I love the fact that Abbie doesn't dismiss repeat questions/topics by saying “dude, we’ve already covered this - go dig through my archives and let’s move on”... but instead she takes the time to answer it, in depth, as if it’s the first time she’s tackled it. #BestTeacherEver 💜
probably also because there's not as much to storytelling as she makes it seem and would run out of content if she didn't repeat herself. Not judging her, just saying
I think that an excellent example is Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. Desire: That Belle marry him because he want her for her beauty. Fear: To be rejected by Belle, he can't handle being rejected. Misbelief: That he deserve the best; that is he believes that he deserve more than others and thus should have Belle because he deserve her. And this internal conflicts cause the final part of the plot.
If there are three things that I missed in all my years experimenting with stories, those are desire, fear, and misbelief. And it's thanks to Abbie that I've finally gotten around to writing a story that includes these important elements. The story I'm writing (actually currently editing) is called "The Road Ranger." It's a story about a former army ranger coming home from six years of military service and he wants to rebuild his life with his family/parents as a result. However this is turned completely on its head when the next day, his mother is assassinated outside the courthouse by an unseen shooter. Initially he places his hope on the police to find justice for him (promised to him by a sympathetic secondary character) however suspicion arises when the FBI chief wouldn't allow an investigation to be launched. And thus, Matt Santos decides to take matters into his own hands by killing any potential suspects. What he doesn't know however is someone close to him set this all up. Desire, Fear, and Misbelief (Character analysis of Matt Santos) Matt Santos's Desire - Matt wants to rebuild his life after six years of military service as an army ranger. However this is soon replaced with a desire for justice after his mother assassinated on the next day outside of the San Diego courthouse. Matt Santos's Fear - Matt knows that this quest for vengeance could cost him his life whether it's by death or imprisonment. At the same time, he knows the corrupt cops aren't doing him any favors by finding the suspect who wronged him and his family. He does whatever he possibly can to pursuing the justice he wants while avoiding being caught or killed. Matt Santos's Misbelief - Matt has this belief that his mother is totally innocent and did not deserve her fate. And he believes that the one who killed her is fully responsible for this atrocity. However what he does not (yet) know is that somebody close to him is the one actually responsible. Because someone hired that hitman to kill his mother in the first place. This can also apply to another character by the name of Maria Garcia who is the one that tries to get justice for Matt Santos. Desire, Fear, Misbelief (Character analysis of Maria Garcia) Maria Garcia's Desire - Because she was just recently recruited by the FBI upon graduation, Maria wants to succeed in her career as an agent of the law. Her first case has her meet Matt Santos who is the son of her clients' Imelda and Chad Pattinson. At first her job is to present a case of witness protection for Imelda and Chad. However this is replaced by finding the hitman who committed the atrocity of murdering Imelda. The mother of Matt Santos. She also makes this case a little bit personal because she experienced something like this in her past when she was just a young girl. Maria Garcia's Fear - Maria wants to avoid being seen as a failure at her work. However this is confronted to her when her chief would not allow her to launch an investigation of who killed Matt's mother. (Suspicious much?) When she delivers this bad news to Matt Santos, he does not take it well (understandably). Maria Garcia's Misbelief - Maria's misbelief is that the FBI was incorruptible in her eyes. She later learns that this isn't the case when Matt Santos finds a file in a gang-owned warehouse which has some damning information on who paid for a hit on his mother and who must keep the police away. Eventually when she gets her career offed by her chief, Maria decides to ally herself with Matt Santos. However instead of killing the man truly responsible which is what Matt wants, she instead persuades him to have the real suspect arrested. I know I sound like I'm avoiding on telling who the real suspect behind Matt's mother's murder is but that's for a good reason.
Abbie! I’m currently 56k into (hopefully) my debut novel and you have inspired me so much 🤍 I’m only 17 but I’ve got a dream and I will achieve it! Publishing a novel is my main goal, and I’m hoping to do it in the next few years!
