1. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    Help with misbelief

    Discussion in 'Character Development' started by jej_jones, Oct 16, 2021.

    Hello!

    im struggling to find my character’s misbelief. The “origin” of the misbelief happened about 19 years before the start of the novel and I’ll have the full scene in the book.

    the scene is my 7 year old female protagonist nearly getting strangled to death by a mentally disturbed 20 year old neighbor. The strangulation was interrupted but she did nearly die.

    Based off this, would I good misbelief be “if I make a decision to trust somebody, I will always be in danger.”?

    the reason I’m struggling so badly with this is because they eventually get engaged (first chapter) and ANOTHER tragedy strikes immediately (the hook). Let me know what you think!
     
  2. Kehlida

    Kehlida Member

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    It could very well work but if you really want an incident like that to stick be sure to show the 20 year old and the child actually having had trust before the incident. Perhaps they'd been her trusted babysitter or a family friend before snapping. Not saying it's not possible, but if the perpetrator is a complete stranger, and the incident random then I doubt a 7 Y/O would hold on to such a belief unless it's reinforced through their life through other circumstances. Most 7 Y/O children are forgiving and might recover from mild to moderate trauma better than an older child or adult who's able to grasp everything that went into such an assault.

    Also, I would not disclose so simply that your MC believes that. Most people are unable to properly analyze or identify the cause and effect behind their root issues; show don't tell us that she has trust issues.
     
  3. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    Thank you so much for the response!

    yes! The 20 year old is a neighbor who invites her over to play video games when he strangles her. I could add that it wasn’t uncommon for him to invite her over. (Weird that this would be a normal occurrence, but it could add to the darkness of the novel)
    there will be a few more “milder” events that fortify this misbelief for sure. It’ll be a struggle to write this book with this in mind. This is my third novel and the first where I am purposefully adding a misbelief.
     
  4. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    Who gets engaged? The woman who was strangled as a child and the person who strangled her?

    I don't understand why you characterize this as a misbelief.
     
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  5. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    The protagonist becomes engaged at some point right before the start of the novel.

    Well, as humans we thrive with trusting relationships. Given this trauma, it would be difficult to trust anybody. This is an extreme example saying “I absolutely cannot trust anybody or it will always end terribly.”
     
  6. Bruce Johnson

    Bruce Johnson Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    Are you from the U.S.? 'Insecurity' or 'Trust Issues' probably better describes the effect of this trauma. 'Irrational Fear' may be what you are looking for but that usually is not used for emotional and relationship type fears.
     
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  7. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Seems to me her erroneous conclusion is that this person who once nearly killed her is now trustworthy enough to marry.
     
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  8. AbyssalJoey

    AbyssalJoey Active Member

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    AS @Bruce Johnson and @SapereAude point out "misbelief" does not sound like the right word, Bruce already gave you some alternatives and I would like to add "trauma" to the mix.

    I also share Sapere's question, is the mc betrothed to the guy that tried to strangle her or to someone else?
     
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  9. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    Oh, sorry for the confusion. Truly, I am.
    She’s certainly NOT engaged to the man who strangled her. Her father murders the 20 year old and is on the run. That happens soon after the strangulation long before the novel begins.

    Her fiancé is introduced on chapter one. High school sweethearts. He dies tragically in the first chapter (at least, it strongly alludes to it) and this solidifies her issues with trust. “I fell in love…got close…just for tragedy to strike again.”

    What I’m trying to determine with all of this is the internal conflict boiling beneath the surface. Without just insinuating she has trust issues because of trauma, what would be a better way to”show” rather than “tell”?
     
  10. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    Yep I’m from the US. I’m just doing a bunch of nano prep and binge watching YouTube videos. They all mention a “misbelief” the protagonist has and I’m just trying to figure that put for my protagonist. Maybe misbelief is a bad term in this situation.
     
  11. AbyssalJoey

    AbyssalJoey Active Member

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    Have her be a shut-in with no friends, also people with trust issues are generally untrustworthy.
     
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  12. Catriona Grace

    Catriona Grace Mind the thorns Contributor Contest Winner 2022

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    Ohhhhh, okay. I always hated those novels where the heroine is raped but eventually falls in love with the rapist who turns out to be a good guy after all. (Kathleen Woodiwiss, I'm looking at you.)

    She's had three traumas: near death at the hands of someone she trusted, her father's disappearance after murdering her attacker, and the death of her fiancé. Being betrayed deliberately or incidentally by three important people in one's life is enough to depress anyone. Her choice is essentially to shut herself off from emotional entanglements with others or to go forth, live her life, and risk another heartbreak. Is the story about how she moves from the first choice to the second?
     
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  13. AbyssalJoey

    AbyssalJoey Active Member

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    Wow, why is that a thing???
     
  14. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    I didn't read the responses, just responding to the question in a general way. The character's misbelief must be related directly to the truth that he must learn by the end of the story. His moving from the misbelief (his lie) to that truth is the major point of his character arc. And the way you arrive at the misbelief is by turning the truth on its head somehow. It must be an inverted version of the truth he needs to learn.

