💾 Archived View for yujiri.xyz › storytelling › moral-dilemmas.gmi captured on 2023-01-29 at 04:13:57. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Moral dilemmas

Moral dilemmas for the POV character can be some of the greatest scenes. Here are a few of things to consider when planning one:

Don't confuse a good versus evil choice with a moral dilemma. Although good versus evil choices can also be interesting if the protagonist is on the border, they aren't "moral dilemmas". Choices are not interesting if we know what the character will pick. "Save someone or heal a blind person" is a much more interesting choice, although you can improve it further...

If the answer seems obvious, adjust the numbers to make it closer. So instead of saving someone or healing a blind person, in which almost everyone would choose the former because being blind is surely better than being dead, make it "save someone or heal three blind people" or maybe ten, or however many you think places it just on the border. That's a much better dilemma. But you can still make it better...

Choosing between two evils is generally more interesting than choosing between two goods (due to loss aversion). So an even better dilemma would be "kill someone or make x people blind".

contact

subscribe via RSS