As someone who's 14 almost 15 and currently writing a novel, (which will not be standalone. Over the next few years I plan to make two more to make it a trilogy.) I'm standing with you. Never too young to write! I know for sure I want to be a fiction writer when I grow up, and not just when I grow up, but NOW. I've restarted 3-4 times but I think I'm finally on the right track and 35+ pages in. I know you can do it and I know I can too! ♥
@@NeonAGC that’s amazing!! I’ve been writing novels since I was like 10, and I’ve finally got this gem. I’m so proud of you too because it’s hard for people to understand how young people seem to want to write rather than get big jobs. We’ve totally got this, I believe in us! 🤍
“The misbelief is the root of the fear. The reason I have this fear, is because I mistakenly believe is something is true.” WOW 👏 I have been struggling for weeks with re-writing my very first story that I wrote at age 12 or 13, back when none of that whole why does it matter, and what’s the story’s theme stuff was in my brain 😂 so needless to say, it’s just a bunch of random chapters of: this happens, then this happens, with no clear ending or goal. I did manage to answer the questions from your character questionnaire regarding misbelief, fear, and what they do in order to achieve their goal while avoiding their fear. BUT it all felt so separate, like the things I answered for each question didn’t really click with each other at all, and I knew they were supposed to 😂 I just wasn’t sure how. So basically, thank you so much for this video 👏 you’re a writing queen and I always get so inspired to write when watching your videos and your write with me livestreams. Also I love your book 100 Days Of Sunlight! I haven’t finished reading it thanks to not having a lot of time in my day for relaxing, but I’ve been playing the audiobook when cooking or doing stuff around the house and it’s AMAZING. I’m already so immersed in the characters and I haven’t gotten very far ahead at all XD
Abbie, your videos, advice, and tips have been an incredible help to me. Thank you so much for all you do for the writing and story-telling community! You're a real blessing to so many of us! 💙
Thank you Abbie for inspiring us and keeping us motivated. I discovered your channel a few months ago and i have watched all the videos related to writing novels (i.e; almost all). The vibe you give off just makes me feel energised. Your Writing sessions are my absolute favorite, it makes me feel like i have a writing buddy. Speaking of which, do you have any writing groups where we could share and assess our chapters and do character remarks etc. Once again - Thank you Abb
Hi Abbie! I love your videos so much and you inspire me so much to keep writing! Tysm for posting and giving such good advice❤️ ilysm Ty for being here🫶
Thank you so much for this video, Abbie! I'm having so much fun working on my characters' profiles and what you talk about in your channel is helping me tremendously ❣
This was super helpful. I realize my characters misbelief is that the worst thing you can be is alone, and that stems from her fear she isn't capable of taking care of herself. I think I got that right anyway 😂
I KID YOU NOT i just started writing 5 days ago and i REALLY AM having hard times trying to distinguish fear and misbelief. i feel like my misbelief is just another feeling of fear that my MC is feeling but he's not aware of it yet. hence, i can't really drive a story out of that. but now you make it clear!!!!! thank you for asking the question and thank you to abbie for providing the lights for us lost creatures JSJSKSK
@@mjl1966y oh! you were the one who asked the question! first of all, thank you so much for asking her that. second, have you figured out what's the difference between fear and misbelief? after watching this video, i feel like misbelief is still a fear right? but it takes place literally inside the character. and the character believes it so much it becomes part of them and they just believe it nonetheless. wdyt?
I had a hard time wrapping my head around it months ago, too! Thankfully, I’ve come to understand it on an intimate level when I started applying to my own myself. And since I know my own past (backstory), I was quick to put the pieces together. It really made it so much easier to come up with fears, desires, and misbeliefs for my characters.
This, in tandem with the enneagram, has helped me create characters with both depth and presence on the page. Abbie is amazing, I can’t wait to read whatever book she publishes next ❤ Thanks, Girl, you rock!
Another video like this but using examples of characters in stories with dark/mature/adult themes would be great! I find these specific examples so helpful! love your videos!
This relation between the fear and misbelief makes so sense now. I'm so glad you touched on this topic. I've been using your character profile template to write my character. And these explanations really help when figuring out the little details. And it helps make my character's inner motivation make sense as well. Your videos make me feel like I can actually write a decent original story that will matter to people. Can't wait to get working on a story.
Abbie, Thank you so much for your videos, I have been watching them for many years now. I took a break from writing to focus on illustration for a year plus (I am a graphic novelist.) As a way to jump back into writing, I downloaded your newest character template and even use the old ones you released years ago! They are so helpful and help tremendously dissecting this brain of mine! :D What I found so ironic, is that my characters fear is abandonment, and I was struggling to figure out the misbelief for some odd reason! So thank you, (haha!)
My MC takes fear a few levels deeper. Her greatest misbelief is that she must be utterly fearless to be "worthy" of respect. Her greatest fears are two-fold: 1) She might have inherited some of her fearful mother's fearfulness. 2) Someone might mistakenly think that she is, herself, fearful if she does not constantly demonstrate her fearlessness. That might be easier if she were some valiant warrior-princess, but she's not. She's a quiet, meek (most of the time,) little thing, living in a pretty little cottage that suits her very much, earning her living by the very un-dangerous activity of translating documents, books, scholarly papers, etc., from one of several languages into another of several languages. Therefore, she must find other ways to prove her worth.
It is so important to establish the fear/misbelief. I've read so many books lately that are missing this, and I'm just done with the book two or three chapters in, because I don't care about, or don't even like, the MC.
In the story I am currently writing, it is around 105k... some parts of the story I've had to skip over in order to keep myself going and writing the story. Technically, im in he home stretch right now, but there's so much more to be written. With that amount of words, it almost feels overwhelming, the amount of work I have left in this project in order to even get done with a first draft. Then, I know I'm going to have to rewrite it eventually because it is not in the place I want it to be. These videos have really helped me through the stress Abbie, you have no idea! Thank you so much and keep up the great work!
So in watching these three examples, one thing that sticks out to me is the following heuristic: The Fear is a fundamentally reasonable way for the character to feel, given their background. It may not be 100% true, but it's a reasonable thing to be afraid of. The Misbelief is a fundamentally *un*reasonable conclusion drawn from a largely reasonable fear, which causes the character to put off achieving their desire, or to attempt to achieve it in an unreasonable way. Does this make sense?
