Discover how characters who fight, freeze, flee, or fawn respond to conflict, and use these reactions to create believable fiction.

Does Your Character Fight, Freeze, Flee, Or Fawn?

When you write a novel, think about how your main characters respond to conflict. When people feel threatened, they usually react in one of four ways: they fight, flee, freeze, or fawn. Choosing your character’s instinctive response will shape their decisions, relationships, and growth throughout your story.

1. Fight

A character who chooses to fight confronts the threat head-on. They may argue, lash out in anger, take charge of the situation, or even become physically aggressive. These characters believe the best way to survive is to face the danger directly.

2. Flight

A character who flees tries to escape the threat. They may run away, avoid difficult conversations, constantly keep moving, or become overwhelmed by fear and anxiety. Their instinct is to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the danger.

3. Freeze

A character who freezes becomes stuck when faced with danger. They may be unable to make a decision, go blank, feel emotionally numb, or seem paralysed while everyone else is acting. Their inability to respond can create tension and raise the stakes in a scene.

4. Fawn

A character who fawns tries to stay safe by keeping the threat happy. They may agree with people they dislike, apologise unnecessarily, put everyone else’s needs first, or become an expert at avoiding conflict. Their instinct is to appease others, even at the expense of their own wants and beliefs.

How To Mix It Up

It is a good idea to decide which one of these your character will mostly choose to do. It creates a more believable character. However, this makes your reader long for them to take another action and to grow as a character. Of course, the surprise comes when they decide to go with another option. If a character normally freezes when faced with something unpleasant, choose your moment for them to fight, fawn, or flee instead.

In most books, the antagonist would be ready for a fight. The protagonist initially freezes or flees to avoid conflict. At some point in the story – usually three quarters of the way through, the protagonist has to fight back. This is the pay off for the reader who has been rooting for them all along. Characters change in a novel and their responses to unpleasant situations change too.

How To Include These Responses

1. Decide which response—fight, flee, freeze, or fawn—best fits each of your main characters. Their instinctive reaction should be consistent with their personality, backstory, and story goal.
2. Think about how each response will create conflict, influence relationships, and shape the plot. Different reactions can lead to very different outcomes.
3. Show your characters responding in their chosen way whenever they face a significant challenge. Consistent behaviour makes characters feel believable.
4. Allow your characters to struggle with the limitations of their instinctive response. A character who always fights may create unnecessary enemies, while one who always flees may miss important opportunities.
5. If a character eventually chooses a different response, make it a meaningful moment of growth. The change should feel earned and move both the character arc and the story forward.

Remember that this post is not about real fight, flight, fawn, or flee responses to a trauma. Your characters can’t sustain this for an entire book. It is just another way to help you create believable characters. (If you want to read more about extreme reactions to trauma, please read this article.)

The Last Word

Every character reacts differently when the pressure is on. Some fight, some flee, some freeze, and some fawn. Understanding your character’s instinctive response to danger will help you write more believable conflict and a more compelling story.

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