The Choice Is Yours

Because all my books are choose-your-own-ending, it's got me thinking a lot about making choices. The act of writing is full of choices. Choose your main character. Choose his or her name. Choose their locale. Choose what they eat for breakfast. Choose the guy or girl they like. Choose whether or not that guy or girl likes them back. Choose, choose, choose!

Man is that ever a weird word when you keep saying it over and over again…

Sometimes these choices are easy. You just know your main character is a Delilah. She's got Delilah written all over her. She couldn't possibly have any other name. Good. Done. Delilah it is. But other times, the choices are difficult. Say you've written a few pages about Delilah and you're getting to really like the girl. She's spunky. She's got heart. She's got this incredible outlook on the world that you, listening to your emo soundtrack in your over-worn PJs, with your drapes drawn and your black light humming, just do not possess. You want to see Delilah succeed. You want to see her master her superhero powers with ease, smack down the bad guys, save the world, and win the guy. But you know that letting her do all that without throwing a few real obstacles in her way wouldn't make for a very interesting story, so you're faced with a choice.

You can lead Delilah down the primrose path, tra-la-la-ing her way to the prom queen tiara and the commendation from the President, or…

You can mess with her big time. My suggestion? Always, always mess with her. Have her say the wrong thing, make a wrong turn, cross the wrong person. Give her a big load of crap to deal with and see what she does with it. Let her overcome some adversity, climb a few mountains, untie a few knots. She may make some mistakes along the way, but we all do. She'll be all the more human and likable for it, and your story will be that much more humorous, heart-breaking, and real. I'm not saying she can't succeed in the end—that she can't master her superpowers, smack down the bad guys, save the world, and win the guy. Just maybe not all four. Or maybe not all at the same time.

That's what series fiction was made for.

Happy Writing!

Kendall Adams
Author of Hook Up or Break Up #1: Love Is Random Too