Looking for a lie for my character. It needs to be something big and totally blinding to her (which will be reinfornced by stuff from her past and throughout the book) My theme is how corruptive power can be. And if you give power to someone helpless, desperate, naïve and lustful of it. what can happen. So I wanted her lie to have something to do with the theme really. In this story power equals magic. She has grown up with a far Superior species being cut from the community and made to feel like she has little worth. I made a long list of possible lies for her but I only liked these two so far. People will only pay attention to you/love you; if they think you’re powerful She isn’t strong enough to do anything on her own (so needs power) I could just use some help on this one as I can't seem to find the right one. Any suggestions?
I think that you don't necessarily need to think about it in terms of 'a lie', but rather in terms of how others' actions have affected her and how her character arc will help her come to realise her self-worth (or that those with a lot of power aren't 'worth' more than her). It can be implicit throughout the story, for example her not trusting someone with power trying to help her because she doubts their motives, or passing up on an opportunity to help someone because she has too much self-doubt about whether she is powerful enough to do it. I think the lies you have chosen make sense and can make for an interesting and relatable character but it is a case of showing this throughout the story rather than getting too caught up in a mantra.
Only the powerful are worthy of love. Whatever like you pick, I think needs to be a lie that must be overcome to win the day.
If she was belittled and felt helpless her entire life, then she will probably feel as if she can never be safe. And thus needs to get more and more powerful in an attempt to some day feel safe, but this feeling will never come. :/
QueenOfPlants - I never thought of the safe idea. Thanks guys you've been helpful. I agree that if you want your character to act a certain way it needs to be reinforced in the book
Well, you mentioned a species being outcast. That can easily play a role, if she has any connection with said species. Just the other day, someone told me "English is clearly not your first language. You speak with an accent." When I actually quizzed her (because I know I don't speak with an accent - a lifetime of English people in England agree with me), and asked her "If you didn't see me, where would you think I'm from?" And she couldn't answer. In the end, she settled for an "international" accent. I'm of Chinese descent, so clearly I'm not white, so clearly English can't be my first language, right? People hear what they expect to hear. My reaction shocked myself quite a lot. I spent the weekend in tears. And I know why - because for me, speaking with an English accent and being considered English is equivalent to being accepted and loved, of finally belonging. I've spent a lifetime of being mocked for my English while growing up in England that I ended up hating my Chinese heritage for a good number of years. It's gone so far that I, really, truly, prefer the fact that my half-Czech daughter looks very Caucasian. I don't even want her to look Chinese (and thank God, she doesn't). And I thought I was over all that, found some measure of peace in my cultural identity. Well, apparently not. The comment struck such a raw nerve that there's a part of me that doesn't even wanna go back to work (comment came from a colleague). The blimming comment wasn't even meant offensively, by the way. So, from that, I'd ask you - what has your character suffered? I was mocked and outcast because of my initial poor English. My own best friends would spend days trying to convince me certain words meant things they did not mean, and then roll on the floor laughing when I believed them. What has scarred your character? Once you have settled on that, you'll know what "lie" she believes in. If I were you, write the scene - write out the time when your character really, truly suffered for her helplessness, or something else important to your book. Write that and you'll know your character so much better, and you'll know what makes her tick by the end of the scene. I'm of the opinion that you don't need to know your character's entire life - but you need to know those milestones, those significant events that shaped her, intimately.
As a fellow international, may I offer a possible defense of your critic? I'm a caucasian American, raised outside of Chicago in the most middle-of-the-road, CNN-accented American English environment imaginable. However, when I joined the Marines, I was exposed to a lot of other US-regional accents, so (for example) for the last thirty-some years, "y'all" and "howdy" have been regular, unironic parts of my everyday vocabulary. Then I moved to Japan and started working with Brits and Kiwis and Aussies and Canadians and, oh yeah, Japanese people. My vocabulary and word choice, and to a certain amount, I'm told, my accent has changed in the intervening years. I was quite surprised to hear "No worries" being used in America on my most recent visit, as when I arrived in Japan that was recognizably an Aussie phrase, and also one that I've picked up. So while I would never doubt that unconscious racism played a big part in your critic's view that you didn't sound "native," I wouldn't be surprised if someone who started with a different language and now lives outside of her second native language might have some speech patterns and accent cues that sound "off" to someone with a less broad set of experiences.
Mckk@ I don't think you know just how much your comment helped me out. I've been bullied at school but never because of where I was from and never thought to include that sort of thing into my characters backstory. It's surprising how other people can change what we think of ourselves. There is no reason for your to hate to be Chinese at all and you probably wouldn't have cared if it wasn't for those that made you. I always liked having red hair as a kid until I started getting teased for it in school
@Iain Aschendale - I get what you're saying, and it's true that I've been told my English accent is a little "less" English than before, but still English lol. It's been an ongoing, niggling fear of mine that I'd lose my "native-ness", as it were. And then I just wrote an entire essay trying to convince you why I'm really really a native speaker and really don't have an "accent" and blah blah blah and then I decided it's far too embarrassing to be pouring this out on a public forum Sigh. I wish it didn't matter to me. But yes, I get your point and can see sense in it. I do believe if I went back to England, I'd blend in seamlessly again (barring the physical appearance) within a few months. My Czech husband faced similar issues when he first returned to the Czech Republic after 6 years in the UK actually. He was making random odd mistakes and forgetting Czech words that other native speakers found odd A lapse in your native tongue after a prolonged period of time abroad is very natural and hardly evidence that the language is "clearly not your first language". Only my Czech husband doesn't need to have the same insecurities I have due to the fact that he really is Czech and only moved out of the country when he was 18 @cosmic lights - I'm so glad to hear my comment helped you! Yeah I was thinking hey, if my story helps someone, maybe some good will have come out of it You're right too - I think I'd have been proudly Chinese if I hadn't been ridiculed for it.
Perhaps the "lie," needn't be a lie. Perhaps just a small detail that everyone else has skipped over because they are obsessed with the current social paradigm? For example, you say in this world no one gets noticed if they do not have power? Surely the ability to go unnoticed is a form of power in itself? Although, I get the sense this lie would be something the most powerful people are hiding, and it likely is what causes the current social paradigm. Then again, I could be wrong.
I think the “lie” for my MC Rose is her belief that Lyla and her will be together as a couple for ever. She doesn’t go to creepy levels of obsession over her girlfriend but Lyla is one of the more important parts of her life. Rose sometimes puts others before herself without considering her own well being. There is a part of the story where they break off their relationship and Lyla looses it. I’m all for happy endings though.
