Obstacles and Problems in Your Stories

When we think about our stories, we often ask ourselves, "What is the problem?" However, as the Storm Writing School points out, there is something of a differentiation we can use to get more nuance out of this question. I was recently reading Problems Vs. Obstacles, and it really caught my attention.

So, let's talk about the differences between problem and obstacles in your stories, shall we?

It's a rather interesting question, it turns out.

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Obstacles and Problems... What's The Difference?

Before we get into the difference between these two things, we need to focus on an objective. Because the important difference between these two things is that both of them are connected to your story's objective, but they interact with it in different ways.

As an example, let's take the well-known story of Lord of The Rings.

The objective in the story is that our protagonists want to destroy the One Ring, and as a result destroy Sauron. The reason for this is that Sauron and his finger jewelry are the problem in our story, because a problem (by the definition we're using) is something that comes before the character's objective. And, just as importantly, the problem is what leads to the objective. Your lord of all evil exists, and he's being a problem that has to be taken care of.

Obstacles, by contrast, are things that get in the way of your protagonists actually achieving their objective. The distance to Mordor, that is an obstacle. So are the crows that spy on them, the storm that stops them from taking the mountain pass, the pursuit of the ring wraiths... these are things that arise to make it harder for the protagonists to get from where they started, to the point where the problem is solved.

While the difference between these two things is not always germaine to your story, it can help to have specific language to discuss the various moving parts of your tale... particularly when you're in the blueprinting phase of things. So if this isn't something you've put words to before, consider thinking things through using these terms to see where it gets you!

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