Thread: Good Vs. Evil

I've been working on an idea recently, that I had ,at first, wanted to be the classic "Good Vs. Evil" type thing, but when I went through plot lines in my head of how it could possibly go,every one seemed too cheesey and cliche. especially when (if) My main character chose good. so then I let it roll around in my brain for a day ( with lots and lots of writing down, as always) and came up with Evil vs. Nothing. by that I mean the main character must choose between those two, but good is not an option and the "nothing" is just as bad as the evil. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's kind of a "Dammed if you do, Dammed if you don't" type thing. now my only problem is how do you end something like that? is it possible?

is this not making sense?

That's the trick, isn't it?

It's called creative imagination. And usually a little craftiness tossed in to pump up the audience response.

I'm sure you've seen "deals with the devil" stories. How do you get out of that one?

But they do, don't they. A great view of that would be both of the "Bedazzled" movies. I really love the "out" in the remake with Brendan Frazier.
Then you check out "The Advocate" with Pacino and Keanu, I believe, and there's a twist back on the guy finding a way out.

This is where the writing comes in. Good luck


By the way: it's a lot easier not to cheese when the alternatives aren't clearnly drawn and aren't necessarily external. A character torn between two things inside him self, both with strong roots, both supported eloquently by other characters. The ending has to satisfy both in order to satisfy the audience.

Sometimes this can be laid off: the guy tormented between honesty and helping his hot, wonderful girlfriend cheat her way into law school decides on maintaining his ethics and losing the girl...whereupon she suddenly turns into a bitch about it and we see he made the right call.

(Then the final scene, he's working in a fast food joint to get through college and Ms. Hottie pulls in with her Corvette, falling all over some sleazy asshole and smirks at the guy and the nerd at the grill say, "Man you sure blew it. Hope it was worth it")

But he has this really cool answer to that

Originally Posted by Guitar_chick133

I've been working on an idea recently, that I had ,at first, wanted to be the classic "Good Vs. Evil" type thing, but when I went through plot lines in my head of how it could possibly go,every one seemed too cheesey and cliche. especially when (if) My main character chose good. so then I let it roll around in my brain for a day ( with lots and lots of writing down, as always) and came up with Evil vs. Nothing. by that I mean the main character must choose between those two, but good is not an option and the "nothing" is just as bad as the evil. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's kind of a "Dammed if you do, Dammed if you don't" type thing. now my only problem is how do you end something like that? is it possible?

Sounds like a dilemma. Almost all good stories have em'.

I think I might have painted myself in a corner with this one. that's pretty rare for me, but it does happen. I have the situation(s) but I don't think I have any real conflict.

*edit* I think I might have come up with something though, I was reading through one of my sisters idea inspiration books ( she does fiction writing) and found a piece called "complication Vs. situation: A primer" and all I forgot to do was add in something to complicate the story. it changes it a bit, but I now can have a possible ending.

Also another way to view this is stakes for your protagonist, which I bring up a lot. If you have a traditional "good" character, what do we hope he'll accomplish? And moreso, if he fails, what will happen? Toy Story has some pretty clear stakes, we hope Woody will find Buzz and win back his toy friends, we fear that he'll lose Buzz and get lost in the world outside of Andy's room. What about for your character?

is it alright if i share what it's really about?

this is one of my quick ideas, but it's fitting too loosely. sometimes I get ideas that fit together quickly, and some that take more time to get right.