Conflict Layering
Building external and internal conflicts that intertwine to enrich the drama
The five levels
Each anchor describes what separates one level from the next — not a general description of quality. This is the text the evaluator itself reads.
-
Level 1 Below Standard
A single shallow conflict or none at all
Example A trivial dispute resolved without resistance
-
Level 2 Approaching
A clear external conflict and a faint internal one
Example The hero fights a foe but without inner conflict
-
Level 3 At Standard
Two distinct conflicts driving the story
Example The hero faces a rival and wrestles his own doubt at once
-
Level 4 Above Standard
Interwoven conflicts where one deepens the other
Example The hero's external victory worsens his internal crisis
-
Level 5 Exemplary
Conflicts revealing a human truth beyond the plot
Example The conflict becomes a mirror to a dilemma every reader knows
Where does your own work sit on these levels?
Submit one work to be read against this criterion alone: your position across the five levels, why you are not higher and why not lower, three literal quotes from your own work, and one exercise with its success check. Your first card is free.
Price: 7 SAR · Included in Pro & Artist Plus · First one free — Pricing details
Read my work by this criterionOther criteria in the same art
Building story according to: setup, confrontation, resolution
The five levels →Separating what the character outwardly pursues (want) from what they inwardly need, and the tension between them.
The five levels →Building main character with motivations, problems, and transformation
The five levels →Creating anticipation making reader want to know what happens
The five levels →Moments that shift the story's course and raise its stakes irreversibly
The five levels →The ending's ability to close the story and leave a lasting impression
The five levels →Does each scene turn a dramatic value (+ to − or vice versa)? A scene that changes nothing is a dead scene.
The five levels →Can you tell the speaker from their style without the name? Each character's vocabulary, rhythm, and subtext distinct.
The five levels →