I've lived long enough to have encountered lots of people that lie. From the point of view of the person who is lied to, lying destroys trust. When you catch someone in a lie, you know you can't trust them to be honest in anything they say. You also know they don't trust you to be able to handle the truth.
Several of my characters lie, but not to be maliciously manipulative. Mostly they lie when they don't know how they feel, when they don't want conflict, or when they don't want to be alone in their opinion or called out for what they've done. They lie out of weakness.
Ironically, the characters that don't lie tend to be brutally honest, unable to filter their words, and tend to come off as being jerks.
Juxtaposing liars against characters who were brutally honest wasn't what I set out to do in my current novel, but it has been fun.
Do your characters lie?
This post is part of the 2012 A to Z Challenge.
Bet it makes for interesting dialogue!
ReplyDeleteYes, my characters lie. Betrayal is a big part of my stories I'm working on. I also don't mind an unreliable narrator who lies occasionally. It's interesting to learn what they think they need to lie about.
ReplyDeleteYes my characters lie. Sometimes it's outright and sometimes by omission.
ReplyDeleteYes. My main character, Lila, lies to protect herself. Her mother, Babs, lies to make herself look good.
ReplyDeleteYes. I try to make may characters a real as possible, and unfortunately, real humans lie. It sucks, and it hurts, and it's narcissistic and self-serving and often ends up blowing up in the liar's face. But it makes for compelling tension, conflict, and drama.
ReplyDeleteWonderful post and fabulous blog!
I found you through the A-to-Z and now I'm a new follower!
Creative lying! I'll lie if I think the truth would hurt the other person. I don't think that's a good idea, btw, it just shows I'm a coward. Characters might not lie, but they will probably hide the truth under a blanket (to add tension for example)
ReplyDeletetelling fibs, stories, etc. I think everyone does it. I can remember telling whoppers when I was a wee one. Now, it's like Susan said, I don't always tell the truth if the truth is hurtful.
ReplyDeleteYes, I have some who lie, mostly to protect themselves. Interesting post for L. I've dealt with some liars in life and it really is amazing to me how some people are so adept at lying it almost seems as if they believe the lies they are telling.
ReplyDeleteThat seems like a very thought-provoking juxtaposition. I hadn't thought of it that way.
ReplyDeleteSarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)
Yes, some of my characters lie. It's so ingrained ... I think. To at least tell little white lies. Most of my characters aren't ... well, they aren't angels.
ReplyDeleteoh yes, I have a few liars. But I also have some pretty honest characters as well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all your great comments. Sorry I haven't been able to get around much today. Hopefully I'll get caught up this weekend.
ReplyDeleteA lot of my characters lie to themselves more than to other people. Great post.
ReplyDeleteI've known a lot of liars and they were real characters too! Julie
ReplyDeleteOne of my stories is based around a single lie that just grows and grows and makes life more complicated for the MC.
ReplyDeleteoh i am sure they do---don't always put that part in though
ReplyDeleteI've told a lie or to back in the day-lol. After experiencing the consequences of lying, life has taught me to be honest. Honesty always pays off.
ReplyDeleteI know a person that pretty much always told the blatant truth regardless of how harsh; it's a plus to tell the truth however I do think that there is a way of presenting it so that a soul isn't wounded in the process; truth teaches and there is much reward for the presenter of truth when taking the student into consideration.
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