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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39015
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

One way to do it is to write a novel that doesn't have the big bad as a crutch, or the sole instigator of conflict. Perhaps the consequences of the big bad's actions, like a long-standing distrust between previously-heroic characters, fuels a brand new conflict. Maybe the world the story is set in is just... flawed, like ours, where foiling a big bad doesn't suddenly fix everything Fisher-King style.

I'm going to do a naughty thing and use my recently-finished story as an example of a big-badless story. Here, there are multiple instigators of conflict, but the main arcs to resolve are the primary protagonist's feeling of belonging in the world and sense of purpose (as she's a neglected young woman who doesn't know who her father is, and whose mother technically provides for her without caring a mite about her well-being) and the deuteragonist's finding a balance between planning and winging it, as well as balancing stoicism and gentleness as a man (and how to be a fatherly figure in general).

Hence, there are several instigators of conflict over the course of the novel:

- The protagonist's mother, who is both enemies with the deuteragonist (who needs to negotiate a diplomatic relationship with her) and is the cause of the protagonist's numerous attention-seeking issues.
- The protagonist herself, who runs away from home to try and get to the deuteragonist's home, believing (perhaps correctly) that her mother wouldn't let him take her off her hands. This leads to her mother and the deuteragonist's enmity increasing and kicks off his plot (trying to find her and bring her home).
- The deuteragonist's boss, who sent him to try and mend relationships with the protagonist's mother only to find she now hates him and their organisation even more. Tells him that if he doesn't find the protagonist, she'll send her mother his head to prevent a _war._
- The jianshi, a set of people corrupted by a magical symbiote. These are closer to a 'natural hazard'; they exist before the story and continue to exist after, but their existence drives multiple tense scenes and conflicts between characters, especially when they start showing up on a usually-safe merchants' road.
- The 'thread' in general, the magical symbiote which corrupts its host in unpredictable ways. Powerful hosts can use their powers for good or evil, but with enough overuse or emotional instability, the thread will fully corrupt them, turning their bodies into mindless, powerful beasts and trapping their minds in an escapist, happy fantasy.
- The corrupt guards of Midori Sora; thanks to them extorting the unwitting smuggler of the protagonist (assuming them to be a child trafficker) instead of arresting him, they perpetuate her 'lostness' and later on prove an obstacle to the deuteragonist by being evasive about the girl they've clearly seen before.
- Velzha, a powerful host of the thread who prioritises killing jianshi no matter what, up to and including using civilians on the merchant's road as bait. Has numerous issues, but the protagonist tries to befriend her. She also has a boyfriend who idolises her in an unhealthy relationship which the protagonist ruefully falls for, and eventually kills said boyfriend to influence the fall of...
- Hideki, another thread host and Velzha's mentor. While heroic and morally upright, the death of his brother twists him into a monster due to his thread, making him the major immediate threat in the climax.
- One of the deuteragonist's spies, who secretly loves him (or is infatuated with him). As he falls in love with someone else in his group, she resorts to increasingly desperate measures before eventually, the deuteragonist has to make a choice over whether to kill her following her murder attempt on his lover.
- The family that takes the protagonist in on her travels. Once the deuteragonist finds the protagonist (and needs to take her home to prevent war and save his own life), the protagonist then has to choose between her happiness with her new family or the responsible choice to help out a home she no longer cares about.
- The Sovereign, the God of Selfishness, who empowers both destructive and constructive people, and encourages individual growth in all people. Part of both Velzha and the deuteragonist's motives.

As you can see, with a variety of causes for conflict, none of them particularly competing for prominence (Velzha and Hideki are the major sources, the rest simply occur along the way as a system/unchanging facet of life or act as a jump-start/bookend pair), you start to get a miniature, functioning world where there _is_ no core 'big bad' whose erasure magically fixes everything.

Once Hideki's fallen form is put down, are there still issues? Yes, the deuteragnoist has to deal with how he has to take the protagonist away from her loving adoptive family, and the protagonist has to deal with losing them should she make the responsible choice. When she gets home, the war may be nullified, but she still has to confront her neglectful mother and call her out when she inevitably tries to dodge any responsibility for driving her to running away, et cetera.

Having a world with multiple small problems not only feels more realistic, it also ensures that no matter what, these characters always feel like they have something to 'work against', giving the illusion that their lives will continue to be interesting and nuanced even after the story ends.

It may seem like cramming a bunch of villains into one story as Erin alludes to, but these instigators of plot needn't be flashy or take up an obstructive amount of the plot; just enough to remind the reader that yes, these are an obstacle and conflict will always exist.

Original score: 0