About Hypnotists and Healers

Post 1552:

No matter how old you are or set in your ways, sometimes you do things out of character. If I were to suddenly take up online dating or stop loving cars or decide that books are stupid, it would feel weird. I’d know I wasn’t being me. When a runner starts swimming laps, it’s obvious.

The character of characters in stories works the same way. You want them to behave according to how they are. This doesn’t mean they can’t change. But the change, to be believable and effective, has to come from somewhere. There has to be something internal or external that is influencing the shift. If a selfish character becomes selfless, the story has to contain a reason. Maybe the reason comes after the change. Usually before. Just needs to be there.

Stories are weird things, because we want them to be something other than reality but we also want them to be real. People are what they are, and when they’re not, it’s jarring.

Imagine your own life. If you want to go from being an introvert to an extrovert or the other way around, it’s going to be gradual. Steps. Things don't happen without effort and agency. They don’t happen without motivations and deeper reasons for those motivations.

If you’re writing or studying the mechanics of storytelling, it’s important to remind yourself that the audience deserves consistency from characters and change that is understandable and feels real. Don’t say the guy in your story went to a hypnotist or a “healer” and is now Mr. NewMan. That’s about as satisfying as hearing it in real life.

No offense to healers and hypnotists. Well, maybe a little. I don’t want to be out of character. Cheers and see you after.