HI EVERYONE, Writing a novella for practise as I haven't written anything in two years and want to blow away the cobwebs. My idea takes place over a few days and is a dystopian/psychological thriller. It's a bit like a normal day then alien like creatures come through a portal and world war three stars. My main character, adult female, is a journalist who is looking into a story that she thinks will show the public what a corrupt leader they have only to discover the real secret is the portal that's opened in an area that's been top secret for years due to so many reports of supernatural/paranormal activity. The theme is loss of hope and the consequences of that loss. The novella happens over a short time span and I wanted the characters downfall to feel authentic. The ending needs to make sense with the character and not feel out of place. How do I show her fall rather than tell it? She's a largely optimistic character, very ambitious and someone fighting for truth and then this decline. They don't feel right but I lack the experience to make the two work. Thanks for your advice.
Maybe show by giving physical description of how the tension is affecting her body. Or her mind, really. Small things like wearing the same clothes for multiple days, unwashed hair, eats small and insubstantial bits of food. Maybe as she's traveling somewhere she doesn't remember how she gets there because her mind is trying to protect the approaching descent by only keeping "relevant" information. She could start forgetting easy things, too? I hope this helps.
Senseless loss can lead to a loss of hope. If WW3 has started, there's opportunity to show her faced with a senseless bad turn of events. The more personal it is, the greater her loss, and she gives up hope faced with its meaningless. Hope can also be lost if you lose your beliefs, which also might be lost in the face of senseless loss and devastation.
@cosmic lights I think you need to take something away from her, quickly and violently. Maybe she has this belief that once people know the truth, they will care and rise up against the injustice. But they don't, and it destroys her. She dedicated years to her investigation based on a lie she told herself.
At the start of the story, character spills a pint of milk, grabs the mop and cleans up the mess. After the revelations, same thing happens and she smashes the now empty bottle against the wall. Ok, maybe not crying over spilt milk, but the thing about stress and loss of hope is that the little things push breaking point, confirm worldview, dissolve confidence while the major crisis must still be faced. The incidents don't need to be identical but leave some thread so the latter echoes the former to show the loss of optimism, etc.