    You posted the scene that's the origin of his misbelief, but you didn't mention what the big truth is that he's missing or misunderstanding, and that he needs to come to grips with. Figure out what that is and you'll be able to twist it on its head to come up with his misbelief.
     
  15. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Another way to look at it, at a higher resolution if you will, is to think about his major fear and his big desire. These are at war, and from the beginning the character acts from his fear—he thinks he can get what he wants (his desire) without needing to go through and confront his fear, but of course that's impossible. What he eventually needs to accept is the need to directly confront his fear, to go through it in order to reach his desire.

    Another way to think through it is in terms of what he wants versus what he needs. At first he's going after what he wants, thinking if he gets it that it will make him happy, But of course that's wrong, it's shallow and meaningless. He needs to learn that through trial and error a few times, finally accept it (gradually) and realize that he instead needs to go after the thing he needs, which he's always resisted.

    Hopefully thinking it through in one of these ways will help you get there.
     
  16. Kehlida

    Kehlida Member

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    I danced around this earlier, but to be honest and not to slight anyone's trauma as I myself have lived through some horrible circumstances but I really do not see a one-off incident - even a near death one - being enough to cripple someone's ability to trust their whole life. If she has a long history of trauma or abuse, it would be different but you have not supplied any more info. Tons of people have survived incidents like this and much worse and learned to isolate their emotions to that one incident. It happened when she's 7 and is now 20, it's possible she went on to have a life full of support and love, and could easily have gone on to live her young life as anyone else. Hence why, you should definitely include more detail to her life or point out other instances in which her trust has been broken. For the average person - holding on to one horrible event that happened to them as a child and allowing it to completely derail their ability to form healthy relationships as an adult is unusual and concerning. (Unless it's extreme abuse or reoccurring... while surviving an attack like you describe is horrible, I would not consider it the sort of thing that would be remarkably scarring.)
     
  17. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Yes, it generally needs to be ongoing and inescapable. Usually done by someone close that the person is unable to get away from—someone she should be able to trust, and it forces her to live in constant fear from a very early age. This forms the personality structure, and builds it around fear rather than trust. Then later an incident like this occurs and maybe becomes a symbol that she invest all her fear into, rather than onto the person who originally caused it.
     
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  18. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    Yes! This helps immensely! No idea how I couldn’t figure this out.

    I couldn’t imagine writing a book about marrying her own rapist. That sounds terrible.

    It’s complicated I know, but it’s actually about a serial killer lol the killer targets women about her age and physique. I just need this protag to be emotionally destroyed to start the novel in order for her decisions to be a little unorthodox. Maybe she’s not thinking clearly in some instances.
     
  19. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    This is brilliant and why I come to these forums. I can create a plot, but need better rounded characters to move it forward. Thanks for your input.
     
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  20. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    Glad to be of service!
     
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  21. Bruce Johnson

    Bruce Johnson Contributor Contributor Contest Winner 2023

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    I'm not familiar with current terminology in fiction writing and maybe even narrative structure terms, but apparently 'misbelief' is a common term for an important belief the protagonist holds that the plot will allow them to dispel from some defining or 'see the light' moment.

    For example, in this story, the protagonist's misbelief could be something like "People are only nice to you if they want to hurt you or get something from you.".

    At least that's how I understand the concept of 'misbelief'.
     
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  22. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    This is a great point and something that I’m struggling with. I just don’t want her to be sexually abused for years at the hands of her neighbor. My last book was about a serial killer who targeted sexual abusers and I’m over it after that emotional investment lol

    His backstory is that he succeeded in strangling his brother to death (which will just be mentioned and not really explored) at a young age and was sent to a juvenile detention center. He was released a year before he strangled the protag. They can know each other and be friendly for the year, but I’m having a hard time deciding what a prolonged traumatic event could be with this scenario.
     
  23. jej_jones

    jej_jones Member

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    This is exactly how I interpreted it. What you have in quotes is exactly how I envisioned it. This is incredible. I cannot verbalize it for some reason.
     
  24. AbyssalJoey

    AbyssalJoey Active Member

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    Interesting, I was not familiar with the concept, thank you for explaining it.
     
  25. Xoic

    Xoic Prognosticator of Arcana Ridiculosum Contributor Blogerator

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    It doesn't even have to be sexual abuse, it can just be intimate instead, maybe with some sexual overtones. A person she lives with or sees frequently, usually a parent, neighbor, family friend, maybe a teacher or something. Look into boundary violations in psychology. A person who continually violates a child's boundaries causes lots of damage that results in an inability to trust people or to really relate intimately or sexually. You might get something out of my Black Swan analysis, which involves a lot of boundary violations and a lack of ability to relate intimately or sexually.

    The early abuse at the hands of a trusted family member or something similar is the primary abuse that then makes her vulnerable to secondary abuse by others later in life. Often the victim doesn't realize they suffered abuse or they refuse to blame the person because they need to feel like they could trust that person. So they can have a sort of blind spot to the actual primary abuse itself, and as far as they know they were fine until the first of the secondary abuses began to take place, and they might blame that abuser as if they're the primary one.
     
    Last edited: Oct 16, 2021
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