#AskAbbie Hello! So I have a question. My character, Castor has multiple fears and desires which are interlinked. I obviously have one main desire and fear but I don't know what to do about the Sub-Desires/Sub-Fears. I can't remove them because they're part of Castor and removing them is practically like killing off my main character. Thanks, love from India. ❤
I understood this concept of storytelling and also understood why it's important and the movie examples as well. But one that I wasn't able to actually apply it in my story, couldn't really understand how to show a character feeling unlovable for example. And two that I request for book examples where there aren't any visual scenes to aid the feelings and emotions but actual words or scenes that potray the said fear/misbelief/internal conflict within the first few pages of the first chapter.
I’ve been feeling a little doubt that btful of actually doing nanowritemo but your videos are such a lifesaver for me.Thanks for all the advice Abbie! This is my year!
No matter how pumped I get for writing and my head being filled with ideas, I just can't write the first sentences of my novel that is satisfying. And since I never keep my old drafts, I can't look if I can fix them. Are there any people who know a good place where I can discuss with people about my story? I don't know if I need beta readers, random people that just care to discuss with or coaching. Many people I discussed with never gave anything useful enough for me to grasp or understand the exact issue. Usually the "grammar bad." or "I don't understand anything. It sucks.".
@@mjl1966y It is not the first draft but I don't tend to save what I have written. It has to be something I like otherwise I'm not satisfied. That is the most important thing for me. Sadly no matter how many times I change it or write from scratch, it doesn't have the feel I want.
I'm exactly like you, but it's been easier lately. I think I focused too much on making the first sentence alluring (It's the hook after all), but what I realized is that it should tie up to the inner conflict and display something.. wrong. Something that, when we see in real life, we'd instantly pick up on and be interested in following. An example would be my current protagonist: she fears being open about her feelings and expressing them to her loved ones because she's scared that being that close to someone would end up hurting her badly if they die. She develops this misbelief after her father figure dies in a rather violent way and becomes a shut in, not answering phone calls or messages from anyone (despite her wanting to so badly). So my first sentence has to do with all the pilling phone calls and messages from her father's friends (who she considers as her uncles), and that establishes two things: a hint at her upcoming inner conflict, and something wrong - unnatural. Hope this helps!
@@mjl1966y technically the first story arc is finished but I am changing and adding stuff into it to flesh out a few characters and the setting. The second arc turned into 3 mini arcs that are a bit messy and needs to be organized The third arc is being partly worked on and finished about a third. The forth arc has only action scenes written. It is a loooooooong story. Might even get an eight arc which can turn it into multiple books and I have some concepts for a sequel.
are you able to make a video on Twilight? The break down and why it was so impactful? i personally lovee twilight and want to know why it matters so much haha. Love your videosss, helping me so much!
Please, what's the Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes's desire, fear and misbelieve? It looks like his desire is to be entertained by interesting cases and not being involved he becomes bored, grim, melancholic. May be he is afraid of not to be on par with his genious brother, to be lost in his shadow or may be not to meet expectations of his family, may be not to live up to his potential. But no one of these fears stands between him and his goals, quite opposite, they only push him to solve the cases. I don't really see the fear he has to fight with and overcome to achieve his goals. Therefore the character of Sherlock Holmes doesn't really changes throughout his journey and there is no big drama about him. Nevertheless this bestseller has proven to intricate human brains for ages.
@AskAbbie Hi Abbie, I study "Save the cats" sheets and I have a question about "Refuse the call" point. Is it really so important to the story? Does every story has to have it? Where is "Refuse the call" point in the "Harry Potter" book? I mean, Harry doesn't refuse to go to the Hogwart, only his uncle does. Or in "Game of thrones" (for each main character)? Or in "Invisible life of Addie LaRue"? Or maybe there are so situations or types of the novels that don't need "refuse the call" point? Thanks in advance.
yes, but you have to make absolutely clear what having fun means for your character. maybe they want to go to parties and dance and sing, but they think, that they can't go alone, by themselves, because they are afraid of beeing with strangers without a friend as anchor, but no obe of their friends is interested in the kind of music or parties they want to go to
I’ve noticed that most examples of the protagonists fear and disbelief are shown to the audience when the protagonist is an adult or as children in a flashback established early on in the story, but I’ve got a question. What if my protagonist was a child and at that point in his life he didn’t necessarily have any prominent fears or disbeliefs and I wanted to introduce those fears and disbeliefs to my protagonist later in the story after a horrible accident or some situation where something happens and he thinks it’s his fault? Would that work for a story or would I just be making a boring protagonist through most of the story?
Abbie! I am writing a book about a Time Loop but I don’t know how to write a Time Loop? Any tips for writing a time loop? Maybe you can make a video about writing time loops? Thank you
Question, Abby: do we HAVE to use the five-minute rule to make our stories good or grab our readers' attention? I'm writing my novel, and it's kind of complicated. It's dual-POV, it's long (currently editing the first complete draft), there is a lot of conflict and growth happening in the characters' lives (coming-of-age story) and the reason for my characters' fears and misbeliefs are fully revealed at the midpoint. Their fears, desires, and misbeliefs are being revealed in pieces up until then, but I don't know if I can follow a five-minute rule with the plot I've got. Is that a bad thing? Thank you for your channel and ALL your advice! You are so sound and encouraging.
