Realistic realizations

You're saying you know how to write a vivid event and the resulting change in a character's perspective, but are less sure how to write a change in perspective without that vivid event as a trigger?

I think Anna Karenina would be a really good illustration of shifting philosophies, specifically in Lenin's viewpoints. There's a gradual shift, but also an overall sense of epiphany and realization when the shift is mostly complete. It's been a while since I read it so I'm sorry that I can't offer a ton of specifics - but I think general small things and then a big realization works well!

I write core "debate" scenes via dialogue, and in each conversation the MC who needs to needs to change, has altered their position incrementally.

sort of like animation - series of stills in different poses. Put them together and the reader/viewer will fill in the gaps, and perceive it as motion.

s_nov said:

I think Anna Karenina would be a really good illustration of shifting philosophies, specifically in Lenin's viewpoints. There's a gradual shift, but also an overall sense of epiphany and realization when the shift is mostly complete. It's been a while since I read it so I'm sorry that I can't offer a ton of specifics - but I think general small things and then a big realization works well!

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Harlequin said:

I write core "debate" scenes via dialogue, and in each conversation the MC who needs to needs to change, has altered their position incrementally.

sort of like animation - series of stills in different poses. Put them together and the reader/viewer will fill in the gaps, and perceive it as motion.

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I was totally going to mention these two approaches: the slow motion in-depth one, and the snappier TV one, but was too lazy Me, personally--back in 2015 I'd still be going for the Karenina one, but today I'm very much in the 'outsource to the reader as much work as I can get away with' camp.

Lakey said:

One very powerful technique is to tie your character’s epiphany to some activity, action, or conversation that superficially is not related to the epiphany, but carries some symbolic or metaphoric connection to it.

For instance, a character who is struggling against confining circumstances might see a child lose a helium balloon in the park, and find herself weirdly troubled or excited for the rest of the day by the image of the balloon breaking away from its fetters and flying free.

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My actual comment is unrelated to this. I'm just quoting because it's very good advice and I think you should listen to it.

I generally do epiphanies via the slow burn route. For instance, my goal with the epiphany at the end of this novelette was to make it seem like the natural result of the gradually more consequential choices each character made throughout the story. The choices start with relatively small stakes, merely incarceration, but by the end the characters are mind-wiping loved ones, killing, cannibalizing, and dying for this thing. My challenge to the reader is one of empathy: in their shoes, would you have behaved differently, even knowing how slippery this slope is?

satyesu said:

What I'm writing strongly involves a gradual change in philosophy and I want to write it realistically. As all of you know (ha), realizations come at weird times sometimes, and maybe not always in one piece. How do I narrate this - making internal changes not necessarily associated immediately with some life-changing event?

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Unfortunately, there's not a formula for this kind of thing, or a list of markers to consult, or really anything except your own deep instincts. Trust your backbrain to supply what's needed at the right moment. This is not something you can plan, not and have it feel natural and credible. These story moments come in their own time and their own way.

ETA: Although some here have offered great suggestions about potential places you could insert an epiphany or series of epiphanies.

Harlequin said:

sort of like animation - series of stills in different poses. Put them together and the reader/viewer will fill in the gaps, and perceive it as motion.

Click to expand...

That's a terrific analogy.

First - I suggest you google 'five stages of change' and consider using that as a template.

Second - it's been my experience that people often resist change, sometimes strongly. Moving someone off zero, or away from their comfort zone is not easy. Many times there's an epiphany, something that happens that shines a harsh light on preconceptions or a person's world view, then they move through (another thing to google) the 'seven stages of grief'. Giving up an old idea or personal viewpoint is difficult, we lose something of ourselves in that transaction and are slow to realize that we gain more than we've lost.

Breaking Bad is a great example of this. And Bryan Cranston is a good enough actor that you can actually see the tiny changes in his philosophy as changes in the way he sets his facial features and carries himself. The most obvious is in the early episodes, but it does continue throughout, with more subtlety.

A lot of books contain the so called "character arc" where the character gradually changes their mind on something. About every YA and MG book has it, so that's a good start. No life-changing events needed. Just regular life events. If you pick to read 5 random books, most probably 4 of them will be able to teach you how to do it.