A Right Choice

In life, we often struggle to figure out what the right choice is. Sometimes it is agonizing. Mostly, it's worthless. The very premise assumes that one choice is correct and that all are incorrect, or that one is the best and all the other choices are inferior. With thinking like that, it's amazing people like that get anything done.

For example, I wanted to grab dinner with a friend. We were both in the mood for Chinese food, so the only question was which one to go to. We whittled our choices down to two. Both of them were good places and were basically next to each other. So trying to decide on which one was killing me, especially since neither of us had a preference.

Ultimately, I picked one and we had dinner there. It was a wonderful meal. In fact, I mentioned to my friend that we definitely made the right choice. But as soon as I said that, I felt strange, like I said something wrong. I then realized it and corrected myself. "We definitely made a right choice."

I can't prove that we wouldn't have had a good time at the other restaurant. I can't prove that we wouldn't have had a better time there. I also can't prove that we would have gotten into a car crash and been hospitalized on the way there. We can never know what would have happened if things were different, not for sure. All we can be sure of is if our choice worked or not. If you made a decision and you are happy with the results, then you made a right choice. You can't change the past anyway, so quit worrying about it and keep moving.

This same thing happens for our characters. As we write, we may think of several options that a character may have to handle. Our character may also see several ways to handle a given situation, all of which would make sense for the character to do. So what do you do? What choice do you make? Any of them. Just pick one and stick with it. Don't worry about making the right decision; just try to make a right decision.

Of course, in writing, you have the rare ability to go back and rewrite history. So that should make you feel even freer to try out a path and not worry about what is best. Realize, also, that a character may see a right choice as one with a positive outcome, but for the writer, a right choice is one that is natural and believable. They can be very different, so it is important to be aware of that.