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My Character Asks, "AITA?"

Yesterday, a Twitter user asked followers to describe their WIP using the AITA format.

For those who don't know, the format comes from the reddit page r/AmItheA**hole —sorry, don't know if forum rules will allow me to post the page name completely, but you get the idea.

Basically, that reddit is where someone can go to ask whether he is being the ****** in given a situation. The community responds by saying yes or no, in however many words.

The Twitter thread was interesting and entertaining, and I thought I'd introduce the idea here.

Basically, begin in first person with your main character, list age and sex/gender in brackets after each first mention of a character, and try to contextualize any AITA sort of question that might be raised given the situation of your WIP.

I wonder if this sort of thing might be helpful, like a thesis statement. But maybe it'll be entertaining at least.

To get things started, here's one from me:


I [51m] am a powerful chaos wizard who, many years ago, illegally took on an apprentice [now 17m] without approval from the powers that be within our smallish wizarding community. The King's Law proclaims such willy-nilly proliferation of wizardry to be one of the highest crimes against the throne and kingdom. But I can get away with this because, duh, I'm so, so very powerful. Now there's another young wizard [20m], who is somehow self-taught, going around murdering wizards left and right because he blames this system of apprenticeship for his horrible life. And I have to hunt him down and stop him. AITA?
_______

Edit: I suppose it doesn't have to be a main character at all, or main story thread. Could be a side character, any sort of subplot situation, whatever. Although trying to work out the main question in the above WIP was a fun experience for me....
 
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S J Lee

Inkling
Need more information. "Murdering" = killing those who never harmed him, without a good reason like self-defence? Then no, if you hunt him down you are NTA. Though I don't see why you are OBLIGED to.

If the rules of taking apprentices are dumb and unfair, then breaking them is not a matter of morality, but only of professional ethics / the law. Since I am not a fancy wizard myself, I say NTA.

Not sure about the "have to" hunt him down bit, though. More info?
 
Ah, haha, I wasn't actually looking for a judgment, just more examples of WIP translated into AITA questions.

But interesting. I thought the penultimate statement was worded poorly. A better way of putting it would be I choose to hunt him down and stop him. That puts a little more force on the AITA question. Even better might be I choose to hunt him down and stop him, killing him if necessary.

More Context for the actual story might have been better, so the end of the query might read something like...

....Now there's another young wizard [20m], who is somehow self-taught, going around murdering wizards left and right because he blames this system of apprenticeship for his horrible life. I discover this when investigating the mysterious death of my oldest and best friend [52f]. I choose to hunt the young wizard down, and will kill him if I find him. AITA?
(I think that, obviously, this MC should inspire sympathy and identification in the reader, so it's not going to be an "A" character. But I do like the idea of introducing a little uncertainty in the unfolding of a story, so the question might hover around at least until the MC changes a little as the story progresses. At least, the MC should have some doubt develop past the half mark of the story.)
 
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I [51m] am a powerful chaos wizard who, many years ago, illegally took on an apprentice [now 17m] without approval from the powers that be within our smallish wizarding community. The King's Law proclaims such willy-nilly proliferation of wizardry to be one of the highest crimes against the throne and kingdom. But I can get away with this because, duh, I'm so, so very powerful. Now there's another young wizard [20m], who is somehow self-taught, going around murdering wizards left and right because he blames this system of apprenticeship for his horrible life. And I have to hunt him down and stop him. AITA?
I think this one goes in the "everyone sucks" category.

Edit: I still think that after the update. The narrator's motive makes sense (avenging friend's death), but he's a big contributor to the problem in the first place. What's he doing getting away with stuff that would get other people convicted of a high crime?

This is his karma for contributing to such an unjust system.
 
What's he doing getting away with stuff that would get other people convicted of a high crime?

This is his karma for contributing to such an unjust system.

Yes! Exactly. That's the sort of major question that hovers around everything that happens! (y)
 

S J Lee

Inkling
To me, dividing the world into TA and NTA isn't enough to get me interested in the character, there are better ways to get my interest.
Eg, battered housewife makes a break for freedom is hardly TA, but saying "NTA" doesn't really capture the essence of the character?

To ME, the more interesting Q is .. DEEP DOWN ... are you choosing to hunt down young hot-shot wizard because you believe he is evil and must be stopped...or is that only your excuse, and you are doing it to limit the number of wizards who might one day challenge you?
 
To ME, the more interesting Q is .. DEEP DOWN ... are you choosing to hunt down young hot-shot wizard because you believe he is evil and must be stopped...or is that only your excuse, and you are doing it to limit the number of wizards who might one day challenge you?
Sounds like the king's law in the background of the story is designed to do just that. Which makes the narrator even worse, if you think about it: he flouted the law and got away with it, but now he's benefitting from that same law, because surely hunting down and killing an illegal wizard is legal, or at least won't get him in any trouble.
 
To ME, the more interesting Q is .. DEEP DOWN ... are you choosing to hunt down young hot-shot wizard because you believe he is evil and must be stopped...or is that only your excuse, and you are doing it to limit the number of wizards who might one day challenge you?

I think it's a combination of a desire for revenge and an unquestioned, knee-jerk decision to maintain the status quo. In the beginning, the MC doesn't question his own role in this whole system and in fact sees himself as being beyond it or better than it but still maintains it.

Edit: BTW, thanks for making me think through this. It's so helpful, forcing me to put this into better thought.
 
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