Truth and Lies

Everybody lies.

Generally speaking.

I mean, there could be a few out there who don't. A few pure souls that never stray from the truth. Could be. But I doubt it.

Could a mute person lie? I suppose so…whether they're writing something down or using sign language…for some reason it's very odd to me to think about someone signing a lie. But it's surely happened.

Anyway, that's not the point -



I think that in a lot of fiction, characters tend to be more honest than real people. Unless it's a story about deceitful people, criminals, or a comedic web-of-lies plot, of course. In those stories the lies will generally be exposed in the end, and justice will be served, punishing the liar in a dramatic or comedic way.

But often, it's the little lies that are interesting - characters who lie to save face, or hide their true feelings, or create a better image (in the moment, that is. I'm not talking about the "web of lies" plot, here).

I think I first saw these kinds of lies back on the show "Seinfeld". They would have the "web of lies" plots too, of course, but often times characters would claim to feel the opposite of how they obviously feel in certain situations. I like that; it adds a realistic dimension, even to broadly drawn comedic characters and situations.

In my comic, it's second nature to write my characters doing this. To me, it's usually obvious when one of them is denying the truth, and often I will see in the comments that people are easily detecting this. That's satisfying!

How about you? Do your characters lie? How often, and about what? And how do you get across that they are
lying so it's clear to readers? And how do you make it clear if someone's telling the truth?

Have a good one!

lyin' around,

Banes