How (Not) to Write Motivation, Complexity & Mental Health | Storytelling Theory

So what we learned is that this guy doesn't know anything about people.

Always remember kids: The difference between fiction and reality is that fiction needs to make sense

Characters are not people? Impossible. How am I expected to not make the villains just my high school bullies and the love interest just my ex girlfriend?

In regards to the Puss in Boots thing, I never really saw the ending as him "arcing his way out" of PTSD/thanatophobia, but rather learning to cope with them well enough that his fear of death doesn't rule his life and prevent him from living it properly. I think that's the purpose of the last line the two characters exchange- establishing that Puss has come to accept that this is his destiny one day, like everyone else

"I don't want my stories to be realistic, I want them believable." It's not "suspension of disbelief", it's "WILLING suspension of disbelief" and that distinction is so ridiculously important.

If your story can’t deviate from absolute truth and realism, that’s not a story, but history

The "what does your character believe about themselves" question is a game changer, it even adds dramatic value for passive characters.

So, the irl arc of mental health is not about fixing it, it is about learning to live with it. The moment we go "brb cured" it destroys my immersion, whereas some guy yelling "Nooooooooo!" Doesn't. The reason is that the latter is a exaggeration and simplification of a feeling I can relate to. The former is... completely antithetical to my experience. Here's the real problem with mental health as a theme in stories: most people cannot relate. Trying to explain neurodivergence is hella difficult because people can't emphatise. They may be able to understand it rationally if they think hard enough, but at that point they aren't enjoying a story, they're watching a documentary. That doesn't mean that you can't work in arcs, but you got to understand the scope of that arc. Fun fact, there's actually plenty overlap in relatable wants and needs. A simple example is that Bob wants to belong, so he thinks in order to belong he has to be normal and to be normal he has to go to concerts, get that sales job, marry the normal girl across the street. Now, Bob has ass/adhd. Concerts bombard his brain into exhaustion, his job requires him to mask all day, and the girl across the street and he just don't really get each other. Bob isn't going to make it like this. But Bob wanting to be normal, predictably, is Bob wanting to belong somewhere. His need is to be accepted. Which he misconstrued as requiring to be normal. Instead of trying to be something else, he needs to find places that accept him. That can be many things. Maybe he quits his job, or maybe he opens up to his co-workers and they not only try to better facilitate him, but his boss decides Bob's expertise can be useful in a different role so now Bob helps develop strategies instead of doing 9/5 pitches. Maybe he breaks up with the girl across the street, or maybe they go into marriage counseling because they believe there is something genuine there worth saving. There's stories you can tell without "fixing the brain." You just have to work harder to make them relatable to a general audience.

The solution to the mental health problem is that actually yes people do improve their own mental health. It's called therapy. Therapy doesn't have to come in the form of therapy though, you can give a streamlined version of everything a therapist gives in the form of discussions with other characters, events, self-discovery, new food, walks in nature etc...

Same goes for dialogue and mannerisms. Sometimes writing can sound cringe, but we know the majority of times people don’t have tight conversations like characters. Part of the fun in writing character speech is flavoring, giving them perfect comebacks and catchphrases. Look at JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure. It’s fun to watch because they’re so unlike real people, but that’s we the fans adore. Not every story should be that weird, but don’t be afraid to get a little bizarre.

"It's never 'and' it's 'because'" is such a raw line holy shit

When LSM names a character "flingflong" you know you're about to hear a narrative arc to rival Shakespeare

“Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities, Truth isn't.” - Mark Twain

It should also be noted that, when writing about mental health, rather than having your character arc their way out of their mental health issue completely, their arc can include coming to terms or simply learning to live with it. They can still have their ups and downs, and which one (and what degree) of those states you end the story on is up to you and depends the overall tone & message you want your ending to convey, but the key here is that they don't need to outright defeat it for their story to have a profound or satisfying conclusion. Bojack Horseman is a great example that comes to mind for this.

Your bit about Puss in Boots was exactly what was going in my mind the moment you started talking about mental health, representation isnt here to transcribe literally everything and in realistic detail, its just there to show the experiences the people you are representing go through, its to show them in a as much as you can unbiased light, just ecperiences, not the whole being

Man, "characters are not people" has been a favorite writing quote of mine for a while, and I love the way you explain it. This is my favorite channel for writing tips and advice.

I heard someone, somewhere say: Characters aren't people, Dialogue isn't talking, And stuff happening is not plot. I heard someone else describe attempts at writing stories as being like people making a toaster, that looks like an amazing toaster, but it doesn't make toast. Someone telling you how their day went is narrative. An ikea manual is a perfect concise and economical narrative on how to build a book case. It has a start, middle, end; a character, goal, steps to take, obstacles and conflict, but it's not a story. Like the toaster, it looks amazing, but just doesn't make toast. And if it doesn't make toast, can you really call it a toaster?

I don't think Puss experiences ptsd, I think he just has general anxiety about death brought on by the sudden realization of mortality. Which is just kinda normal for most people, and like most people, curable to an extent. He doesn't necessarily fear death at the end, nor does he write it off entirely.

You legit saved my motivation to write. I suffered from so many of the novice writing problems you mention in your vids. my characters were complex, discombobulated messes with no drive or reason to exist. I was so burnt out from trying to fix them with quick hacks and the like, and i was ready to give up on storytelling. But then this funny little alien showed up in my recommended and changed the game. Now with an emphasis on theme, im honing old characters, laser focusing them on the theme of the story and their part in it. I'm motivated to write again because I see hope in conveying true meaning through my story and characters that no other writing youtuber has given me, so thank you.

The idea of connecting all your character’s motivations with a “because”, rather than an “and”, was really helpful. Thanks a lot!