Welcome back, writers! I hope you enjoyed the last few weeks with their looks at some of Being a Better Writer‘s top posts. And, even if you’d read them before, you found some new insights or knowledge as you passed through their paragraphs. Or at least, had a fun time guessing what the most popular BaBW posts on the site (at least through the last five years) were as each Monday rolled around.

But now we’re back with our regularly scheduled content. Well, inasmuch as there is a schedule outside of “Being a Better Writer goes up on Mondays.” That, and a list of content. But I digress …

We’re back, and diving right in with a reader-requested topic concerning character trust.

Now, a few of you might be raising your eyebrows, but I thought this was an interesting topic to write about. Specifically, this is a character concept, whether that character is a young schoolteacher with dreams of brilliant students (who trusts the system, or perhaps the students) or a government that is an entity attempting to gain the trust of its subjects/citizens/peasantry/there-are-a-lot-of-government-types-out-there, this is an attribute that may be quite helpful in both figuring out aspects of your character, but also be something that can drive a lot of plot if used properly.

So hit the jump, and let’s talk about trust.

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As usual, we’re going to begin by establishing some basic concepts. In this case, that makes our first question what is trust? And to answer that, we’re going to the dictionary definition. The first one, about relationships and belief, not the second one, which is a financial agreement (though there is a degree of the first involved in making such an agreement, which is probably how it got its name).

So, what is trust? Well, to quote the dictionary, trust is the “firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength of someone or something.” It further notes that “relationships are built on trust.”

This definition is pretty straightforward. In fact, I don’t really think I need to expound upon it any further. Perhaps offer some examples, but not go into any further details. For instance, readers come to this site each week to read Being a Better Writer because they trust that its articles are helpful in offering writing advice. In a similar manner, readers of an author or series will pick up the next title that’s been released trusting that it will deliver more of what they enjoyed from the author’s previous works.

Trust such as this extends to all facets of day to day life, from big decisions to small. Students riding a bus to school board said bus because they trust that it will take them where they’re going, which is the school. In a similar manner, people who hire an Uber do so with the trust that the Uber driver will be able to take them to their destination. Friends who spend time together to watch a show or a play football do so trusting that they’ll enjoy something about the experience. If that trust isn’t rewarded, after a few times they may stop being friends or spending as much time together. Or try something else with that friend because they trust it will bring enjoyment.

We could go on, but I’m pretty sure you get the idea. interactions between individuals or even groups have a measure of trust. Group/Individual A trusts that B will happen if they do thing C, so they do thing C. And when that trust isn’t rewarded or becomes shaky, when someone loses that firm belief in the reliability, truth, ability, etc of something, they’re likely to change their behavior as a result. One that immediately comes to my mind is a job I worked one summer. The “manager” (who really only showed up to collect money, badger everyone, and then go back to their carefree life of doing anything but managing) let it be known that due to issues with finances, there was a chance a number of us might not be paid in the months to come as the business was “unfortunately” closing down.

Totally due to circumstances outside the manager’s control, of course. We had blame, but not that manager. Anyway, the agents of manglement were both surprised and dismayed when the next day I gave them my two-week notice, a notice that came with the promise that if my pay was not delivered during that two weeks on our normal schedule, I was out the door that day.

But to me, it made perfect sense. I only went to the job and did the work because I trusted that at the end of each week, I would be paid. When the business itself admitted that they might not be able to do that, directly undercutting the trust I had, I saw no reason to continue working there.

As a side note, the place closed a few weeks later, completely out of business, and I got my final paycheck for that last week.

I think you get the idea. As people, be that individuals or as a group, most facets of our life express some form of trust. Be that trust that the light switch will turn the lights on—something that can feel like a betrayal when the power is unexpectedly out—or trust that a child will create chaos if left alone in a room with a number of power tools.

This likely isn’t new information to any of you. So let’s move on, then, and move the locus of our discussion closer to our actual purpose. Let’s talk about using trust in our writing.

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We’ll start with a straightforward usage of trust: How can we apply trust to our character design? And should we?

Well, the answer to that latter one is “yes,” but let’s talk about why. Though I will note the answer is “yes” and not “you must.” While determining a character’s personality and design based on trust is a helpful viewpoint, I will note that it’s not needed. You can reach these answers in other ways. However, thinking in terms of “Who or what does this character trust and who or what do they distrust?” can be a powerful tool in figuring a character out.

In other words, if you’re having issues figuring out a character, perhaps consider digging into who/what they trust and who/what they do not trust. And honestly, while this isn’t as simple as these questions make it sound, it can be a great starting point.

