#novel #WIP #dasbuchdasdieweltgesundmacht #storygenius #protagonist #misbelief #originscene > [!quote]- Publication Status > **Version:** 1.0 | **Status:** First Draft Done > **First published:** [[2025-09-20]] | **Last updated:** [[2025-10-07]] # Origin of the Misbelief *By [Florian Prittwitz-Schlögl](https://www.linkedin.com/in/prittwitzschloegl) · Licensed under [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).* > [!tldr]- TL;DR > So, [[Peter Pankratius Pek - Old Version|Peters]] misbelief is " **If I use every means available to me to give others what they need – then they and reality won’t harm me.**" In digging deep into his past, I found the moment when the seed for this misbelief was planted. Externally, it's a minor event: Peter is about 6 years old when he discovers that he can use his superpower - deep emotional empahty and resonant listening in a way that's very rare - to win over powerful people, gaining protection from a world that until that moment he thought of as a dangerous place that he simply needs to accept. In this moment, he transforms from someone focusing on hiding and escaping to survive into someone who has the power to protect themselves. Not generally, but specifically by giving others what they need and long for. > > In other words: Thats the moment when he becomes a people pleaser. > > If you want to read the scene, here you'll find the [[0001 - Friedrich's Mother - Scene Card|scene card]] and the [[0001 - Friedrich's Mother - Draft 01|first draft]]. ## A. First sketch > [!todo]- Instruction Story Genius > *"WHAT TO DO Now it’s your turn. Can you envision the moment in your protagonist’s life when his misbelief took root? Perhaps you have a vague idea, and that’s fine. Take a minute and sketch it out the way Jennie did in a simple paragraph."* > — Lisa Cron: *Story Genius* ([Link](https://rauchundkoenig.buchhandlung.de/shop/article/28982701/lisa_cron_story_genius.html)) > [!warning] Orange: Light Spoilers --- >*She said, “What’s going on?”* >*And this is a therapist who sees therapists, because we have to go to those, because their B.S. meters are good.* >*And so I said, “Here’s the thing, I’m struggling.”* >*And she said, “What’s the struggle?”* >*And I said, “Well, I have a vulnerability issue.* > >*And I know that vulnerability is the core of shame and fear and our struggle for worthiness, but it appears that it’s also the birthplace of joy, of creativity, of belonging, of love. And I think I have a problem, and I need some help.”* > >*And I said, “But here’s the thing: no family stuff, no childhood shit. I just need some strategies.”* >— Brené Brown: The Power of Vulnerability [Source](https://fs.blog/great-talks/power-vulnerability-brene-brown/) > >*Anyway, if she does what she’s supposed to, no unexpected things happen.* >— N. K. Jamison: The Fifth Season: The Broken Earth, Book 1 [Source](https://rauchundkoenig.buchhandlung.de/shop/article/30234275/n_k_[[N. K. Jemisin|jemisin]]_the_fifth_season.html) Ok, so here we are. I procastinated that step for weeks now. To be honest: Months. And for some reasons, it's easier for me to do this in English. I feel a lot of resistance. To write about Peter's childhood. To pinpoint a specific moment that "caused" the misbelief. For me, it feels like a betrayal. Why? Because all my life, I have lived under the paradigma of psychoanalytical and psychodynamic explanations for human challenges. It's always the parents, a trauma, the family system. And it always felt wrong, kind of pushing too much responsibility on individual human beings, and neglecting the fact that sometimes, people are just how they are. And the world just is what it is. Not everything is anyone's fault. But, with that being said. Of course Peter will have some biographical backpack, and it's about time to discover it. So, let's start thinking. What do we know? I know that Peter's misbelief is NOT what many people would think - that he's exagerating the dangers of the world (the world IS a dangerous place, especially for queer and neurodivergent folks like Peter), that he's too sensitive etc. No. All that is real. The misbelief is in the exageration of his reaction - and, more specifically, in the magic belief that he can DO something about it. It's a myth of security, of ability, of power. So, the belief needs to have been seeded in a moment of power. In a false victory over the feeling of being helplessly exposed to the dangers of the world. Let's list some possible ideas for dangers, that he might have learned to tame by giving people what they need: - We could start with his parents. I don't know that much about them yet, but I do know that he grew up in a loving, but massively chaotic and eratic home. I know that deep inside he is connected with himself and others, he's not one of those people who always struggle to be connected at all. He feels love and he's able to give it. The issue is that he's not trusting others, or the world, to stay stable if he's not constantly intervening. And that might well be rooted in an unstable home. So based on this, here are some candidates for the origin scene: - One of his parents might be an alcoholic, emotionally instable, not being able to uphold the stability and nurturing a child needs - and he might have grown up with this, believing there's nothing he can do about it - until one day when he discovers that when he uses his sensibility to sense the needs of this parent, he managed to actually influence them and make the world safer. So the concrete situation might be a fight, a day without structure, the parent not listening, the parent not getting his story, the parent not even seeming interested - not out of bad will, but of inability. - Similarily, this could also be a couple dynamic between his parents, a fight, a dark cloud of conflict, perhaps even violence, that he's able to tame with his developing