The 2 types of crises your character can face

Crisis, they say, reveals character. Your protagonist’s choices in times of crisis tell your reader what kind of character they are. These decisions lay the soul of the character bare and expose their most profound truths.

Two particular types of crises that your protagonist can face can turn those plot pages into veritable character-revealing mirrors: The Best Bad Choice and A Choice Between Two Irreconcilable Goods.

1. The best bad choice

Ah, the Best Bad Choice, a situation where all the options available to your character are, to put it lightly, terrible. This crisis scenario goes beyond choosing the lesser of two evils – it’s about making a decision when all paths lead to undesirable outcomes.

How to craft the best bad choice:

• Set Up a No-win Scenario: Put your protagonist in a situation where every option leads to some form of loss or failure. Let them squirm a bit (metaphorically, unless you’re writing a thriller).
• Reveal Character through Choice: How your protagonist navigates this impossible decision will reveal their values, priorities, and character. Are they selfish or selfless? Cunning or kind-hearted?
• Build Tension: As your character struggles to decide, the tension builds. Your reader will be leaning forward, their eyes widening, desperate to know what the character will do.

Classic examples:

• Sacrificing oneself for the greater good.
• Choosing between loyalty to a friend or following the law.

2. A choice between two irreconcilable goods

This one’s a beauty! Imagine choosing between two equally appealing but mutually exclusive good options. Both are good, but in different ways, and maybe not as good for everyone. This crisis pushes your character into a moral maze.

How to craft a choice between two irreconcilable goods:

• Present Two Valuable Options: Both options must be genuinely good but in conflicting ways. Like choosing between a delicious apple pie and a mouth-watering cherry tart, but with more profound implications.
• Explore the Conflict: This isn’t a flip-of-the-coin choice. It should torment your character, reflecting their deepest values, desires, and the potential impact on others.
• Create Emotional Resonance: This choice will pull at your reader’s heartstrings. Make them feel the dilemma right along with your character.

Classic examples:

• Choosing between love and duty.
• Deciding between two opportunities that will each benefit different loved ones.

Choices, crises, and unforgettable characters

The choices made during these crises will stick with your readers long after they’ve closed the book or clicked away from the screen. By presenting your protagonist with The Best Bad Choice or A Choice Between Two Irreconcilable Goods, you’re not just moving the plot along – you’re etching your character’s soul onto the very pages of your story.

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References

1. Coyne, Shawn. 2015. The Story Grid. New York, NY: Black Irish Entertainment.

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