I have five main characters, and want to have an underlying conflict for each of them. The first one is basically being chased across the world by her ex, the second one is slowly going inasane from her own magic, the third is dealing with PTSD from an encounter with some seriously scary ice monsters, and the fourth is “losing his religion” so to speak, as he slowly falls in love with another guy. My problem is that I need a conflict for my fifth character, a thief from a small desert town. He’s outwardly witty and carefree but I’m drawing a black about his dark and tortured trademark past. Does anyone have any ideas?
It could have something to do with his family. For example, they could have been brutally murdered. Or, they could have abused him in some way.
Or, he could have been captured and tortured for whatever reason.
Ooooooorrrrrrrr… He could regret something that he did. He could have been a murderer in his past. He could have accidentally killed his family, or something. Maybe he used to be married, then he found out that his wife betrayed him or something, and he was forced to kill her.
I don't know. These are just the first things that popped into my head. Hopefully, you'll find some sort of inspiration from them.
Maybe his brother used to be his closest friend, but then he went missing. The guy always just assumed that he was dead, until he finds out that his brother actually joined his enemy…? Or something along those lines. His brother killed his best friend? Maybe that’s too dark. His brother married the girl he loved?
Just some ideas. Hope you find inspiration :)
I think it's always interesting when a character was abused in the past then escaped or something. It could be by a parent, sibling, spouse, etc. Someone could have saved them from that situation, and now the character is always near the person.
(I know I already commented, but whatever.)