abilities to sense what a system needs and mask accordingly. - If I follow my intuition to not blame the parents, we would need a similar situation involving others. Perhaps the parents of another kid at school, or the peer group in Kindergarten. But even if I really reject the psychoanalytical catch-all model - I feel that a partent story feels more close to my heart. Anyway, let's brainstorm a bit around the "other people" concept - His ability to impress the mother of another kid at school resulting in his first ever invitation to a birthday party, breaking the spell of not being able to connect with his peers - His abilty to make others feel seen and valued, turning a bully into an ally - His ability to touch and impress teachers, creating a safety net at school, e.g., protecting him from the humilations of physical education classes - This brings me to the question: Who is it that he's able to tame: Children or adults? If Peter's anything like me, he wouldn't be concerned at all with other children. He would barely notice that he's alleniated. I really think it needs to be something around the relationship to adults or an adult system. Ok, so we know adults. We know there should be a connection to the erratic lingering feeling of danger at home, but we might not want to make this the pivotal thing, rather something that influences the origin scene. The longer I think about it, I like the other schoolkid's mum idea. It also reminds me of something in my own past that I could use as an inspiration. So based on all this, here's my first attempt to sketch the scene. ---------- ### Origin Scene - Sketch 1 Peter is about 6 to 7 years old, went to primary school for about a year. He loves going to school because he loves learning and the teacher, and also the recognition he's getting from her. He is confused by the other children, but usually manages to ignore them. However, there's one thing that bothers him. And that's the birthday thing. He never gets in class birthday parties. His birthday is in August, so its always, always summer holidays. And since Kindergarten, the teachers have forgotten to make up for that at the first day of the new year. His parents, who are neurodivergent themselves, don't notice, as they have no interest in peer celebration themselves, and also because they celebrate the birthday with him and feel that's enough. And for Peter, in a way it is, because he loves his family. But - he just wonders why everyone else gets the birthday thing. He tried to raise the issue once, but it kind of felt flat because his partents both didn't get the point, and so he's sitting there with the growing confusion about why on earth he's the only child that doesn't get a class birthday party. And - why he's never invited to any of the others (which, of course, is based on his poor connections to the other children, the poor connections of his parents in the village, and the absence of any invitation to his home that might trigger a peer parent to reciprocate). And, as the world seems dangerous, confusing, and eratic anyway, he doesn't push for a change. He believes he's simply powerless. Until something happens. And that is: He gets to know the mother (Doris) of one of his classmates (Friedrich). They just bump into each other in an empty school corridor. Doris is waiting for school to end so she can take Friedrich home on his birthday, and Peter was asked to get a measurement tape from the classroom that the teacher has forgotten for an outdoor PE lesson (it's summer, so they are in the school yard doing long jump outdoors). He's starting a conversation with her, because he needs to get by her, but he also doesn't want to get back to PE too soon, and he quickly feels this woman's pain - her disconnect with her husband, and the serious concerns she has about her boy getting on the slippery slope of not catching up with maths. Peter just follows his intuition, comforts the woman, and mentions his passion for calculus, involuntarily touching and impressing Doris who immediately sees a way out - making sure Peter and Friedrich become friends. And, as she doesn't see a better opportunity, she just spontaneously invites Peter to Friedrich's brithday party the coming Saturday. And Peter understands immediately what he did. He used his superpowers of sensitivity and deep empathy to give this woman what she wants most: hope and a chance to provide her son with a bright future through education. And, on a deeper level, feeling seen and understood in her loneliness. And he concludes: If I give them what they want, they will give me what I need. ----------- ### Reflection on Sketch 1 So, what works is: It's clearly a shift from feeling powerless to powerfull, and a discovery of his superpower to influence the world far beyond his circle of natural influence. However, it doesn't really have connection to danger. It's more about using his people pleasing abilities to get something positive, rather than taming a monster. But - perhaps that's a good thing. Perhaps he first needs to understand his powers, before he uses them for the really ugly stuff. But, let's still try to make the scene more dangerous. What kind of danger might be looming that he's taming? - The sheer stuckness in the circle of not being able to ariculate his wish - this connects the erratic nature of his family home with his strategic plans for integration in the peer group (not because he's interested in them, just because he's smart engough to know that this is necessary to be safe). That's good. Perhaps his wish to be invited to a birthday is just a proxy, it's the start of a logical chain: If I get invited to a birthday, then I'll be making friends which will protect me from bullying. Ah, that's good: He's walking to school alone every day, and connecting with Friedrich's mum is part of a plan to share the way to school - because she's driving