I can't speak for Abbie Emmons , However your story structure { in my POV } has merit . Although you don't want to bore your reader , " bogging " them down with journey information to " prepare " your audience for the developed internal conflict - misbelief complex installed in your { major } character(s) . Suspense is good , meanwhile - you don't want to overdo information detailing of your character's journey/developing baggage . As too suspense isn't compatible with short stories { i'm sure } . ♑️✍️🇦🇺🇳🇴
@@Friendship1nmillion I really appreciate your input, thank you! It's very helpful advice. Fortunately, I don't think I'm bogging them down with preparation so far (I still have a lot to cut in the editing process, but it's happening). I'll keep your response in my pocket and make sure to avoid it in the next rewrite. Hope you have an awesome day!
I think that’s a valid way of doing it as long as you make it clear that they have a misbelief. Like the character themselves don’t need to overtly say they have a problem, but it needs to be obvious to the reader at least what they think they want. Sprinkling is fine, there just needs to be some want or goal to start the journey, I think.
I liked this one very much I feel that there is no special connection between misbelief and desire.... In Mulan and Tangled I saw no connection between these two If you answer my comment I would deffientely appreciate it
Here’s my character: Her desire: is to be more open about her feelings and express them to her loved ones. Her fear: that if she does open up, she’ll form a strong, deeper bond with others, and that would cause her so much pain if she were to lose them one day. Misbelief: to not get hurt, I should keep my feelings to myself and keep a shallow relationship with everyone. The misbelief is there to protect the character from a pain she experienced in the past, which gives her a crooked way of getting what she wants. My character will express her emotions to a guy she likes, but it’s gonna be subtle and maybe aggressive most of the time to keep that distance and not get hurt. I hope I explained it well!
Hi Abbie, I wanted to ask. I am writing a book about a trio (one main character, and to best friend or side characters). I wanted to ask, one of my characters have super natural abilities or superpowers, I've searched on ways how to do this, without writing it sounding like a girl just throwing energy balls at people. How can I write a realistic human-like character with powers, without her sounding like an alien? Can you help? -Thanks, Darlene.
I was thinking about writing a novel set in the years 2099 to 2100, on a floating city called Atlantica (which would be the book's title). This floating would effectively be its own micro nation/city state that is several kilometres in size with its own artificially cultivated forests it would tell a romance story between an Asian bisexual women and an female Android/ AI Assistant named Sophia. It would feature a large millennium celebrations event as a key scene in the novel.
I'd totally love to send questions to you to answer, but not having the money to spend really keeps me from doing so many things, that I know would help me with righting.
I find that the five minutes rule is quite questionable. Five minutes rule will only work in films, not books. Films goes at its own specific speed, but for books, not all readers read at the same speed. Let's say that person A reads 75 words per minute, and person B reads 90 words per minute, there will be a difference. For person A, the internal conflict should happen after they read 375 words. For person B, the internal conflict should happen after they read 450 words. There is no wordcount basis on this, so the five minutes rule does not apply to books. For books, you should specify a wordcount on when the internal conflict should occur. For example, the internal conflict should occur 200 words into the book, or so, this way, we will understand, and reading speed no longer matters.
I feel like it's kinda implied "5 minutes rule" translated to a book would (in my mind) just mean the very beginning when we first get to meet a character (that's usually the first 5 minutes of movies too), so for example in a book with a single POV, we would want to show the main character's fear and misbelief within the first few chapters that they are in. Personally, I would even make it the first or second chapter since to care about a story people need to care about the characters and at least have an idea of why they're even doing what they're doing.
Please find YHWH Elohim and keep the commandments in Exodus 20 and Leviticus 11. Please read Exodus 20 and pray for forgiveness, 2nd Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” [37] Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. [38] This is the first and great commandment. [39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37- 40 Please read the book of Jonah, Matthew, Exodus you'll have the information you need.💐 🌈 Exodus 20 💐❤🌈😂🎉❤😅😊😂🎉
I love the fact that Abbie doesn't dismiss repeat questions/topics by saying “dude, we’ve already covered this - go dig through my archives and let’s move on”... but instead she takes the time to answer it, in depth, as if it’s the first time she’s tackled it. #BestTeacherEver 💜
probably also because there's not as much to storytelling as she makes it seem and would run out of content if she didn't repeat herself. Not judging her, just saying
@@mildlyobesegoat7262 unnecessary comment
@mildlyobesegoat7262 If that was true, then anybody could write & and no one would look for advice to become better writers.
I think that an excellent example is Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. Desire: That Belle marry him because he want her for her beauty. Fear: To be rejected by Belle, he can't handle being rejected. Misbelief: That he deserve the best; that is he believes that he deserve more than others and thus should have Belle because he deserve her. And this internal conflicts cause the final part of the plot.
It's official... Saturdays at noon are my favorite time of the week now.
Mine too!!! 😍😍
For me, it's Sunday morning
@@HistorywithHannibal same
If there are three things that I missed in all my years experimenting with stories, those are desire, fear, and misbelief. And it's thanks to Abbie that I've finally gotten around to writing a story that includes these important elements.
The story I'm writing (actually currently editing) is called "The Road Ranger." It's a story about a former army ranger coming home from six years of military service and he wants to rebuild his life with his family/parents as a result. However this is turned completely on its head when the next day, his mother is assassinated outside the courthouse by an unseen shooter. Initially he places his hope on the police to find justice for him (promised to him by a sympathetic secondary character) however suspicion arises when the FBI chief wouldn't allow an investigation to be launched. And thus, Matt Santos decides to take matters into his own hands by killing any potential suspects. What he doesn't know however is someone close to him set this all up.
