Conflict is very often the magic sauce for generating tension and turning a ho-hum story into one that rivets readers. As such, every scene should contain a struggle of some kind. Maybe it’s an internal tug-of-war having to do with difficult decisions, morals, or temptations. Or it possibly could come from an external source—other characters, unfortunate circumstances, or the force of nature itself.
It’s our hope that this thesaurus will help you come up with meaningful and fitting conflict options for your stories. Think about what your character wants and how best to block them, then choose a source of conflict that will ramp up the tension in each scene. For the full entry of this and 200+ additional conflict scenarios, check into our best-selling resources: The Conflict Thesaurus: A Writer’s Guide to Obstacles, Adversaries, and Inner Struggles, Volumes 1 and 2.
Being Mistaken for Someone Else
Category: Increased pressure and ticking clocks, loss of control, miscellaneous challenges
Examples:
Being mistaken for a celebrity or public figure
Being mistaken for someone whom one physically resembles
Having similar features as police suspect or a person of interest…
Minor Complications:
Accusations of sharing sensitive information within a company when someone else was the one doing it
Being accused of infidelity when their doppelganger is spotted on a date with someone else
Being falsely accused of a crime…
Potentially Disastrous Results:
Getting jumped and beaten up as “repayment” for something a doppelganger did
Being served or stalked by credit agencies because another person has stolen one’s identity and wracked up debt
Being arrested (and possibly being unable to prove innocence)…
Possible Internal Struggles (Inner Conflict):
The temptation to “pretend” to be the other person (when it leads to a positive experience) but knowing it would be wrong to do so
Going along with the mistaken identity and then regretting it when things get complicated
Understanding the situation is complicated yet still feeling betrayed by loved ones who show doubts…
People Who Could Be Negatively Affected: Family and friends close to the character, the character themselves, victims of a crime who will not get justice if the wrong person is convicted
Resulting Emotions: amazement, anger, anguish, anxiety, betrayed, bitterness, conflicted, defensiveness…
Personality Flaws that May Make the Situation Worse: abrasive, confrontational, controlling, evasive, gullible, impulsive…
Positive Outcomes:
Regaining a newfound appreciation for one’s “ordinary” life
Becoming an advocate for injustice and the falsely accused, helping others
Building close bonds with those who stayed true throughout the mistaken identity ordeal…
If you’re interested in other conflict options, you can find them here.
Use Conflict to Transform Your Story
Readers have a lot of choices when it comes to selecting books, so make it easy for them to choose yours. Conflict will help you deliver a fresh story premise every time, drawing readers in through meaningful challenges that reveal a character’s innermost needs, fears, weaknesses, and strengths.
To assist you, we’ve created a two-volume resource with 225 possible conflict events. Each volume contains expert advice on how to use conflict to improve your story along with a plethora of scenarios to challenge your characters.
For more information, read up on these GOLD and SILVER editions. You can also view the books at Goodreads to see what other authors are saying about them.
Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.
This is a great idea! I’ve seen it used before but hadn’t really thought about how valuable it could be.