The Lie your character believes plays a huge part in storytelling. When your character believes a Lie, it leads to major consequences and events (aka, a plot). Without the Lie, your Positive Change Arc will be flatter than a pancake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Lie can take many forms, as shown in our two main examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In \u201cBeyond the Mask,\u201d Will believes that the only way to get redemption and love is to earn it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tad\u2019s Lie in \u201cIn Time of Need\u201d is that the only person he can trust is himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, as you probably know by now, I believe that we as Christian writers should weave God\u2019s truth into our stories. But some of you may wonder\u2026 how can we do that without either being too vague or too wordy? Well, the answer to that question is the Lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Any secular writer would define the Lie as the character\u2019s skewed view of the world around them (which, in a Positive Change Arc, the character will overcome by the end of the story). But in order to realistically portray characters from a Christian standpoint, you\u2019re going to need to take this definition a step further. Your character\u2019s Lie should be defined not only as a skewed view of the world but as a skewed view of God<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Will Reynolds\u2019 Lie about the way to get redemption ties very neatly into the salvation message. While he does<\/em> want to redeem himself to his Love Interest, Charlotte Holloway, he ultimately wants to redeem himself before God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, Tad Griffin\u2019s Lie about who he can trust also ties into the gospel. By the end of the story, he\u2019s not only realized that he can and should trust other people, but he\u2019s also realized that he must put his trust in God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are a few more examples of Lies:<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Note: At first glance, it may seem like George Bailey\u2019s Lie doesn\u2019t fit the story. I mean, he\u2019s opposed to Mr. Potter because he believes the townspeople are<\/em> worth something. However, the Lie is what makes him and Mr. Potter similar. While George only believes that his own<\/em> life never made an impact, the far extent of his Lie would eventually end up at Mr. Potter\u2019s belief\u2026 that only the rich and powerful can truly be worth something. Essentially, Mr. Potter represents what George Bailey could become. [More about this when we talk about the antagonist of a Positive Change Arc.])<\/p>\n\n\n\n The second element is directly related to the Lie\u2026 the symptoms. Since the Lie is such an important part of both your character and their arc, it will have a direct effect on the way they behave. And two characters who believe the same Lie will react differently according to their particular personalities. Their reactions may also differ because of other characters and their <\/em>particular personalities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your character\u2019s flaws can range from shame to anger, or from fear to disdain\u2026 so long as they stem from the Lie your character believes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Note: These symptoms will typically be your MC\u2019s major flaws. As we talked about in our post on the Positive Change Arc protagonist, flaws are necessary to this particular arc. However, these flaws shouldn\u2019t be random, which is why they should tie directly into the Lie as symptoms.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n In \u201cBeyond the Mask,\u201d Will\u2019s main symptom is guilt. He knows he\u2019s done a lot of bad things in the past, and he\u2019s trying to redeem himself in order to overcome his guilt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Tad\u2019s biggest symptom in \u201cIn Time of Need\u201d is mistrust. He believes he can\u2019t trust anyone (especially God), which makes him extremely cautious and protective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are more examples of symptoms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now let\u2019s move on to the Truth your character will come to believe. This section will be fairly simple, since the Truth is really just the opposite of the Lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Truth will continually pop up to haunt your MC along their journey, and will be represented by any Flat Arc supporting characters. As your MC begins to recognize the importance of this Truth, they\u2019ll attempt to juggle both it and the Lie at the same time, which will pave the way for huge consequences later on. During the 3rd<\/sup> Act, they will finally reject the Lie once and for all and fully embrace the Truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Will Reynolds will eventually embrace the Truth that, as Charlotte tells him, \u201cNeither redemption or love can ever be earned. They are both gifts\u2014gifts to be granted freely from the heart of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Truth that Tad Griffin will learn is that he needs help from both God and others, and that God can (and should) be trusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some more examples of Truths:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Using these tips and examples, you should be able to craft a Lie, symptoms, and a Truth for your own MC\u2019s arc. And once you\u2019ve done that, you\u2019ve completed a major step towards having an awesome plot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the comments below, tell me about an MC\u2019s Lie\u2026 either from your own story or from your favorite book or movie!<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today, we\u2019re addressing two terms you may have seen on my blog before, and will probably see many times again. They are the Lie your main character (MC) believes, and the Truth they will come to believe. Let\u2019s take a closer look at these two important elements\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,21,4],"tags":[24,26,29,23,32,33,50,51,27],"class_list":["post-289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-plots-and-character-arcs","category-positive-change-arcs","category-writing-tips","tag-character-arcs","tag-characters","tag-christian-writing","tag-plots","tag-positive-change-arcs","tag-protagonist","tag-the-lie","tag-the-truth","tag-writing-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=289"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":369,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/289\/revisions\/369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/christianwriter.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/TruthResize-1024x690.jpg\")
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