hero, it will come much later. A character may simply accept their change in circumstances. They may be aware of the negative consequences and still do nothing about it. This isn’t wrong. 
Many characters are not eager to engage in conflict until their stakes are high enough that they must act. If a triggering event doesn’t lead to an epiphany, then subsequent triggering events must turn the screws. The opposition must keep turning the screws until the main character finds the consequences of inaction unacceptable, forcing them into action. 
Stories with resister or trailblazer main characters will have multiple triggering events, each raising the stakes for the main character, testing their abilities or resolve. For the resister or trailblazer, the epiphany comes in the climax, at the culmination of many triggering events that finally force the character to fight, flight, or flee. 
Consider Red’s character in Shawshank Redemption. Red is an observer/ narrator of Andy’s story, but he is also a resister in his own story. He is cynical and pessimistic that he’ll ever be able to survive outside of prison. His epiphany comes after he’s paroled, when he digs up the box under the tree. Only then does he recognize that he has a choice. He has finally learned Andy’s lessons of hope. Failing to act here would have represented a tragedy of epic proportions.
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<h3>Context for the Central Conflict</h3>
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Thinking of the trigger in its three constituent parts will help the writer to clarify their central conflict. The status quo reflects the character’s life before the start of the conflict. The triggering events give the audience context for the conflict. And the inciting epiphany forces the main character into the conflict that will be resolved in the climax. 
More importantly, the climax reflects back to the trigger. Together they represent the start and end of conflict. To ensure the most effective conflict, the trigger and the story’s climax should be developed in tandem. To paraphrase Billy Wilder, if you have a problem with the climax, the real problem is in the trigger.&#8221;
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<h3>The Four Characteristics of an Effective Trigger</h3>
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1) A clear and simple triggering event, one that easily contrasts with the character’s status quo, will let the audience know that a story is about to start. A needlessly complex series of triggering events can be a caution sign for a confusing or convoluted plot. With a clear and simple trigger, the reader can focus on how they feel about the story instead of trying to interpret a complicated turn of phrase. The writer who tries to say too much instead says very little. 
2) A dynamic trigger is one that describes a substantial change in the external circumstances for the main character. This change should happen to the main character, rather than because of them. Consider that when the main character interrupts their own status quo there will be no stakes for the character for not acting towards their goal. The story could begin or end at any time depending on the whim of the character. 
3) Immediate refers to both time and place. Events that take place long ago, or far away from the main character will likely not have the same influence on them as those that happen in their presence. Distant events may be needed to establish context for the conflict. That’s fine for early triggering events. However, when the final event happens to, or is witnessed by the main character, both the character and the audience understands the stakes, and the character’s immediate need to act.
4) Life Changing describes the main character recognizing their change in circumstances. While early triggering events can be minor inconveniences, they will likely not be enough to force the character into action. In comparison, the final triggering event leading to the inciting epiphany must alter the main character’s status quo in completely unacceptable ways.
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<h3>Describing the Trigger in a Logline</h3>
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There’s simply not enough space in a logline to describe a complete status quo, every triggering event, and the inciting epiphany. Thankfully, it’s not necessary. Elements can pull double duty. A well-considered setting, character flaw or description can also give a strong indication of a character’s status quo. Luke is “a naive farm boy.” Sam is “a pessimistic loner living in hospice.”
The logline often focuses on the final triggering event that leads to the main character’s epiphany. But that might not help to clarify the central conflict. It might be better to summarize the triggering events. For Luke, the murder of his aunt and uncle ultimately forces him into action, but doesn’t help to describe the central conflict. A summary of the triggering events might describe Luke being “swept up in a galactic war.” The conflict might require a little more context. In AQP:D1, “After aliens invade New York City, the government cuts off any chance of escape…” 
It’s not necessary to describe the inciting epiphany in the logline. Remember, the inciting epiphany forces the character to act. Consider that the logline will also describe the character’s goals and stakes, which means that the character must have had their inciting epiphany. The reason the character must act will be assumed by the summary of the triggering events. Notice the emphasis on the words forces and must. They lead to our next subject: Goals.
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<h3>Wrapping Up the Trigger In a Single Sentence</h3>
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A clear/simple, dynamic, immediate, and life-changing trigger describes events that contrast sharply with the main character’s accepted status quo, making them aware their circumstances have changed, forcing them into a conflict that will be resolved in the climax.

