What is Your Character’s Misbelief?
Preface: This post was inspired by Lisa Cron’s observations and suggestions in her book Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel. I was struck by her emphasis on character misbeliefs. Here, I am expressing my own take-aways and conclusions.
I’ve been reflecting lately on the power of misbeliefs.
A misbelief is a belief that misses the mark. It is a mistake. Something that at one point or another, in the deepest corners of our heart, we accepted as God’s honest truth and which has gone on to impact our words, actions, decisions, and perhaps most especially, our emotional state.
We may be well-aware of certain misbeliefs we have. For example: I know with my head that all body types are equally valuable and wonderful, and yet with my heart, I carry a misbelief that I will personally only be beautiful if I achieve a certain type of figure. I can recognize the misbelief and work to counter it, but it still holds power over my choices (for instance, deciding what to eat and how often) and emotions (shame, embarrassment, and/or frustration when my body doesn’t look the way I wish it would). The misbelief has been rooted so deeply within me that simply recognizing it doesn’t eliminate it. The process of planting a proper truth in place of a false truth is a process, and not typically one that is achieved overnight.
Other misbeliefs may be invisible. They are equally as potent, and yet we don’t even realize they are there, manipulating us as if we were puppets on a string. For instance, growing up, I thought my parents wished I was a boy. It wasn’t something I thought about much. It was just there in the background, affecting me in subtle ways. When I eventually recognized this misbelief and brought it up with my parents, I was immensely relieved to find out that I had been quite wrong. This is one of those misbeliefs that, once identified and confronted, had an immediately positive impact on my life.
Here’s the thing: we all carry misbeliefs. They are a part of the human experience, although I submit that we should make an effort to identify them and replace them with truth as much as we can.
Since your characters are fleshed out human beings that will capture reader’s hearts through their specific, relatable traits, they are naturally going to have misbeliefs of their own. If you can identify one or two of the major misbeliefs that your character holds in the deepest, darkest part of their heart, you may find that new opportunities for conflict arise in your story, that the story itself branches into a new direction you hadn’t expected. You will find new motivations for why your character does the things he does, why she says the things she says.
Writing Challenge
Take an honest minute to sit back and consider your own misbeliefs. What pops to mind when you think about the things you believe that have a negative impact on your life? Keep in mind, you may have misbeliefs that you’ve never identified before. Chances are, though, you can name a few beliefs that you know are false, but that hold power over you anyway (or have held power over you in the past).
To follow-up, can you name where or when you first started believing this untruth? What convinced you it was true to begin with?
Now, think about your protagonist. What does this person believe about himself/herself or about life in general that is untrue? Why do they believe this so strongly? In other words, how did they start believing this falsehood? Did it come from a traumatic or significant life event? From the example of an important figure in their life? From a repeated action/routine/message that they were exposed to over a long period of time?
Once you have identified one or two misbeliefs for your protagonist, jot down some ideas as to how that misbelief affects the story. What do they do as a result of that misbelief? Or in spite of that misbelief? How does this drive the action forward?