Writer Challenge Tuesday: Consequences

(Okay, it's Wednesday, but everything waits for Launch Day.)

In any story, there are conflicts, confrontations, and most importantly, consequences. The Faust books have a vast array of consequences from the benign to the utterly earth-shattering, and I’m proud of that. Tormenting your protagonists with the weight of terrible choices and the results is part of being an author. We do horrible things to our characters. I mean, if you don’t believe me, just think of Roxy in the third book…

So the question I have, and the challenge for this week, is as follows. What is the roughest consequence your characters have to face, and what about that could be worse or better? What about it could be mitigated by other characters, or made worse when they find out? What’s the worst sequence of events your protagonist has ever set in motion?

I challenge you to write about those consequences, and make them worse. Figure out just how screwed your protagonist could be. Bad enough that your hero was fired from her/his job as a cop, or found out as a spy, or captured by Montana militia members. What if they have a plane to catch, a kidney to donate, a child waiting for them at home? How can the consequences of their actions weigh on them even more heavily?

This doesn’t have to be a story in progress; I kind of enjoy adding on to existing stories as a way to explore the larger reach of my protagonist’s actions. From start to finish, the worst part of Daniel’s choices is often in how it affects his larger life. What if something he did put Bentley or Corman in danger? What if he set a series of events in motion that banned him from seeing Caitlin? What if he accidentally signed his soul away, thinking he was just putting his John Hancock on a UPS package? Looking into the irrevocable changes that protagonists have on plots is fun, and it offers an insight into the ripple effects of the world. It isn’t arrogant or foolish to think that each action has more reactions than we can know.

So in short, my challenge is this: Write a scene out of context for your protagonist that deals with a far reaching consequence they never saw coming. Explore who they would be if that happened, if it would destroy them, shape them, or terrify them. Maybe it would even make them feel powerful. It’s up to you.