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Does she tell the truth because honesty matters-even when it will deeply hurt someone? Protect a loved one or turn him over to the police? Use an advantage to get ahead, knowing it would be wrong to do so? Moral choices require the character to rationalize the decision so she can feel okay about making it. Moral choices (Sophie’s Choice is one kind) are those requiring the character to decide between two competing beliefs or to choose whether or not to follow a moral conviction. Dying from the explosion or the loss of blood from cutting off his own ankle … it’s a deceptive choice because there is only one outcome. It’s Max ( Mad Max) handcuffing Johnny the Boy to a gas tanker that has a time-delay fuse and handing him a hacksaw. This choice is agonizing because both options lead to the same end. Regardless of the decision, guilt will accompany the character’s choice in this kind of scenario. They can be minor-as in the case of the character being able to attend his own college graduation or his grandmother’s 100 th birthday party. And the ramifications don’t have to be catastrophic. However, it can also simply be a time-and-place decision in which the character can only be in one place at that time. Named for the book (and movie) Sophie’s Choice, in which the character must decide which of her two children will be killed, this is known as the impossible, tragic choice. This scenario is one in which the character must choose between two equally horrible options.
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Sophie’s Choice by William Styron (affiliate link) An example would be applying for a promotion and instead being given the choice of a deep pay cut or being laid off. Have you ever been offered something you don’t really want, but maybe it’s slightly better than nothing? That’s a Hobson’s choice. Would the protagonist rather lose time or money? Should she admit the truth and suffer ridicule for a short time, or drag it out with denials that everyone will see through anyway? 5. Preferences will also factor into the choice. These choices often come down to what the character is willing to sacrifice and for how long. Decision-making can require a lot of weighing and measuring, because no matter what choice is made, there will be blood. When neither choice is ideal, you have a dilemma. If he takes it, it means his friend will die. Consider your character’s anguish if he and his friend have both been poisoned, and there’s only one dose of the antidote. But this scenario can be a hard one if the character has a close relationship with the person who loses. For example, if the choice means your protagonist gets what he wants and his rival doesn’t, well, that’s the perfect happily-ever-after. It means someone will be happy and someone won’t, and this might be okay depending on who is on which end of the stick. These choices appear obvious one is a good option, the other is not. Win-wins are conflict killers, so if you use one, make sure it comes with some unforeseen price tag attached to it. Either way, the character comes out ahead and anyone impacted by the choice will be happy with the outcome. This is the one every character wants but rarely gets, because … writers are evil, and all that. Examples include decisions about what to order off a menu, which outfit to wear to the office, or whether to make an appointment now or later. These choices will be relatively simple, and the consequences won’t have much impact. Let’s look at the types of quandaries that can make decision-making easier… or much more difficult. 9 Types of Decisions Your Characters Will Have to Make But when we make choices a bit more complex, they go beyond black-and-white options, which creates tension and potentially painful consequences. These choices, provided the characters feel personally invested in the decision, act as a test, revealing who they are.įinding ways to naturally characterize our characters is gold in storytelling, so making the most of a character’s decisions is a wise move. Some decisions will be obvious and require little to no thought, but others will be muddier, with no clear “better” option, generating inner conflict. In every scene, your characters are making choices-big ones and small ones and thereby steering their fate. One of the best things about conflict is that it pushes your characters to act.