[[09-08|25-09-08]] find character's sacred flaw (Fake it till you make it: Trick or Tragedy) ---- ### Decoding "Humiliation is Acid" This metaphor captures **how humiliation violently strips characters of their delusions**, forcing transformative self-reckoning. [[09-06|25-09-06]] - **Literary fiction** mirrors the "confabulation and deluded characters" (Ch. 3.0) of human cognition, revealing uncomfortable truths. - **Mass-market fiction** fulfills our need for "tribal propaganda" (Ch. 3.9) – stories that reinforce social cohesion and shared values. ### Table: Science of Storytelling | **Major Chapter** | **Subchapter (Section Number + Title)** | | | | ----------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | **Chapter 1** | 1.2 Curiosity | | | | | 1.3 The model-making brain; how we read; grammar; filmic word order; simplicity; active versus passive language; specific detail; show-not-tell | | | | | 1.4 🌌 World-making in fantasy and science fiction | ⭐️ | **Build belief through _neural hooks_**: Anchor wild worlds in tangible details that hijack the reader’s model-making brain. Make the impossible _feel_ inevitable. | | | 1.5 The domesticated brain; theory of mind in animism and religion; how theory-of-mind mistakes create drama | | | | | 1.6 Salience; creating tension with detail | | | | | 1.7 Neural models; poetry; metaphor | | | | | 1.8 Cause and effect; literary versus mass-market storytelling | | | | | 1.9 ⏳ Change is not enough | ⭐️ | **Avoid cosmetic shifts**. True transformation is _molten_ – it must crack the character’s theory of control. If change doesn’t wound, it won’t stick. | | **Chapter 2** | 2.0 ⚖️ The flawed self; the theory of control | ⭐️ | **Flaws are engines, not decorations**. A character’s broken "theory of control" drives every desperate grab at order – let it backfire spectacularly. | | | 2.1 🎭 Personality and plot | ⭐️ | **Plot is personality made visible**. Don’t force puppets through hoops; let the character’s warped self-logic _generate_ the chaos. | | | 2.2 Personality and setting | | | | | 2.3 Personality and point of view | | | | | 2.4 Culture and character; Western versus Eastern story | | | | | 2.5 🔥 Anatomy of a flawed self; the ignition point | ⭐️ | **Find the fracture**. Trace the flaw to its origin story – the "ignition point" where a wound calcified into delusion. _That’s_ where drama explodes. | | | 2.6 Fictional memories; moral delusions; antagonists and moral idealism; antagonists and toxic self-esteem; the hero-maker narrative | | | | | 2.7 David and Goliath | | | | | 2.8 How flawed characters create meaning | | | | **Chapter 3** | 3.0 Confabulation and the deluded character; the dramatic question | | | | | 3.1 🎭 Multiple selves; the three-dimensional character | ⭐️ | **Shatter the mirror**. Characters aren’t statues – they’re shattered glass. Reveal their public face, private shame, and secret yearning in collision. | | | 3.2 🕵️ The two levels of story; how subconscious character struggle creates plot | ⭐️ | **Plot is the scar tissue of inner war**. Surface events are symptoms; the _real_ story is the character’s buried self-deception clawing for air. | | | 3.3 Modernist stories | | | | | 3.4 Wanting and needing | | | | | 3.5 Dialogue | | | | | 3.6 The roots of the dramatic question; social emotions; heroes and villains; moral outrage | | | | | 3.7 Status play | | | | | 3.8 👑 King Lear; humiliation | ⭐️ | **[[🧬Humiliation is acid]]**. Pour it slow: strip status, expose naked need, and watch the character’s "theory of self" dissolve. (Lear’s crown → madness → raw love). | | | 3.9 Stories as tribal propaganda | | | | | 3.10 🖤 Antiheroes; empathy | ⭐️ | **Make monsters human, not heroes**. Forge empathy through shared shame – not by sanitizing sins, but by exposing the wound that _warped_ them. | | | 3.11 Origin damage | | | | **Chapter 4** | 4.0 Goal directedness; video games; personal projects; eudaemonia; plots | | | | | 4.1 🎻 Plot as recipe versus plot as symphony of change | ⭐️ | **Ditch the recipe, compose symphonies**. Plot isn’t a grocery list. It’s the _resonance_ between character fracture, world pressure, and irreversible change. | | | 4.2 The final battle | | | | | 4.3 Endings; control; the God moment | | | | | 4.4 🧠 Story as a simulacrum of consciousness; transportation | ⭐️ | **Hijack the mind**. A story is a Trojan horse – build it to bypass skepticism and plant lived experience in the reader’s sensory cortex. | | | 4.5 The power of story | | | --- ### **1. "Humiliation is acid"** - **Meaning**: Humiliation _corrodes_ a character’s constructed identity (their "theory of self"), exposing raw vulnerability. - **Example**: - _King Lear_: A king who bases his worth on power and flattery is humiliated when his daughters strip his title, guards, and dignity. - **Acid Effect**: His royal identity dissolves → "Is man no more than this?" (Act 3, Scene 4). --- ### **2. "Pour it slow"** - **Meaning**: Humiliation must be _gradual_ to maximize psychological rupture. - **Example**: - _Breaking Bad’s Walter White_: - Step 1: Strip status (Pinkman calls him a "joke" in front of dealers). - Step 2: Expose need (Cancer diagnosis forces him to confront mortality). - Step 3: Dissolve self-theory (His "family man" persona rots into "Heisenberg’s" cruelty). --- ### **3. "Strip status"** - **Meaning**: Remove external markers that prop up the character’s ego. - **Examples**: - _Game of Thrones’ Cersei Lannister_: - Shame walk through King’s Landing (hair shorn, naked, jeered) destroys her "queen" identity. - _The Godfather’s Michael Corleone_: - Attempted assassination in his home strips his illusion of safety → "It’s not personal, Sonny. It’s strictly business." --- ### **4. "Expose naked need"** - **Meaning**: Force characters to confront their deepest insecurities. - **Example**: - _Fleabag_ (S2): - The Priest rejects Fleabag’s advances → her "I want to be loved" confession cracks her cynical armor. --- ### **5. "Watch the 'theory of self' dissolve"** - **Meaning**: The character’s foundational beliefs about who they are shatter. - **Example**: - _Othello_: - Iago’s lies humiliate Othello (calling him a "cuckold") → his identity as a noble general dissolves into jealous rage. --- ### **6. The Arc: "Crown → Madness → Raw Love" (Lear’s Path)** |**Stage**|**Lear’s Journey**|**Modern Equivalent**| |---|---|---| |**Crown**|"Love me most, get the largest kingdom!"|Tony Stark’s ego: "I am Iron Man."| |**Madness**|Roars at storm: "I am a man more sinned against than sinning!"|Walter White’s breakdown in the crawl space.| |**Raw Love**|Cradles dead Cordelia: "Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life…?"|Logan’s final sacrifice for Laura in _Logan_.|