The Best Bad Choice
I’ve been studying a lot of story craft recently, and one of the things I’ve struggled with was the concept of the ‘best bad choice’. It really did my head in. Growing up, I thought choices were either ‘good’ or ‘bad’ and I was supposed to only make good ones. So why must my characters always be making the best ‘bad choice’—or else choose between two irreconcilable ‘good choices’? Shouldn’t they, too, be trying to do what they thought was right (even if it ended up being a mistake)?It was only a few weeks ago that I was confronted with the reality of what ‘best bad choices’ are, and also realised that these were what I had been making all along—most of the time, and without even realising. I was surprised by what I was actually choosing between, too.
When crafting a story, in order to keep the narrative moving, the author must make the protagonist face a choice in every scene. And not just any old choice, but a crisis choice. One that has stakes and consequences either way. There’s no real loss at stake when choosing between chocolate or vanilla ice cream, but there is in deciding whether you will pay for everyone’s ice creams or not. This is where the ‘best bad choice’ comes in. Do I just pay for my own and risk looking stingy? Or do I splash out, buy the five of us ice cream, and risk disappointing my sister with a smaller birthday gift?
Of course, it can get a lot bigger than that—do I risk my life to save this person or do I run away and live with the guilt of wondering if I could have my whole life?
Which one ends up being chosen depends somewhat on the character. They end up choosing what they can more easily live with. And that’s where my surprise came in—because what our protagonists are actually choosing between are two feelings. Can I more easily live with rejection or reproach? Can I more easily live with fear or shame? Would I prefer humiliation or judgement?
Sometimes these choices happen so fast and so instinctively that there appears to have been no choice made at all, but at the gut level, one definitely has been, and it’s all to do with the feeling we’d most like to avoid. Hate being a burden on others? You’ll choose to do it yourself rather than ask for help even though it aggravates your injury. Hate disappointing people? You’ll work out a way to say ‘yes’ to that extra task even though it could break you. Is the worst thing you can imagine knowing that you let someone die? You’ll take that foolhardy risk though you might pay with your own life. It’s almost a no-brainer.
Having to constantly choose between two awful feelings is incredibly stressful however. It takes a huge toll mentally, spiritually and physically. I’m wrestling with the consequences of having had to do that for years on end right now. Did life conspire this way so I could get my head around the ‘best bad choice’? Or so I could make conscious what I was doing subconsciously?
I suspect both.
