It can also be as simple as sending an introvert to a party. It is important to note that the displacement works both ways. Every character has unfulfilled wants and needs. Sometimes they are stated and sometimes they are unstated. The Maltese Falcon , in which most of the characters are consumed by the desire to own an almost mythical piece of art.
Unfulfilled desire is as key to action novels as it is romance novels.
The witches cryptic messages ignite MacBeth and Lady Macbeth s desire for power, but it is their desire that dooms them to destruction. Relationship adversity is often the result of the previous adversities, but it is worth a separate category because this is where most resolutions are centered. There are many other conflicts and types of adversity that a character can run into, but the adversity itself is not the key component of a story. The key is in how that characters react to and deal with adversity. It is difficult for the reader to care whether or not the adversity is overcome unless they care about the characters.