The Trigger – More Than An Inciting Incident

The logline is, at its core, a description of the central <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/mastering-conflict-in-screenwriting/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">conflict </a>in a story. The central conflict will be defined through the struggle between the main character and their opposition. No opposition, no conflict. No conflict, no story. Understanding how the different types of opposition are used in a story will be necessary to accurately describe the story’s central conflict in a logline.
In the previous article, we explored the six types of <a href="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/more-than-the-protagonist-the-six-main-character-types/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">main characters</a> and how they interact differently with the other elements of a story. Just as the term “protagonist” is a dramatically incomplete description of the main character, so too would it be insufficient to refer to their opposition simply as an antagonist. 
In this article we will review the key characteristics and descriptions for all seven types of opposition. The first three types are opposition characters: the antagonist, the villain, and the monster. The final four types are the oppositional forces of culture, technology, nature, and supernatural. But first, let’s lay the foundation for all opposition by asking a simple question, who, or what, is the opposition?
To activate a story’s conflict, one character must want something, while another character (or force) doesn’t want them to have it. However, these wants themselves do not define who the main character is, or their opposition. At its core, opposition stands in the way of the desires of the main character.
On the surface, the opposition might be obvious, but taking a moment to review the specifics of the opposition may help the writer to clarify their conflict. This will be a tremendous help in writing the logline, or diagnosing any issues with a story.
The writer must first determine whether a character in the central conflict is the opposition or the main character. This depends on how they interact with the other story elements. While the story provides details of some elements for an opposition character, they will always be to a lesser degree than the main character. 
For instance, the opposition will always have a less predominant POV compared to the main character. It will have a less established status quo. The story will likely not focus on the opposition’s triggering events and stakes. Goals, however, are a different story altogether. And this is where things  get really interesting. 
From the previous article on the main character, we understand that not all main character types are required to have a proactive goal. In some stories, an opposition character’s goal drives the narrative. This can be seen in most superhero movies. The villain’s goal forces the superhero to react, with the stakes often belonging to the hero on behalf of society. Stopping the villain would be the superhero’s reactive goal. 
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<div id="attachment_45550" style="width: 780px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-45550" class="wp-image-45550 " src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Batman-vs.-Joker-1024x506.png" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine" width="770" height="381" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Batman-vs.-Joker-1024x506.png 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Batman-vs.-Joker-150x74.png 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Batman-vs.-Joker-250x124.png 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Batman-vs.-Joker-768x379.png 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Batman-vs.-Joker.png 1336w" sizes="(max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px" />Joker (Heath Ledger) &amp; Batman (Christian Bale) Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.</div>
Imagine a logline that simply says that Batman must stop the Joker. This describes Batman&#8217;s goal in pretty much all stories between the two characters. Stopping the Joker is at best, the promise of conflict. The audience needs the specifics of the central conflict. Therefore, the logline for a superhero flick would describe the specifics of the villain’s plan.
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<h3>The Central Conflict Isn’t Always With The Enemy</h3>
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The opposition character will not always wear a black hat. They aren’t always a bad guy. The main character and their opposition may both be relatable and decent. The central conflict may simply be that they have different ways of approaching how to solve a mutual problem. This conflict dynamic can be seen in war movies where two characters fighting for the same side disagree on how to defeat their common enemy. The central conflict wouldn&#8217;t be the need to defeat the enemy, but how to defeat them. Oppenheimer provides an example. The central conflict is not the defeat of Germany or Japan, but rather how Oppenheimer reconciles his involvement in the development of the A-Bomb, which pitted him against very powerful men in the US government. 
Conversely, an evil person isn’t always a villain in the conflict. If a story strongly establishes its elements for a character whose ethics are antithetical to the audience, they may in fact be a kind of protagonist. Martin Scorsese has made a career out of portraying well-developed black hat anti-protagonist main characters with white hat opposition characters. Killers of the Flower Moon is just the most recent example. 
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<h3>Reviewing the Three Opposition Characters</h3>
<h3>1) The Antagonist</h3>
Key Characteristic: Opposes the protagonist&#8217;s proactive goal. 
Description: The antagonist must appear much stronger than the protagonist. An overpowering antagonist is the promise of tension and suspense within the story and of a well-earned resolution for the protagonist. However, brute force isn’t always necessary to defeat the antagonist. They are the most reasonable of all opposition types. In the climax, the antagonist may acquiesce to the protagonist for logical or emotional reasons. 
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<div id="attachment_44734" style="width: 781px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-44734" class="wp-image-44734 " src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/l-intro-1671032619-1024x573.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine" width="771" height="432" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/l-intro-1671032619-1024x573.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/l-intro-1671032619-150x84.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/l-intro-1671032619-250x140.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/l-intro-1671032619-768x430.jpg 768w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/l-intro-1671032619.jpg 1600w" sizes="(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" />Charlie (Brendan Fraser) in The Whale. Photo courtesy of A24</div>
