I had a dream the other night, where I had an impossible choice. The six-week trip to China that my partner and I about to take was pulled out from under us: we were separated at the airport, and I found myself aboard a spaceship bound for a 5-year interstellar journey. I was kept in my room, and given the choice to stay on the vessel or go back home. My partner would be given the same choice. The catch was, I had no way of knowing what he would choose until I had already chosen.

If I elected to stay but he didn't, I would wander the halls of the gargantuan vessel for five years while he moved on with his life back home. If I went home and he chose to stay, he'd spend half a decade exploring the galaxy while I lived back in my same-old existence. 50% chance we wouldn't see each other for five years, without even the chance to say goodbye. What would you choose?

This kind of choice is key in fiction. The hero has to decide to act or not act, but it's the parameters of the choice are what make it powerful. A hero who is given the choice between "push this button and save the world, or don't and let it burn" is not going to win our hearts for pushing the button (though an interesting character could stem from the one who chooses not to). If there's no effort in saving the world, there's no admiration for it, either. But,  add some risks or sacrifice to the choice, and the game changes.

The catch-22

"Push this button and your child will die, but the world will be saved. Don't push it, and your child will be the only being left alive" - either way, it's a horrible scenario. You are the murderer of your own child, or you doom them to a pointless existence of misery as the last living creature on earth. The catch-22 has no good option, no way out. 

It's often considered too harsh, especially in hollywood. There's often a secret third option - Be The Hero, and almost universally elects to take that one. Take the example of the first Spiderman movie (spoilers:) Spidey is given the choice between saving his girlfriend, and saving a bus full of children. He can't save both, unless he chooses to Be The Hero - and then, he can and does.

The problem with a third option is that it removes any poignancy from the choice, and tends to make the villain look like an idiot. In the comic book version, Spidey tries to save both - he webs Mary-Jane in the head and then dives after the children. But after saving the children, he discovers what happens if you try to arrest someone's thousand-foot fall with a steel cable suckered to their head - the sudden impact mushes their brain to jelly. He tried to save both, but he couldn't, and he has to face the true cost of being both Peter Parker and Spiderman.

The 50/50

Like my scenario above, the character has a chance (of whatever percentage) of a terrible outcome, and the chance of a good or at least not-too-terrible one. They have no real way to control the odds, no way to predict them, and no way to mitigate their choice after the fact. 

The important point here is that it is a choice. If a character is just waiting for a coin toss to determine their fate, there's no agency to it - it's just Random Stuff happening to the character, and it won't hold emotional weight. You have to make the character's path their choice, here. If I stay on the spaceship and my partner remains behind, then it's my fault. I will feel the weight of my decision, and "if-only" myself for weeks or even months (depending, of course, on how awesome a trip this is. Sorry, dearest.)

Never tell me the odds

Another version of the 50/50, and mildest of all the choices: this encompasses the character's decision to act (or not) by accepting the risk that comes with action. Frodo knows there is a risk he will be captured by the enemy, tortured or killed trying to destroy the One Ring. His choice is to accept that risk and take the action, or shy away from the risk as too great.

Either choice can bring a lot of meaningful characterisation, depending on their place in the novel. A character who fails at a crucial moment, who cannot face their own fear, can be just as dramatic as a character who surmounts it. In fact, it's often more-so, because the latter is so over-used as a 'safe' emotional journey.

Sophie's choice

No, this isn't named after myself, but after a brilliant novel of the same name by William Styron. It's like the catch-22, but deservers its own mention for the sheer tragedy behind the two options - a decision that you cannot bear to make.

This is the most powerful of all decisions you can put before a character, and the most revealing of their persona, in which choice they make, how they make it, and how they respond afterwards. It's not something to be used lightly, however - this kind of decision will mark a character for life, and leave a very serious note in your novel. If not allowed the gravity it requires, its attempt at seriousness will make a mockery of your work.

Whatever kind of choices you put before your character (and there are more, I'm sure), it's the difficulty of the choice that makes it powerful, and this depends on your character's value. A character who feels life is sacrosanct will not be bothered by a choice to bankrupt a millionaire in order to save a girl's life. The power of these choices lie in what they reveal about your character's true nature; so pick them carefully.

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