Every story that has been written, whether for stage, screen or as a novel, has had a fundamental morality underpinning the story. If you can master morality in your story, it can help you:
Illustrate the main conflicts and subplots in your story, giving the whole story far more depth and realism.
Help you to create characters that are believable and who act in line with their personality.
Give your story a clear and defined theme.
The Definition of Morality
Putting it simply, morality is the behaviour of people which is deemed either good or bad by the majority of people. Morally good behaviour is socially accepted and seen by people as acting in a socially acceptable manner. Immoral behaviour is the opposite, where the actions are judged as causing harm or distress to another person. Most stories have a moral basis to the plot, where the protagonist battles against the evil of the antagonist, and tries to triumph over the villain to reach their objective. There are other novels, however, that have their plot based around a moral dilemma. Some good examples of this would be My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult where the plot examines the relationship of parent and child and whether it is morally right to save a child’s life even at the detriment of the rights of others. In the novel The Nightingaleby Kristin Hannah, a woman who is trying to escape the Nazis, as they invade France, is forced to go against all her values to save her life and the life of her child. As you can see by these examples, the conflict within the plot arises from the different moral viewpoints. The characters' opinions of the moral dilemma place them on one side or the other. The clash of personalities when characters from differing standpoints make their argument makes for excellent reading. You can also ask yourself, does the character who is acting immorally to achieve a goal for the greater good deserve to triumph? How will they feel after they have reached their objective, knowing others have suffered as a result; will their consciences haunt them?
Another perspective when you are creating your characters around a moral dilemma could be that a protagonist and their sidekick have to overcome an objective, but to do so, the protagonist has to act in a way that the sidekick disagrees with, as it goes against their moral compass. The protagonist now has to battle against the antagonist and the sidekick to succeed. An important point to remember is that any immoral course of action must be believable and understandable. Would a reader support a protagonist breaking the law? For example, the lead character has discovered their child is in grave danger from money lenders, and has to steal money in order to save the child’s life. The reader may support the protagonist if they stole from an evil, callous businessman, but would they be as understanding if the victim was a sweet elderly lady? A crime of theft has still been committed, but one would be more accepted by the reader than the other.
Ask yourself the following questions as you write your story. Are all your characters motivated by their moral opinion? Are your conflicts motivated by the opposing moral standpoint of your characters? Does your protagonist act immorally by hurting others to achieve their goal? If you have answered yes to all of these questions, then you will have created an amazingly complex and strong storyline that any reader will find enthralling.
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