Desire, Fear, and Misbelief (Character analysis of Matt Santos)
Matt Santos's Desire - Matt wants to rebuild his life after six years of military service as an army ranger. However this is soon replaced with a desire for justice after his mother assassinated on the next day outside of the San Diego courthouse.
Matt Santos's Fear - Matt knows that this quest for vengeance could cost him his life whether it's by death or imprisonment. At the same time, he knows the corrupt cops aren't doing him any favors by finding the suspect who wronged him and his family. He does whatever he possibly can to pursuing the justice he wants while avoiding being caught or killed.
Matt Santos's Misbelief - Matt has this belief that his mother is totally innocent and did not deserve her fate. And he believes that the one who killed her is fully responsible for this atrocity. However what he does not (yet) know is that somebody close to him is the one actually responsible. Because someone hired that hitman to kill his mother in the first place.
This can also apply to another character by the name of Maria Garcia who is the one that tries to get justice for Matt Santos.
Desire, Fear, Misbelief (Character analysis of Maria Garcia)
Maria Garcia's Desire - Because she was just recently recruited by the FBI upon graduation, Maria wants to succeed in her career as an agent of the law. Her first case has her meet Matt Santos who is the son of her clients' Imelda and Chad Pattinson. At first her job is to present a case of witness protection for Imelda and Chad. However this is replaced by finding the hitman who committed the atrocity of murdering Imelda. The mother of Matt Santos. She also makes this case a little bit personal because she experienced something like this in her past when she was just a young girl.
Maria Garcia's Fear - Maria wants to avoid being seen as a failure at her work. However this is confronted to her when her chief would not allow her to launch an investigation of who killed Matt's mother. (Suspicious much?) When she delivers this bad news to Matt Santos, he does not take it well (understandably).
Maria Garcia's Misbelief - Maria's misbelief is that the FBI was incorruptible in her eyes. She later learns that this isn't the case when Matt Santos finds a file in a gang-owned warehouse which has some damning information on who paid for a hit on his mother and who must keep the police away.
Eventually when she gets her career offed by her chief, Maria decides to ally herself with Matt Santos. However instead of killing the man truly responsible which is what Matt wants, she instead persuades him to have the real suspect arrested. I know I sound like I'm avoiding on telling who the real suspect behind Matt's mother's murder is but that's for a good reason.
Abbie! I’m currently 56k into (hopefully) my debut novel and you have inspired me so much 🤍 I’m only 17 but I’ve got a dream and I will achieve it! Publishing a novel is my main goal, and I’m hoping to do it in the next few years!
As someone who's 14 almost 15 and currently writing a novel, (which will not be standalone. Over the next few years I plan to make two more to make it a trilogy.) I'm standing with you. Never too young to write! I know for sure I want to be a fiction writer when I grow up, and not just when I grow up, but NOW. I've restarted 3-4 times but I think I'm finally on the right track and 35+ pages in. I know you can do it and I know I can too! ♥
Congrats! Keep up the good work. You got this.
That’s amazing!
hey man! i would like to read your novels one day. Hopefully it'll be sooner than 'few years'.
@@NeonAGC that’s amazing!! I’ve been writing novels since I was like 10, and I’ve finally got this gem. I’m so proud of you too because it’s hard for people to understand how young people seem to want to write rather than get big jobs. We’ve totally got this, I believe in us! 🤍
“The misbelief is the root of the fear. The reason I have this fear, is because I mistakenly believe is something is true.”
WOW 👏 I have been struggling for weeks with re-writing my very first story that I wrote at age 12 or 13, back when none of that whole why does it matter, and what’s the story’s theme stuff was in my brain 😂 so needless to say, it’s just a bunch of random chapters of: this happens, then this happens, with no clear ending or goal.
I did manage to answer the questions from your character questionnaire regarding misbelief, fear, and what they do in order to achieve their goal while avoiding their fear. BUT it all felt so separate, like the things I answered for each question didn’t really click with each other at all, and I knew they were supposed to 😂 I just wasn’t sure how.
So basically, thank you so much for this video 👏 you’re a writing queen and I always get so inspired to write when watching your videos and your write with me livestreams.
Also I love your book 100 Days Of Sunlight! I haven’t finished reading it thanks to not having a lot of time in my day for relaxing, but I’ve been playing the audiobook when cooking or doing stuff around the house and it’s AMAZING. I’m already so immersed in the characters and I haven’t gotten very far ahead at all XD
What a cleaver way to explain the most important ingredient in a story. Brilliant! thank you Abbie. It makes so much sense for me now.