her son to school every day - and they could drive Peter, too. - So how could we make the danger from bullying more concrete? There's a specific danger, a group of 4 other pupils that walk to school the same way Peter does. And they have been bullying him again and again, resulting in him taking on quite a lot of burden - a detour, leaving earlier, coming in late which he hates. And so he's actively looking out for possibilities to escape that threat - and the car ride by Doris comes in handy as a solution. ### Origin Scene - Sketch 2 Peter is about 6 to 7 years old, went to primary school for about a year. He loves going to school because he loves learning and the teacher, and also the recognition he's getting from her. He is confused by the other children, but usually manages to ignore them. However, he's terrified by before and after school: Because that means danger. Why? Because he needs to walk around 20 minutes. Alone. And there's a specific corner that is not visible from any other house. And it was there that Bernd, Andi, and Christian had started to wait for him. They caught him, more than once. The first time, they just made fun of him, mostly because of his clothes, and the fact that he's not having a Scout backpack like everybody else. Too bad he had started crying, because that gave them the material they needed to destroy his reputation in the whole class. The next time, they had made up a plot to rob him. He didn't have anything valuable on him, but they managed to smuggle a 50 cent piece into his boots. And so he was robbed of money he didn't even posess, and humiliated because he had to walk in wet socks all the way home. Trying to think about why they do this to him, he connected the dots and understood: You need to be part of the "birthday party invitation club" to get protection. However, he never gets in class birthday parties. And he never gets invited to home birthday parties. His birthday is in August, so its always, always summer holidays. And since Kindergarten, the teachers have forgotten to make up for that at the first day of the new year. His parents, who are neurodivergent themselves, don't notice, as they have no interest in peer celebration themselves, and also because they celebrate the birthday with him and feel that's enough. And for Peter, in a way it is, because he loves his family. But - he just wonders why everyone else gets the birthday thing. He tried to raise the issue once, but it kind of felt flat because his partents both didn't get the point, and so he's sitting there with the growing confusion about why on earth he's the only child that doesn't get a class birthday party. And - why he's never invited to any of the others (which, of course, is based on his poor connections to the other children, the poor connections of his parents in the village, and the absence of any invitation to his home that might trigger a peer parent to reciprocate). And, as the world seems dangerous, confusing, and eratic anyway, he doesn't push for a change. He believes he's simply powerless. Until something happens. And that is: He gets to know the mother (Doris) of one of his classmates (Friedrich). They just bump into each other in an empty school corridor. Doris is waiting for school to end so she can take Friedrich home on his birthday, and Peter was asked to get a measurement tape from the classroom that the teacher has forgotten for an outdoor PE lesson (it's summer, so they are in the school yard doing long jump outdoors). He's starting a conversation with her, because he needs to get by her, but he also doesn't want to get back to PE too soon, and he quickly feels this woman's pain - her disconnect with her husband, and the serious concerns she has about her boy getting on the slippery slope of not catching up with maths. Peter just follows his intuition, comforts the woman, and mentions his passion for calculus, involuntarily touching and impressing Doris who immediately sees a way out - making sure Peter and Friedrich become friends. And, as she doesn't see a better opportunity, she just spontaneously invites Peter to Friedrich's brithday party the coming Saturday. And Peter understands immediately what he did. He used his superpowers of sensitivity and deep empathy to give this woman what she wants most: hope and a chance to provide her son with a bright future through education. And, on a deeper level, feeling seen and understood in her loneliness. And he knows: This will change everything. He will get a birthday invitation, joining the club of the safe kids. He will get an opportunity to skip the walk to school (if he doesn't tell his mum). And, he'll get an opportunity to see how other children ensure that they are not bullied - because he gets to observe them in their natural habitat: On a birthday party. And he concludes: If I give them (more specifically: adults who suffer) what they want, they will give me what I need: protection. ## B. Deepdive into Origin Scene > [!todo]- Instruction Story Genius > "*You’ve been playing along, haven’t you? I’m betting that as you read each of Jennie’s answers, you were thinking about what your protagonist will go into their origin scene believing. Take a moment now (okay, maybe longer) and jot down your answers to each of the four questions. It’s good practice, because this is something you’ll want to do before any scene you write. Don’t simply chronicle what happens externally; put us in your story’s command center by letting us know what your protagonist is thinking as he reacts, internally, to what happens and to what other people say. Often, what he’s thinking and what he’s saying out loud will be two very different things. That is the point.* > *1. What does my protagonist go into the scene believing?* > *2. Why does she believe it?* > *3. What is my protagonist’s goal in the scene?* > *4. What does my protagonist expect will happen in this scene?