Some people might also have this problem so, what are good ways to add conflict into a scene when a character is alone? I have no problem creating conflict when there are multiple characters but as soon as my character is alone, nothing seems to work.
There are several "solo character" type of conflicts. Man against Nature. Man against Self (inner turmoil, personality disorder, painful memories, coping, etc.). Man against societ/government/situation. If your character is alone for a scene... you don't necessarily need a conflict to drive the scene, just a reason to be showing this scene (or telling the reader about it). If you're talking about an entire novel or large portion thereof, then you probably need to figure out a conflict in order to keep the story moving and the reader interested.
whats the book about? If the character is alone for a huge portion of the book you can have him deal with his own internal conflicts or have him go crazy and he has to deal with it. but it all depends on the situation
Stream of consciousness. Fragmented thoughts about his/her life, what is bothering them and how and why and etc.... First person works better for this IMO.
A writer sitting alone and struggling to add conflict to his story would probably qualify as conflict. And then you'd get that cool double-mirror effect...
One of the worst things is being alone with your own thoughts (especially if you're a woman who's pissed off at the male population--that was me at one point!).
Conflict in a scene where the character is alone, is best represented through internal dialogue, symbolic actions, descriptions that accentuates thought processes. However, this isn't the same kind of reactionary conflict that generally moves plot forward, this is the kind of conflict that drives character actions and as such generally is developed slowly through a story, a progression of decisions followed by actions which then results in plot developing conflict or consequence. For instance, say you're writing a story about a young teen who is struggling with being gay and he's alone in his room. You could use that time to write the teens journal excerpts as a way to express internal dialogue of his struggle. You could have him looking at naked women on the internet, attempting to arouse his own libido with no success, you could show him crying or punching things, praying and looking for ways to change, this internal conflict and reasoning sends him out to try and sleep with women at bars, he starts dating women and pretending at being the "alpha male", as the story progresses he realizes he's internal struggle is beginning to affect others, he's starting to hurt people through his method of self discovery - leaving women heart broken and hurt - you can send him down the path of depression only to be pulled back by finally falling in love with someone who gives him strength and he finally finds serenity and self acceptance.