Abbie, your videos, advice, and tips have been an incredible help to me. Thank you so much for all you do for the writing and story-telling community! You're a real blessing to so many of us! 💙
Thank you Abbie for inspiring us and keeping us motivated. I discovered your channel a few months ago and i have watched all the videos related to writing novels (i.e; almost all). The vibe you give off just makes me feel energised. Your Writing sessions are my absolute favorite, it makes me feel like i have a writing buddy. Speaking of which, do you have any writing groups where we could share and assess our chapters and do character remarks etc. Once again - Thank you Abb
Hi Abbie! I love your videos so much and you inspire me so much to keep writing! Tysm for posting and giving such good advice❤️ ilysm Ty for being here🫶
Thank you so much for this video, Abbie! I'm having so much fun working on my characters' profiles and what you talk about in your channel is helping me tremendously ❣
This was super helpful. I realize my characters misbelief is that the worst thing you can be is alone, and that stems from her fear she isn't capable of taking care of herself. I think I got that right anyway 😂
I KID YOU NOT i just started writing 5 days ago and i REALLY AM having hard times trying to distinguish fear and misbelief. i feel like my misbelief is just another feeling of fear that my MC is feeling but he's not aware of it yet. hence, i can't really drive a story out of that. but now you make it clear!!!!! thank you for asking the question and thank you to abbie for providing the lights for us lost creatures JSJSKSK
@@mjl1966y oh! you were the one who asked the question! first of all, thank you so much for asking her that. second, have you figured out what's the difference between fear and misbelief? after watching this video, i feel like misbelief is still a fear right? but it takes place literally inside the character. and the character believes it so much it becomes part of them and they just believe it nonetheless. wdyt?
I had a hard time wrapping my head around it months ago, too! Thankfully, I’ve come to understand it on an intimate level when I started applying to my own myself. And since I know my own past (backstory), I was quick to put the pieces together. It really made it so much easier to come up with fears, desires, and misbeliefs for my characters.
This, in tandem with the enneagram, has helped me create characters with both depth and presence on the page. Abbie is amazing, I can’t wait to read whatever book she publishes next ❤ Thanks, Girl, you rock!
HOLLLYYYYY this is exactly what i needed to clarify my own character's misbelief and fear !! Thank you so much oh gosh
ABBIE, JUST HOW TO THANK YOU FOR REVEALING THESE TURNING POINTS ... IN THE WRITER JOURNEY!
Another video like this but using examples of characters in stories with dark/mature/adult themes would be great! I find these specific examples so helpful! love your videos!
This relation between the fear and misbelief makes so sense now. I'm so glad you touched on this topic. I've been using your character profile template to write my character. And these explanations really help when figuring out the little details. And it helps make my character's inner motivation make sense as well. Your videos make me feel like I can actually write a decent original story that will matter to people. Can't wait to get working on a story.
Abbie,
Thank you so much for your videos, I have been watching them for many years now. I took a break from writing to focus on illustration for a year plus (I am a graphic novelist.)
As a way to jump back into writing, I downloaded your newest character template and even use the old ones you released years ago! They are so helpful and help tremendously dissecting this brain of mine! :D
What I found so ironic, is that my characters fear is abandonment, and I was struggling to figure out the misbelief for some odd reason! So thank you, (haha!)
I was just struggling with this concept and literally ran to find this video. This helps SO MUCH. Thanks Abbie!
My MC takes fear a few levels deeper. Her greatest misbelief is that she must be utterly fearless to be "worthy" of respect. Her greatest fears are two-fold: 1) She might have inherited some of her fearful mother's fearfulness. 2) Someone might mistakenly think that she is, herself, fearful if she does not constantly demonstrate her fearlessness. That might be easier if she were some valiant warrior-princess, but she's not. She's a quiet, meek (most of the time,) little thing, living in a pretty little cottage that suits her very much, earning her living by the very un-dangerous activity of translating documents, books, scholarly papers, etc., from one of several languages into another of several languages. Therefore, she must find other ways to prove her worth.
It is so important to establish the fear/misbelief. I've read so many books lately that are missing this, and I'm just done with the book two or three chapters in, because I don't care about, or don't even like, the MC.
I finally got the distinction! My MC MISBELIEVES he caused his wife's death through negligence, and he FEARS causing more deaths. Thank you, Abbie!
Abbie is so good at explaining all of this! I love the examples. :)
Clear explanation, successful disambiguation. Thanks Abbie!
Most helpful video I have seen so far. Dayum.
In the story I am currently writing, it is around 105k... some parts of the story I've had to skip over in order to keep myself going and writing the story. Technically, im in he home stretch right now, but there's so much more to be written. With that amount of words, it almost feels overwhelming, the amount of work I have left in this project in order to even get done with a first draft. Then, I know I'm going to have to rewrite it eventually because it is not in the place I want it to be. These videos have really helped me through the stress Abbie, you have no idea! Thank you so much and keep up the great work!
So in watching these three examples, one thing that sticks out to me is the following heuristic:
The Fear is a fundamentally reasonable way for the character to feel, given their background. It may not be 100% true, but it's a reasonable thing to be afraid of.
The Misbelief is a fundamentally *un*reasonable conclusion drawn from a largely reasonable fear, which causes the character to put off achieving their desire, or to attempt to achieve it in an unreasonable way.
Does this make sense?
#AskAbbie Hello! So I have a question. My character, Castor has multiple fears and desires which are interlinked. I obviously have one main desire and fear but I don't know what to do about the Sub-Desires/Sub-Fears. I can't remove them because they're part of Castor and removing them is practically like killing off my main character. Thanks, love from India. ❤
I understood this concept of storytelling and also understood why it's important and the movie examples as well. But one that I wasn't able to actually apply it in my story, couldn't really understand how to show a character feeling unlovable for example. And two that I request for book examples where there aren't any visual scenes to aid the feelings and emotions but actual words or scenes that potray the said fear/misbelief/internal conflict within the first few pages of the first chapter.
