How To Make Choices Matter + What Types Of Choices To Make Matter

So, two of my upcoming, light-hearted stories are gonna have choices that matter, but I don’t know anything about making choices matter, can anybody tell me what types of choices should matter and how to make them matter?

You can use gains or points to make choices matter. Gains are much easier to use at least for me they are. The point system doesn’t like to work for me. Choices that matter are usually just ones that affect your relationship with other characters.

1 Like

Okay! Thanks! Could I have some examples of the types of choices that matter? I wanna do it right. Would the reader choose the gender they’re attracted to be one?

I was trying to get an example from my script but it doesn’t want to load unfortunately. :roll_eyes:
I wouldn’t say that is a choice that matters, I mean it is for the reader to choose the right one but I wouldn’t say it counts as one.

I have one in my story where you can see the MC’s best friend is clearly upset and you can choose to check in on her or just leave it. It matters because you will gain a point if you care enough to check in with her.

1 Like

Would this help? I was recently thinking about this question so I made a post about choices that matter too. You can see it right here; just click on the link

1 Like

By matter they mean they have affect later

Example in my story there is a scene where MC her best friend that she Can see visions of the future.

(Spoiler because have nor publish this yet)
Later MC has to tell it to a group of people, and her best friend help her explain if she knows, if she dosent she will be angry at MC for not knowing

2 Likes

u need to points system, however, before u begin u should have a clear idea of what’s gonna change as in, will u gain/miss scenes due to points or smth. Also, I only recommend a few branches otherwise it gets extremely complicated & tricky. Here’s how to do it tho: HOW TO: Show character points WITHOUT if/elif/else - the simpliest method 😍

1 Like

Would a “Tell The Truth” or “Lie” choice be one that matters?

I would say there are several types.

  1. the choice that really alternates the story itself - typical fort this one is that the characters do remember how you handled them before and later in the story they act differently based on readers choices - like if oyu have 2 love interest and treat one constantly bad he will eventually stop being interested in you and will not by an option anymore - this type is the hardest and requires from keep in mind more storylines - basically 2 readers can have significantly different plot or at last the ending.

  2. choices that alternate just some scenes but give feeling they are important - this one I use a lot - the choices make an impression like they are really important but they just alternate one scene and the next one is again same for all readers… the point is the reader doesn’t know what all was impacted by such choice…for example in one scene where MC is in danger and has to leave intentionally dangerous place reader has the option to leave open or to make some cover story for leaving…this creates alternation… in next scene (which is same for both readers) something bad happens - and I got lot of readers freaking out it happened because of their choice to leave openly - they even wanted to reread the story because they ware afraid they made a bad choice …so while the bad thing would happen any way they got the impression they have caused it with bad choice… this one is hard to explain how to do it but works really great and is not complicated for the story flow - so its my favorite.

  3. point system - this one I also use a lot - you can make reader collect point for good decisions and solving puzzles - and for the points, they can open for free special scenes or alternate the story in some scenes for them - so it makes the choice important because readers is motivated to get as many points as possible

  4. remembered choices that are mentioned later in the story - you remember some readers choice and later you make some alternation based on it so reader will have impression the choice might have bigger impact on the story…

2 Likes

Thank you!

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 30 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.