Here, let’s make in an exercise. Think of a character. One you know, that you’ve written, perhaps, or a brand new one you’ve never though of before. Now, think about what or who they trust. Is it people? Their job? Friends? If you were to ask them who they trusted in, what would they say? Would it be honest? Would they be able to answer your question with honesty, or would they say one thing but not quite mean it?

You can work this another way too. Think of organizations or people in this character’s world, then ask “Does this character trust ____?” How far does each extension of trust extend?

From here, we can start asking more detailed questions. Why does this character trust someone, some thing, or even a concept, such as “children?” What elements of their character, their background, or their personality cause (or caused) that trust to exist?

Okay, now as these causes start to take shape, now we need to look for hard overlaps, both positive and negative. Does our burgeoning character have trusts that overlap in ways that don’t make sense? Or conflict with other trusts? Like a character who trusts both sides of a conflict when one of them has reason to not be trusted?

As we start extrapolating our character’s trusts, we can start to see their personality and background elements take shape. And with that, we may find distrusts as well, areas where the character doesn’t give trust easily, or is even actively antagonistic towards people, groups, ideas, places, etc. And we can ask ourselves the same questions about those as we asked about what they trust. Why do they have them? What caused them to exist?

This line of work also can deliver a bonus by giving us flaws that we can exploit in our story, or even weak areas that our character may overcome, or even reinforce into deeper weaknesses due to their mistrust. Our character’s lack of trust can be a major strength in figuring out what their flaws, weaknesses, and blind spots may be.

Now, a note here. I said may, and stressed it with good reason. Not all distrust is automatically bad. For example, your character may mistrust the villain who has hounded them through the entire story, and with good reason. On the other hand, however, a villain that the protagonist trusts, even if they do not like or agree with them, can also make for interesting story elements.

Now again, you don’t have to develop this aspect of your character to complete them. Sometimes we come up with characters and the trusts they have are “baked in” so to speak. We just assume or even know them. But if you’re struggling with a character’s motivations, depths, or other aspects, looking at their trusts can be a good avenue to deciphering answers about them.

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Now, let’s set that aside and move on from character design. Let’s talk about the story itself, and how trusts can and will play a part there.

Once you’ve designed your character, you’re going to turn them loose in a setting full of other characters, people, and organizations that all have their own measures of trust. And these measures of trust are going to influence how all the actors in your world make decisions.

For example, the reader who requested this topic pointed out that governments often attempt to gain the trust of their citizens, as well as the organizations—usually other governments—that they work with. A great example of this is how international debt between nations is handled.

Nations don’t “call in” debts with other nations (at least not more than once) because doing so would effectively warn every other nation to never lend them money again. Governments, being long-lived entities, have a vest interest in the stability of “we can make long-term payments on our debts.” Britain, for example, is still making payments on debts incurred by their government centuries ago, and as such they’re extended a measure of trust accordingly.

I know I said we’d move away from character building, but thinking of the world as a character (something we’ve discussed before) what are the various trusts and distrusts in your setting? Are the kings or emperors of your fantasy world distrustful of one another? And then, with that, we once again ask why?

Now I know some of you may be saying “But I’m not writing about the politics, so what does it matter?” right about now, but here’s the thing: You may never directly address it. But just as someone working the most basic job will still find their work shaped by influences above them, our characters will find themselves impacted by trusts in the world around them.

For example, suppose we’re writing a slice-of-life fantasy story about an apothecary in a small village. Now suppose that one of the things they’re dealing with is acquiring some rare herbs that the village they’re in doesn’t have a supply of. But the neighboring village does. Which proves to be problematic due to a feud between the leaders of the two villages. Neither trusts the other. Is it enough to be a major source of antagonism? No. But it can influence our protagonist’s decisions and actions. Even if we never meet the village leaders from either village.

Taking the concepts of trust and distrust, as well as the questions we ask that determine how they came to be, and applying them to our setting can give our character’s more than a flat stage to walk around on. It will give them a stage with hills and ramps, with ledges and steps. It will give our setting character, yes, but it will also give our character things to move around in and be influenced by.

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And that’s where I’ll leave things today. To recap, if you’re having a little trouble with character development, or just perhaps looking for a new locus to observe things through, consider looking at what your character does and doesn’t trust. Then look at the setting through a similar lens. Are there cultures, organizations, or governments that may have trust or mistrust with various parties or organization? How might your character’s trusts interact with those trusts?

Again, as a final note, this isn’t the end-all for this sort of character work. But it is something we can consider when building characters and setting, and we should at least give it a bit of thought from time to time just to see what avenues it may open to us.

But if you’re struggling with something, consider giving it a look and seeing what happens.

Good luck. Now get writing!

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