I have a character for a dystopian book who I plan to have go through a growth journey that strides upon the themes of security vs. freedom in the story. She is lazy, is very very concerned with what people think about her, and tends to like the easy-going part of life. She owns her own little shop all the while ripping people off for her products. She wants to one day be the richest in the city as she finds that is her road to freedom but she doesn't seem to be putting the effort and stays in her comfort zone. She tends to fear going forward with anything, wanting to avoid judgment yet craves freedom. Am I going about this character / philosophical conflict very well? Are there any ideas you could suggest to fix it if it is flawed?
It's missing some drive & cost. The lack of freedom always causes oppression and restricts peoples God-given rights but how is she being oppressed outside of her own laziness? She already has freedom that she hasn't taken hold of. Right now she merely lacks drive. What can't she do? True freedom always costs something because you must stand up to your oppressors in the face of financial, social, and unjust backlash that could could result in becoming a political prisoner. For instance during Covid several churches tried to stay open. They faced backlash, vandalism, fines, and jail sentences but their belief (even the conflict of am-I-doing-the-right-thing?) had them opening their churches for the simple right that it had to be their choice not the governments.
What you've got now is strictly an internal conflict—character vs herself. Or more properly one aspect of the character versus another one. Sort of like Gollum arguing with himself. Internal conflict is hard to pull off, you end up with a lot of internal monologue and hand-wringing, unless there's also an external conflict (character vs another character or group, or versus nature). Try to imagine an entire movie of gollum arguing with himself with no other characters opposing him. It would be pretty hard to make that exciting.
If it's in the early stages I'd suggest to drop the philosophical conflict from the agenda (as being over-simple) and concentrate on the character development. Then if some interesting philosophical angles come out of the character's dilemmas, be opportunistic. In particular, I'd suggest to try and find some positive sides to the character - presumably she doesn't see herself as mercenary and turning a blind eye to the problems around her. Showing her to the reader through her own eyes rather than those of an omniscient narrator might make her more interesting. When we see people through a critical prism - their meanness and laziness and all the rest - we can too easily make them fit any philosophical position as the example of how not to be, or what not to do. There was a recent animated horror film with a woman running a vegetable shop in a dystopia where for some reason there were no animals in the world anymore. Sorry I've forgotten what it was called. But in that the director contrasted a similar mercenary outlook with the character's maternal instincts. (EDIT: it was Midori-Ko, 2010 - https://www.nishikata-eiga.com/2011/05/midori-ko-2010.html?m=1)
^ Good point from the Evil One as usual. If you start with a theme (especially a political one) and create characters and plot to illustrate it you're basically creating propaganda. It's far better to start with character conflict. Theme is something that works best when it emerges organically from the story, at least generally. I was coming in to say this—one way to approach your idea would be to create a character web where various characters have different positions concerning the theme (security vs freedom). But the characters and the conflicts would need to feel organic, not pre-determined to prove a point. It can be done, but best handled by experienced writers I think. Of course I have no idea how experienced you are. It's also best when tackling a subject like this, that tends to cause intense divisiveness, to understand both sides (all sides) of the conflict quite well and be able to delineate the arguments coming from each position realistically. Definitely don't present one side as buffoons or mustache-twirling villains. It MIGHT work to start by creating such a character web, but then forget about the theme. Or rather, dont pre-determine the outcomes. Let things develop as you write, just start with characters who have strong (or vague) feelings on the issues involved and see where it goes. But honestly, now that Dave has brought it up, I agree you shouldn't start with a theme in mind. My work definitely improved when I started letting theme develop naturally and discovered it as I went.
