Consequences that are Playing a Role

There’s no ‘one size fits all’, really. It depends on the story. For a consequence of Being, what is actually temporary will feel like an eternity. Some examples of Being consequences:

  • Some Like It Hot: the guys will have to continue their ruse as Daphne and Josephine for a significant amount of time.

  • The Jungle Book: pretending to be okay living under Shere Khan’s rule (similar to Star Wars, where the consequence is pretending to be “proper citizens” under the rule of the Empire)

  • Grave of the Fireflies: pretending that there aren’t bodies everywhere; that people aren’t dying.

All three examples have a temporary element, in that all three scenarios could (and likely will, at some point) theoretically end at any moment: the mob could stop hunting for the guys; Shere Khan could die of natural causes or just generally disappear; the war could end.

But in the context of those stories, the consequence feels more lasting. Every single one is about adopting a persona of some kind, but they’re all bad. The guys don’t even want to pose as women, especially when Marilyn turns up – so we know that keeping up that ruse for an extended period of time would be a bad outcome. Everyone in the kingdom is terrified of Shere Khan, and many hide from him – so we know that having to try and pretend everything is fine would be a bad outcome. I think everyone can agree that even the thought of surviving in a war is unthinkable, let alone trying to pretend it isn’t happening – so this is a very bad outcome.

As long as the consequence is about adopting some kind of lifestyle or persona that your protagonist does not want, it’ll be significant. Temporary is better than permanent, sure, but even something temporary (for example, a term in office by a leader one finds abhorrent or distasteful) can feel like a lifetime of misery if it’s something you don’t want.

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