We’ve all made some pretty imprudent choices in our lives but for writing (and getting characters into trouble), imprudence can be an incredibly versatile and useful tool. If you’d like to check out all of the plot scenarios, they can be found here.
- The judge makes an imprudent choice, thereby harming another.
Imprudence is fairly straight forward, which makes it ideal for plot-driven stories. By definition, imprudence is lacking in caution or wisdom. This fits nicely with lack of communication scenarios where a character may make a choice without having all of the information they need. Alternately, consider arrogance as a motivator. Even though your character may know better, they may believe they are above the potential consequences of that choice.
In considering roles, remember that there are often others involved in that choice, especially those who are harmed by its outcome. Often, the impact of that particular imprudent choice makes it easy to blend this with more character driven scenarios. Also remember that the impacts of that choice often affect the judge as well.
A small note on roles as well: in some instances of imprudence, rather than harming someone else, the judge can lose an object or goal as a result of the choice they made.
As a main plot, imprudence doesn’t necessarily need a huge amount of character motivation. The key part of it is that someone does need to make that choice and that there will be fall out from that poor choice. As a minor plot, this can be used to help push characters out of their starting roles and into new ones.
The Written Vixen 