I’ve been feeling a little doubt that btful of actually doing nanowritemo but your videos are such a lifesaver for me.Thanks for all the advice Abbie! This is my year!
Nice examples! I love your idea to make misbelief from the theme of the book.
Such a helpful video! Thanks ❤
No matter how pumped I get for writing and my head being filled with ideas, I just can't write the first sentences of my novel that is satisfying. And since I never keep my old drafts, I can't look if I can fix them.
Are there any people who know a good place where I can discuss with people about my story? I don't know if I need beta readers, random people that just care to discuss with or coaching.
Many people I discussed with never gave anything useful enough for me to grasp or understand the exact issue. Usually the "grammar bad." or "I don't understand anything. It sucks.".
@@mjl1966y It is not the first draft but I don't tend to save what I have written.
It has to be something I like otherwise I'm not satisfied. That is the most important thing for me.
Sadly no matter how many times I change it or write from scratch, it doesn't have the feel I want.
I'm exactly like you, but it's been easier lately. I think I focused too much on making the first sentence alluring (It's the hook after all), but what I realized is that it should tie up to the inner conflict and display something.. wrong. Something that, when we see in real life, we'd instantly pick up on and be interested in following.
An example would be my current protagonist: she fears being open about her feelings and expressing them to her loved ones because she's scared that being that close to someone would end up hurting her badly if they die. She develops this misbelief after her father figure dies in a rather violent way and becomes a shut in, not answering phone calls or messages from anyone (despite her wanting to so badly).
So my first sentence has to do with all the pilling phone calls and messages from her father's friends (who she considers as her uncles), and that establishes two things: a hint at her upcoming inner conflict, and something wrong - unnatural.
Hope this helps!
@@mjl1966y technically the first story arc is finished but I am changing and adding stuff into it to flesh out a few characters and the setting.
The second arc turned into 3 mini arcs that are a bit messy and needs to be organized
The third arc is being partly worked on and finished about a third.
The forth arc has only action scenes written.
It is a loooooooong story. Might even get an eight arc which can turn it into multiple books and I have some concepts for a sequel.
Thank you so much for this great video, Abbie! I finally got to understand what these concepts mean 😊
Thanks for your tips, Abbie! God bless you!
Perfect time! Thank you so much for the explanation.
are you able to make a video on Twilight? The break down and why it was so impactful? i personally lovee twilight and want to know why it matters so much haha. Love your videosss, helping me so much!
Please, what's the Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes's desire, fear and misbelieve? It looks like his desire is to be entertained by interesting cases and not being involved he becomes bored, grim, melancholic. May be he is afraid of not to be on par with his genious brother, to be lost in his shadow or may be not to meet expectations of his family, may be not to live up to his potential. But no one of these fears stands between him and his goals, quite opposite, they only push him to solve the cases. I don't really see the fear he has to fight with and overcome to achieve his goals. Therefore the character of Sherlock Holmes doesn't really changes throughout his journey and there is no big drama about him. Nevertheless this bestseller has proven to intricate human brains for ages.
@AskAbbie Hi Abbie, I study "Save the cats" sheets and I have a question about "Refuse the call" point. Is it really so important to the story? Does every story has to have it? Where is "Refuse the call" point in the "Harry Potter" book? I mean, Harry doesn't refuse to go to the Hogwart, only his uncle does. Or in "Game of thrones" (for each main character)? Or in "Invisible life of Addie LaRue"? Or maybe there are so situations or types of the novels that don't need "refuse the call" point? Thanks in advance.
Thank you, Abbie!!!
Question: can a desire be as simple as “having fun”?
yes, but you have to make absolutely clear what having fun means for your character.
maybe they want to go to parties and dance and sing, but they think, that they can't go alone, by themselves, because they are afraid of beeing with strangers without a friend as anchor, but no obe of their friends is interested in the kind of music or parties they want to go to
I’ve noticed that most examples of the protagonists fear and disbelief are shown to the audience when the protagonist is an adult or as children in a flashback established early on in the story, but I’ve got a question. What if my protagonist was a child and at that point in his life he didn’t necessarily have any prominent fears or disbeliefs and I wanted to introduce those fears and disbeliefs to my protagonist later in the story after a horrible accident or some situation where something happens and he thinks it’s his fault? Would that work for a story or would I just be making a boring protagonist through most of the story?
This was a very good question!!!!
“The reason I gave this fear is because I mistakenly believe this”
thanks for this video I've been struggling with this.
This was a great explanation, thank you!
I love the Saturday videos!
💜⚡️
So exciteddddd
Amazing video!!! Thank you, Abbie!!!
Rock on Abbie🤘
Could you do a video on character flaws?
Abbie! I am writing a book about a Time Loop but I don’t know how to write a Time Loop? Any tips for writing a time loop? Maybe you can make a video about writing time loops? Thank you
#AskAbbie
Question, Abby: do we HAVE to use the five-minute rule to make our stories good or grab our readers' attention? I'm writing my novel, and it's kind of complicated. It's dual-POV, it's long (currently editing the first complete draft), there is a lot of conflict and growth happening in the characters' lives (coming-of-age story) and the reason for my characters' fears and misbeliefs are fully revealed at the midpoint. Their fears, desires, and misbeliefs are being revealed in pieces up until then, but I don't know if I can follow a five-minute rule with the plot I've got. Is that a bad thing? Thank you for your channel and ALL your advice! You are so sound and encouraging.