Example: In The Whale, Charlie’s daughter Ellie is the antagonist. His need is to find redemption reconnecting with her before he dies. She is in a much stronger position than Charlie as she doesn’t need to accept him. Ellie is also one of several characters that represent his fear of judgment, the oppositional force of culture. Just as Charlie abandoned Ellie for years, he also hides from his students and the pizza delivery person for fear of being judged. 
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<h3>2) The Villain</h3>
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Key Characteristic: Has their own goal that drives the narrative forward.
Description: A villain’s proactive goal drives the narrative forward, forcing the hero to react. Eventually. The villain’s plan is a triggering event for the hero. The villain underestimates the hero’s ability to rise to the occasion. The hero may defeat the villain by either force or reason. The logline would feature both the villain’s goal and the hero’s stakes if the villain were to succeed. 
Example: Ken starts off in Barbie as an accessory. He becomes the villain only after he visits the real world with Barbie and discovers the patriarchy. When he returns to Barbieland and transforms it into Kenland, his proactive plan is to make it permanent. This forces Barbie to reactively rise as a hero to stop him.
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<h3>3) The Monster</h3>
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Key Characteristic: Cannot be reasoned with, nor will they ever surrender.
Description: The monster is a sociopath or psychopath, a character incapable of reason or being reasoned with. They lack empathy and will never accept their own defeat. It is not in their vocabulary, literally or figuratively. Regardless of the consequences, they will continue their attack… until they are destroyed. Apparently. Make no mistake, the monster isn’t a mindless creation of the writer; they often thematically represent one of the oppositional forces. 
Example: Avatar: The Way of Water gives us the relentless Quaritch. In the first Avatar, he was a ruthless villain out to obtain the valuable, obviously-named mineral, unobtanium. This time, however, he&#8217;s a monster seeking only revenge. Quaritch is more capable of beating Jake now because he is also an Avatar.
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<h3>Oppositional Characters vs. Oppositional Forces</h3>
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While an oppositional character will focus their efforts specifically on the main character, the four oppositional forces are often more indiscriminate. It’s nothing personal. The oppositional force typically acts upon any character who happens to be in the same situation. These other characters often serve to raise the stakes for the main character. While the forces are all seemingly impossible to overcome, the audience must believe the main character has a chance to endure or survive.
When the main character encounters more than one oppositional character along their journey, each character will often represent an escalating aspect of the oppositional force. The oppositional character in the climax may have even arrived late in the story. In the logline for these situations, rather than describing several opposition characters, it may be better to simply describe the oppositional force. An example can be found in our first force.
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<h3>4) The Force of Culture</h3>
Key Characteristic: demands conformity.
Description: The force of culture will very often be represented by several characters. The logline will often describe the opposition character, a leader in the group, community, or family. This character enforces cultural norms. The climax will often result in fight-or-flight for the main character. In the happy ending, the oppositional leader may choose to accept the main character as they are. 
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<div id="attachment_45551" style="width: 781px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img aria-describedby="caption-attachment-45551" class="wp-image-45551 " src="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/001_LAT_024_PT_Atsushi_Nishijima_20211026_00359-1024x683.jpg" alt="Creative Screenwriting Magazine " width="771" height="514" srcset="https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/001_LAT_024_PT_Atsushi_Nishijima_20211026_00359-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/001_LAT_024_PT_Atsushi_Nishijima_20211026_00359-150x100.jpg 150w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/001_LAT_024_PT_Atsushi_Nishijima_20211026_00359-250x167.jpg 250w, https://www.creativescreenwriting.com/cswcms/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/001_LAT_024_PT_Atsushi_Nishijima_20211026_00359-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px" />Bella Baxter (Emma Stone) Photo courtesy of Searchlight Pictures</div>
Example: Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things may describe the oppositional force of culture right in the title. The poor things are the men in Bella’s life, all of which attempt to control her in one way or another. From the first scene, Bella throws off the shackles each man in her life puts her in, both metaphorically and literally. In the logline, it would be too much to include all the men. Instead, the oppositional force of culture can be described as “an ever-pernicious patriarchy.” 
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<h3>5) The Force of Technology</h3>
Key Characteristic: demands adaptation.
Description: The oppositional force of technology is common in the sci-fi genre. In an ever-changing world, adaptation is the key to survival. However, when technology supercharges the change, forcing it, some humans will naturally resist. From a story perspective, this new technology interrupts the main character’s status quo, forcing them to resist with higher and higher stakes until they reach a breaking point and they either defeat the technology, escape or adapt. The force of technology may also be repelled, such as in an alien invasion. Like the force of culture, the logline may include a lead oppositional character, often the one who controls the technology, or its assimilation. Examples include Ex Machina, Terminator, and Matrix series.
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<h3>6) The Force of Nature</h3>
Key Characteristic: Shows the insignificance of humankind.
Description: The oppositional force of nature is a perfect pairing for the action genre. These stories typically don’t have a representative oppositional character, although an animated movie might. There is no defeating mother nature. The story question is how the main character will endure her wrath.
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<h3>7) The Force of the Supernatural</h3>
Key Characteristic: Whether spiritual or magical, actions and motives are beyond human understanding.
Description: In our world, the supernatural cannot be explained. In the story, it is very real, with real consequences. Smarts or physical strength will not defeat the supernatural. The supernatural is most often related to the horror genre. Any ghost story or haunted house film fits the bill.

Goals – Driving the Narrative

The Trigger – More Than An Inciting Incident

More than the Antagonist: The Seven Opposition Types

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