Opposing goals

It's great to have a goal, but what if someone opposes it?

In this snippet, Homer has one goal, but his dad has another:

"Mining's in your blood, little man," he shrugged. "I guess you'll figure that out, sooner or later."

"I still want to work for Dr. von Braun."

He nodded. "We'll see."

In this particular moment, the goals oppose each other equally and so produce a stalemate (for now).

Here are a couple of examples that use the same pattern:

"I can't drive you with a goose, bruh," the driver said. "I can't have that thing flapping and pooping all in my car. That's hygiene!"

"It's not going to flap or poop. It's too sick, probably from lead poisoning. You gotta get me to a train station at least."

The driver frowned. "Yo, it do look sad though, for real."

"I don't want to keep being long-distance," he said. "It's not fair for you to make me wait around for you."

"I love what I'm doing out here, Jeremy. And I'm not asking you to wait."

He sighed. "Thanks. Great chat."

To write your own variation:

Imagine your character in opposition to another character (no matter how small).
Have them each state their opposing goals.
End with a reaction from one, even if the reaction is just acknowledging that nobody has won this particular contest.

Write a variation in which characters express opposing goals.

We've seen opposing goals in a stalemate.

What happens when the other person wins?

Goals and motivations