As I’ve mentioned in many posts—either here or as a guest
elsewhere—the movies Star Wars and Star Trek led to my love of science
fiction and science fiction romance. Whether it’s the romance between a man and
woman or the romance of space exploration, I’m in love with adventure and how characters
deal with challenges.
A scenario meant to test those in command positions on Star Trek is the Kobayashi Maru, the
no-win situation where rescuing a crew from a dying ship means going into a
forbidden zone.
When writing adventure stories, we're supposed to put our
characters in situations where they have to choose between the sucky and
suckier. Another way to put it is to drive the character up a tree and then
throw rocks at her. Each challenge is harder, escalating the danger. But the
true test of the character is how she reacts to the no-win situation. Damned if
you do, damned if you don’t.
Isn’t this also true of life? It would be great if
everything was clear cut, black and white, no variations of gray. Too often it
isn’t. It could be something as small as “does this dress make me look fat?”
Every husband’s worse nightmare. Tell the truth and hurt her feelings or
lie. A worse situation could be to speed and get your wife to the hospital in
time to have the baby or obey the speed limit and have the baby born in the
car.
What about rescuing your family from a fire? You can only
save one, your spouse or your child. What a choice?
In the latest episode of The
Last Ship, a scientist makes a terrible choice to give up a deadly virus and
his boss who can produce a vaccine. If he does, the enemy will hold the world
hostage. If he doesn’t, his family will be killed. Either way he loses.
I’d like to think I would never have to make that kind of
decision. World good versus the safety of my family. A no-win scenario.
In my sci-fi romance The
Chameleon, Jileena has to choose between pressuring a tribal chief to allow
mining in a certain area. If she wins, she’ll prove to her father she is worthy
of running his company. But the area is sacred to the tribe. Mining will
desecrate a burial ground. If she returns home without the lease, she can kiss
her promotion good-by. Sucky versus suckier. A choice not easily made.
What no-win
situations have you come across (in books, movies, or real life)?
Those lose-lose situations are definitely what demonstrate a character's ... character. :) Sometimes I feel sorry for the things I put my characters through!
ReplyDeleteMe, too, Trisha.
DeleteHunger Games. The whole premise is a no-win situation. I think I finally got on board that train for my sequel, but man was it tough to write my characters into lose-it-all situations--even knowing how it would play out.
ReplyDeleteGood one, Crystal. When I got to the part in the book where they changed to rules back to one winner only, my heart stopped. I agree it's hard to put our characters into such a horrible position.
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