creative writing - How to write a story without conflict, like "My Neighbour Totoro"?

We are used to stories being about conflict. There can be an antagonist, or a hostile environment, or even an internal problem (like depression), but conflict is there. The story arc involves dealing with some problem or other and growing in the process.

But think of My Neighbour Totoro. No conflict. No antagonist. There is the mother's sickness, but that's just a situation, something the girls need to deal with. Her getting better is unrelated to the girls' actions, and only happens in the credits - not in the film proper. The story "arc", if it is an arc, is the girls getting to know their magical neighbour. They do not go on to save the world together with that friend or save the friend from "normal humans" - nothing of that sort. They just make a friend.

How does such a story work? What is it that makes it interesting? What drives the plot? What marks the end, if there is no conflict that could be resolved? How does one write without a conflict to drive things?

Answer

There is definitely conflict, in the sense of narrative conflict, in My Neighbor Totoro. Sickness (with possible death) counts, whether it's resolved through any action of any characters or not. Finding Totoro and then not being able to find Totoro, or seeing the growth of a magical grove of trees, and then having it not be there later counts. Not knowing Totoro and getting to know Totoro also counts. It's an unknown that gradually reveals itself.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the word conflict for a narrative because of this very confusion. I prefer to think of it as tension, or even better dissonance, as in music theory. Something is unsettling (a V7 chord, a person is sick, a character or place can't be found), and then that unsettling thing is either resolved or isn't. The unsettling thing, whether you call it dissonance, tension, or conflict, is what brings interest. It doesn't have to be a fight between two or more characters or ideas, or a massive obstacle that is overcome. It can be two girls getting to know a magical creature and experiencing a new place. There are plenty of moments of tension in My Neighbor Totoro, though. Just look at how the expression on the girls faces change, moment to moment, and you'll see it.