When reading a story, the reader’s brain actively simulates the experience of the characters. The reader becomes so absorbed in the story, they experience it as though it’s true. They believe in it.

But before a reader can have that experience, you have to believe in your story first.

So how do you build belief in your story so that readers believe in it too? In this episode, I’m sharing three pathways to building belief in your story.

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Episode at a glance:

[01:16] Make the character’s problem yours

The dilemma is the sequence of developments, challenges or plot points in the story. It’s objective. The facts. But your character’s problem within that dilemma is more subjective. It’s his or her reaction to the dilemma. This is how you build a believable story. The character’s problem is being expressed through you with authenticity and truth.

[08:02] 2. Embody your character’s experience

What physical sensations does your character feel? What would you feel in this situation? What would your character notice? How would the setting and objects look like in your character’s current state of mind?

[12:51] 3. Expectations

Learn the 2 types of expectations impacting your character’s present. When you know the short and long term expectations, you raise the stakes and give deeper meaning to what’s unfolding in the present.

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Links Mentioned In This Episode

Imagine A Great White Light: Stories by Sheila Schwartz

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

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What is an anti-hero and why do they fascinate us? How do they keep us invested in their plight scene by scene? Even as they do immoral, criminal, or deplorable things?

I’m a big fan of antiheroes because we can’t have a neutral reaction to them.

So in this episode, we’ll talk about different anti-heroes on screen and in fiction. And I’ll share 4 ways to write an anti-hero with complexity, magnetism, and unforgettable appeal.

Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as.”

Episode at a glance:

[01:08] What’s an anti-hero, and why are they so compelling?

Anti-heroes are troublesome characters wrestling with a big life problem. They wreak havoc on the people closest to them, even though their intentions may be good, maybe even honorable. But they cross a moral line to solve an urgent problem, and that’s what makes them fascinating. We can’t have a complicated reaction to them.

[09:31] 1. Make us care.

That doesn’t necessarily mean that we like him or her. And we certainly don’t have to condone what he or she does. But we do need to understand their dilemma. We can identify some aspect of our humanity with theirs.

[12:18] 2. Build Belief In Your Anti-Hero’s Motive

All great anti-heroes are rooted in a problem – a problem that obsesses them for the whole story and drives their choices, even if those choices are destructive to themselves and those closest to them.

[14:00] 3. Moral Ambivalence

All great anti-heroes wrestle with moral ambivalence. There’s deceit, secrets, and bad behavior. They feel torn about this, and feel terrible about their behavior, but they’re beholden to their impulses.

[15:49] 4. Supporting Characters

Supporting characters amplify your anti-hero’s good qualities and bad qualities. Tony Soprano has a therapist to whom he opens up to about his anxieties. It shows his more vulnerable side, the one he hides from the rest of the world. Walter White has Jesse, who reveals Walter’s soft, fatherly side, and his manipulative, destructive tendencies.

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