The Truth About Consequences

I can't even begin to thing about how many books I've read. I've gone through fiendish binges where I would read a book or two a week along with going to school, but there would be other stretches where I would go book-free for a while. I know that one year I read at least 75, but probably less than 100 books, but I also know a few years that were free of recreational book-reading (research books don't count in this case). The point is, I've read a whole bunch of books in my many years.

Now, I can't tell you how many of those books were bad. I can list some of the great ones - Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Humboldt's Gift, The Stand, Foucault's Pendulum, The Great Santini, Liar's Poker and so on - but the bad ones, boring ones just kind of fade away. Some were just poorly written, or too formulaic, some had a writing style I didn't care for, others just never really paid off. However, I can tell you the most common factor in the long list of books that never really stuck with me, and it's surprisingly simple: at certain points, I just thought, "Who cares?" More importantly, I asked myself why the main character cared about what they were doing. Ultimately, it boiled down to a sense of there being no consequences. 

Here's a question I ask about the main character: What happens if they throw their hands up and say, "Nope. No more. I'm done with this." Or what if they never take the hero's journey in the first place. The answer, in any situation, should be the consequence of giving up, and in a good story, the consequences should be severe. Look at Frodo in The Lord of the Rings - a little hobbit with an overwhelming task that he often felt was far too much for him to handle. We are told, in no uncertain terms, if he fails in his mission, or gives up, or just lets someone else do it, all the people of Middle-Earth are doomed. Those are some pretty big consequences, and it takes a while for our hero to realize just how important he is and how critical he is to the story.

Now I will offer up a story (a movie, but still), that while it's full of action and fun characters, it really lacks the satisfaction that one might get from thinking about the consequences. In Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones goes on the quest to claim the legendary Ark of the Covenant, leaving a trail of dead soldiers and a poisoned Nazi monkey in his wake. His mission is to keep this holy artifact from falling into Nazi hands and becoming their weapon, so we know the consequences of his failure. Or do we? As we find out, not so much. The Ark falls into Nazi hands and, upon its usage, the Ark promptly wipes out an island-full of bad guys. Now we ask what would've happened if Indiana Jones just stayed at the university? What would the real consequences be? Well, nothing different. The Ark is found, goes into Nazi hands, wipes out every bad guy in sight. No unstoppable weapon, no undefeatable army. Life goes on, Indy teaches his classes and gets hit on by students. The end.

In the end, our story needs consequences, we need the characters to be motivated not just to do something but be driven by the possible dark result of their failure, and we need meaning to their mission. And I assure you that if your story isn't driven by a clear set of consequences that legitimately drive the character, your book will probably end up on that list of bad stories that nobody remembers. (And full confession: I only remember Raiders for the action sequences and Karen Allen. The story is incidental in the long and short of it).