In my opinion, the best fiction will have characters featuring personal growth. This could mean learning new skills, or growing in maturity and wisdom. I thought it might be fun to come up with a list of different crises that a character may need to overcome.
- Internal Conflicts
- You have cognitive dissonance
- You do not exist (e.g. You are a simulation)
- Your mind and memories were not previously under your control because
- You are a simulation
- You have been brainwashed
- Your free-will can be hijacked by some source: either internal programming or
- You have been created with programmed understanding
- False Perception of reality
- Thinks they don't exist (e.g. the psychotic delusion that they are dead or a simulation)
- You are trapped in an illusion
- You believe in things that aren't real or true for example:
- A false god/magic
- A leader that is secretly undermining you
- A strategy that is ineffective
- The effectiveness of some skill you have been trained in
- Is being continuously gas-lit
- You forgot something important
- Identity Crises
- You are no longer who you once were
- You don't have the capability to achieve what you value
- You have betrayed one of your ideals in order to support another
- You are unsure who you are
- Your values are in conflict (e.g. Doing no harm and seeking revenge)
- Your purpose and nature are in conflict
- External Conflicts
- You are under attack
- You need to acquire a new skill
- You need to improve your body