Writing Challenge Tuesday: I Hear You!
This week’s writing challenge is named after one of the best episodes of Babylon 5 ever. Picture if you will a pair of mortal enemies who have spent years hating one another. Now imagine that they have to deal with each other as diplomatic envoys on a space station. Finally, imagine the station is attacked and they are trapped in an elevator together, in potential life-threatening danger.
It was truly phenomenal when done on the show. I’m not going to spoil the whole thing, but suffice to say, it’s an episode I’ve always loved.
So I pose this challenge: Imagine your protagonist and their worst enemy forced, beyond all escape, to work together. Maybe they’re trapped in a garbage compactor on the detention level. Maybe they’re locked in a freezer with a bomb. Maybe they’re on a ship which is sinking into waters infested by the shrieking eels. Whatever the cause, your protagonist and their bitter enemy or nemesis are stuck, and cannot escape without the help of the other.
How would each of them react? Would they be pragmatic and call a temporary truce in order to get out alive, then turn on one another? Would they try to get the upper hand and leave the other to die? Or would they decide that letting the other person die is worth their own death? How would each of them react differently? What if your hero decided he couldn’t morally work with his enemy, while her/his nemesis was willing to temporarily put their feud aside?
What brings out the worst in our characters, and is a situation of life or death going to expose darker sides of them? Would your hero do something brutal and expedient to survive, or would they act with integrity?
The way that characters act under stress is a huge indicator of their inner natures. I find that putting my protagonists and their allies in extreme pressure situations can be a fantastic crucible for learning what they’ll do. Sometimes, I don’t know until I’m in the middle of writing it. Faust always manages to surprise me. He’s a hint too noble to be smart sometimes, and then others, he’ll happily shoot someone in the head if they deserve it.
Characters surprise us in the strangest ways. This particular kind of crucible can bring up the ways in which they are similar to their enemies, and the ways that they differ. Explore what your protagonist would do, as well as the antagonist, and see what comes up!
