Any obstacle, opponent, or force outside your character that stands between them and their goal - the visible struggle that drives the plot forward.
External conflict is the tangible opposition your character faces from the world around them. It can come from another person (an antagonist, a rival, a toxic parent), from society (unjust laws, cultural pressure, institutional corruption), from nature (a storm, a disease, a hostile landscape), or from circumstances beyond their control. External conflict is what creates the plot - the visible chain of obstacles, confrontations, and setbacks that keeps the story moving. While internal conflict asks 'who is this person becoming?', external conflict asks 'what's standing in their way?'
External conflict gives your story its skeleton. It provides the tangible stakes and dramatic situations that pull readers through the narrative. Without it, even the most fascinating internal journey has no vehicle to carry it. The trick is connecting your external conflict to your character's internal struggle so that every fight, chase, or confrontation is really about something deeper.
Odysseus faces a relentless chain of external conflicts - monsters, gods, storms, and rival suitors - each one testing a different aspect of his character.
Katniss faces external conflict on multiple levels: the deadly arena, the other tributes, the Capitol's political machinery, and eventually a full-scale war.
The external conflicts are deliberately muted - a problematic therapist, a toxic friend - making the protagonist's attempt to sleep through life feel both absurd and suffocating.
The deadly games provide escalating external conflict, but each game is designed to force moral choices that blur the line between external threat and internal reckoning.
Ask yourself: why does this particular obstacle hurt this particular character? The best external conflicts are personalized - they target the character's specific weakness.
Escalate. Each obstacle should be harder than the last, forcing the character to dig deeper and risk more.
Tie your external conflict to your theme. If your story is about trust, make the external obstacles specifically challenge the character's ability to trust.
Let your character fail sometimes. Not every attempt should succeed, and victories should come with a cost.
List the three biggest external obstacles your protagonist faces. For each one, write one sentence explaining what makes it physically or practically dangerous, and a second sentence explaining what makes it emotionally threatening to this specific character. If you can't write that second sentence, your external conflict might not be personal enough.