I can't speak for Abbie Emmons , However your story structure { in my POV } has merit . Although you don't want to bore your reader , " bogging " them down with journey information to " prepare " your audience for the developed internal conflict - misbelief complex installed in your { major } character(s) . Suspense is good , meanwhile - you don't want to overdo information detailing of your character's journey/developing baggage . As too suspense isn't compatible with short stories { i'm sure } .
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@@Friendship1nmillion I really appreciate your input, thank you! It's very helpful advice. Fortunately, I don't think I'm bogging them down with preparation so far (I still have a lot to cut in the editing process, but it's happening). I'll keep your response in my pocket and make sure to avoid it in the next rewrite. Hope you have an awesome day!
I think that’s a valid way of doing it as long as you make it clear that they have a misbelief. Like the character themselves don’t need to overtly say they have a problem, but it needs to be obvious to the reader at least what they think they want. Sprinkling is fine, there just needs to be some want or goal to start the journey, I think.
@@ninjasteph9561 That's a great suggestion! Thank you so much.
@@kaokurosawa3872 Man, that's fabulous! Thank you! I'll make a note of that for my rewrite.
I liked this one very much
I feel that there is no special connection between misbelief and desire.... In Mulan and Tangled I saw no connection between these two
If you answer my comment I would deffientely appreciate it
Here’s my character:
Her desire: is to be more open about her feelings and express them to her loved ones.
Her fear: that if she does open up, she’ll form a strong, deeper bond with others, and that would cause her so much pain if she were to lose them one day.
Misbelief: to not get hurt, I should keep my feelings to myself and keep a shallow relationship with everyone.
The misbelief is there to protect the character from a pain she experienced in the past, which gives her a crooked way of getting what she wants.
My character will express her emotions to a guy she likes, but it’s gonna be subtle and maybe aggressive most of the time to keep that distance and not get
hurt.
I hope I explained it well!
How would the "five minutes' translate to a book? First chapter, first few chapters, or when the main character is introduced? Thanks!!
first 5 minutes of reading.
test how many pages you read in 5 minutes😊
Can't find your science of story recommended video
Irrelevant, but I love your pearl accessories
Hi Abbie, I wanted to ask. I am writing a book about a trio (one main character, and to best friend or side characters). I wanted to ask, one of my characters have super natural abilities or superpowers, I've searched on ways how to do this, without writing it sounding like a girl just throwing energy balls at people. How can I write a realistic human-like character with powers, without her sounding like an alien? Can you help? -Thanks, Darlene.
Welcome to Ask Abbie, a show where you ask Abbie questions about how to make your story matter!
Amazing video
I was thinking about writing a novel set in the years 2099 to 2100, on a floating city called Atlantica (which would be the book's title). This floating would effectively be its own micro nation/city state that is several kilometres in size with its own artificially cultivated forests it would tell a romance story between an Asian bisexual women and an female Android/ AI Assistant named Sophia. It would feature a large millennium celebrations event as a key scene in the novel.
Certainly sounds interesting.
Love your profile pic, btw 😂
@@thesamuraiman What do you like about it?
Do you read your followers ideas about their stories
The first thing that comes to mind is anakins fear of losing his wife and his misbelief that palpatine / the dark side of the force would save her.
so it boils down to a simple sentence:I want C for my life, but I think A about me and the world, therefore I fear B could happen to me
Awesome :)
Where dos the desire come from ?
Misbelief - the root of the Fear
I'd totally love to send questions to you to answer, but not having the money to spend really keeps me from doing so many things, that I know would help me with righting.
Watch RRR for reference.Its the perfect example
Beautywithbrain😍
I find that the five minutes rule is quite questionable.
Five minutes rule will only work in films, not books.
Films goes at its own specific speed, but for books, not all readers read at the same speed.
Let's say that person A reads 75 words per minute, and person B reads 90 words per minute, there will be a difference.
For person A, the internal conflict should happen after they read 375 words.
For person B, the internal conflict should happen after they read 450 words.
There is no wordcount basis on this, so the five minutes rule does not apply to books.
For books, you should specify a wordcount on when the internal conflict should occur. For example, the internal conflict should occur 200 words into the book, or so, this way, we will understand, and reading speed no longer matters.
I feel like it's kinda implied
"5 minutes rule" translated to a book would (in my mind) just mean the very beginning when we first get to meet a character (that's usually the first 5 minutes of movies too), so for example in a book with a single POV, we would want to show the main character's fear and misbelief within the first few chapters that they are in. Personally, I would even make it the first or second chapter since to care about a story people need to care about the characters and at least have an idea of why they're even doing what they're doing.
❤️💙❤️💙❤️
Please find YHWH Elohim and keep the commandments in Exodus 20 and Leviticus 11.
Please read Exodus 20 and pray for forgiveness,
2nd Corinthians 5:17
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”
[37] Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. [38] This is the first and great commandment. [39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37- 40
Please read the book of Jonah, Matthew, Exodus you'll have the information you need.💐 🌈 Exodus 20 💐❤🌈😂🎉❤😅😊😂🎉
Jesus loves you so much