Today on the Go Teen Writers Book Club, we’re discussing “Dilemmas,” chapter nineteen of Story Trumps Structure by Steven James.
Chapter Recap:
This chapter is all about creating moral quandaries for your character. I call this clashing internal motivations. For example, if your character values honesty above all else, but she also values family, put her in a situation where she is forced to choose between helping her family and telling the truth. Those two internal desires forced into conflict create excellent tension and really up the stakes for your character.
Mr. James suggests we look for ways to bribe or extort our characters into doing things that are against their internal motivation or moral code. What would it take to get them to go against their convictions? It would have to be something really big, right?
In my Safe Lands trilogy, Mason is extremely true to his convictions. Ciddah likes him, and it annoys her that Mason won’t give her the time of day. The truth is, Mason likes Ciddah a great deal. He just knows she’s all wrong for him. Their morals are complete opposites. And Mason doesn’t go against his morals. However, when someone needs to step up and help free their people, the job falls to Mason. This leaves him no choice but to schedule a date with Ciddah to give him an alibi. So, while Mason has been trying to stay away from Ciddah, who he knows (on paper) is all wrong for him, the story left him no choice but to spend time with her and risk his heart.
Basically, you need to find ways to make your character suffer, to make them have to face the most difficult choices. Be asking yourself, “What’s the worst thing that could happen to my character?” Then make it happen. “What does my character fear more than anything?” Make it happen. Don’t give her an easy answer or solution. Mr. James says to force your character to choose between two bad things. Then take them through the process of: dilemma, choice, action, consequence.
Mr. James talks briefly about letting your dilemmas stem from the genre you are writing. Mystery and suspense stories often deal with issues of justice and truth. Romance stories often deal with faithfulness and betrayal. Fantasy novels often delve into sacrifice, light vs. darkness, and purpose. Science fiction often deals with humanity and morality.
Mr. James ends by telling us that once we put our characters in these no-win situations, then we, the authors, must find a third way. That way out. How will the character creatively find a way out of the no-win situation? This is what keeps readers on the edge of their seats. This is what makes them cheer when the main character finds a way out.
What Stood Out:
Instead of asking yourself yes or no questions, rephrase them so that your character has no easy answer. Instead of the question: “Is it okay to steal?” Ask your character: “When is it okay to steal?” Or, “Is it every okay to steal?” I find this suggestion extremely helpful when brainstorming for my character.
Tip of the Week:
“Make your character reevaluate her beliefs, question her assumptions, and justify her choices. Ask yourself, ‘How is she going to get out of this? What will she have to give up (something precious) or take upon herself (something painful) in the process?’” ~Steven James
Go Teen Writers Archived Articles to Help You Go Deeper:
Internal and External Motivations
Help! My Character is Perfect! Character Motivation
Creating Compelling Characters: Backstory, Goals, and Motivations
Deeper Character Development: 5 Things to Know About Your Main Characters
Questions/challenges:
• List things your main character is devoted to or things that matter to them.
• How could you pit these priorities against each other?
• List your character’s greatest fear or the very worst thing that could happen to them.
• How could you make that thing(s) happen?
• Any questions?
I thought this was a really interesting chapter. I like the idea of forcing your characters to choose between two bad things – consciously deciding to do that will really help my writing, I think. And I thought what he said about genre shaping dilemmas was really good; I had never thought of it that way before.
Looks like I need to delve more into my characters’ values and motivations to see what values I can put into conflict with each other!
Yes! Both of those were great, Jerah. I’m trying to work on giving my WIP protagonist two things to choose between, and once you have a rough draft already written, it’s hard to do! I’m going to keep at it, though…
Ooh this is soo cool! Another awesome way to take stories one step deeper. To make your characters choose between two things they view as wrong– so painful and powerful. Love it! <3
Exactly! It’s perfect, but often hard to get just right! I’m struggling with it this week…
I actually just used some of this in my story recently! My character wants to be faithful and true to the Bible, but his evil family get him into a tough situation where he decides to lie, which makes the situation worse, although he doesn’t know it yet. (I’m getting to that…) But my character is gonna face some tough stuff because of his decision!
That sounds like an awesome story! It makes me wonder if the situation would have gotten worse if he’d chosen the other way…
Sounds like you’re putting your character in a hard place, which will increase the conflict! 🙂
Oooh. I like this.
I’m actually taking an ethics class right now. In it, we have to look at hypothetical situations that challenge different views of right and wrong, say what we would do, and justify that choice. (Example:”the trolley problem”, where you have to choose between letting a train run over five people vs pulling a lever so that it changes tracks and only hits one person.) Usually I hate both options and want to find some creative third solution that avoids the evils of the other two. Sometimes I can, but other times, I can’t, so I have to choose one of the terrible given options based on the one I think is less terrible, and no one really knows what the right answer is.
Can’t wait to do that to my characters. ;P
What a good exercise to help you with your writing, Elizabeth! It sounds awfully difficult, though.