* > > *Finally, since there will be other people in the scene, take a minute and ask yourself what everyone’s agenda is. It’s never too early to begin asking “why?” of everything anyone does. Just as lawyers never ask a question in court that they don’t already know the answer to, don’t ask your characters to do anything if you can’t answer the question: “Why did they do that? And how does it serve their subjective self-interest?”*" > > — Lisa Cron: *Story Genius* ([Link](https://rauchundkoenig.buchhandlung.de/shop/article/28982701/lisa_cron_story_genius.html)) ### 1. What does my protagonist go into the scene believing? Peter believes that the world is a confusing and dangerous place - and, most importantly, that theres absolutely nothing he can do about it. He simply has to cope with it and try his best to avoid danger. ### 2. Why does he believe it? - He's been bullied on his way to school - and all his attempts to do anything about it (tell the bullies to stop, asking them why they do it, trying to be violent and scream, ...) haven't changed anything - He knows for certain that there's no use in telling his parents. They never have time and rarely listen, and if they do, they come up with upsolutely unhelpful advise like "the last shall be first". He can't change anything with the pity of his parents. In fact, he knows that they themselves are unable to change anything. - He knows that there's something suspicious going on around birthday invitations. He doesn't really get it, but it seems to be the magical weapon against school bullying. And again - whatever he tried failed: Telling the teacher - they forgot until the next year. Asking classmates just got him laughs, he quickly stopped that. He's powerless. - He's seriously confused about the mechanics of school, the village, and other kids. They act very strangely in general - and he has learned it's getting better if he tries to avoid them alltogether. - It's also not something new. He's used to a home that's warm and intimate, but also randomly changes into an aggressive, loud, and dangerous place. It's simply better not to try to intervene. Just wait until the adults are adressing you - or tell them something intersting (he's good at that. But he knows his personal problems aren't interesting and the best he's going to get is pity. He hates that.) ### 3. What is my protagonist’s goal in the scene? - His goal is to get back to PE as late as possible to avoid the humilation of long jump in front of everyone. - Later, when he is in conversation with Doris, his goal is to keep the conversation going, but also to ease the pain that he's sensing in her by being funny and witty and sweet - a tactic that works well with his mum when she's sad ### 4. What does my protagonist expect will happen in this scene? - As he's convinced that he can't change anything, he's expecting to be overlooked. He thinks he can just get by the woman. When she adresses him, he expects her to be superficial and ignore him. And also later, when he's deeply connected with her pain, he expects her to light up - but no impact whatsoever on his life (other than time gained to avoid PE) ### 5. Why does Doris act the way she acts? - Doris asks Peter what he does, simply because it's strange to see a 7 year old with a classroom key alone in school hours - She continues asking because she's seriously suprised by the precision and maturity of his answers - and also she's bored and longing to talk to someone - When she starts to understand how smart and well educated Peter is, she becomes strategic. She immediately understands that this boy would be perfect for her son. She's worried about the friends Friedrich has made at school so far. Not that they are dangerous - he's around with the boring, silent ones - but because they are obviously dumb and simple. And she really hopes for he son to raise above this level. - Why is that so important to her? Well, she's really lonely and unhappy, and she thinks that's because she could not raise above her standard. She only finished a low level of education because she was lazy and had the wrong friends. She never left her circles and married another boring, simple guy, the heir of a fruit and vegetable store, because she didn't have other options. She understood to late in life that education, formal education, would have been her entry ticket into a more intersting, more adventorous, more lifely world. And as she doesn't see any change of realizing that for herself, she puts all her hope on Friedrich, her only son. - And so when she sees this smart, talkative, mature boy, and learns that his parents are academic, she's just grabbing the chance. - At the same time, she's touched by his questions, and his natural ability to make people open up catches her. So she's oversharing, letting her defenses down because - it's just a child, no? - When she notices, she's ashamed, and willing to overpromise if the boy will only help Friedrich to become better at school, and also she will have a chance to talk to him again without admitting that she liked it. Because nobody can know that she resonated with a 7 year old. ## C. The actual scene > [!todo]- Instruction Story Genius > "*Now it’s your turn to capture the moment when your protagonist’s worldview shifted, and her misbelief took root in her brain, where it’s been coloring how she’s seen the world from that moment on. Write a full-fledged scene."* > — Lisa Cron: *Story Genius* ([Link](https://rauchundkoenig.buchhandlung.de/shop/article/28982701/lisa_cron_story_genius.html) Ok. Wow. Now it's time to actually start writing scenes :-) I will do this a bit differently as Lisa is suggesting it here, because I already have my process (actually, Lisa inspired) to write a scene using a Scene Card and an outline. I will also use Novelcrafter and the AI to write with the support of AI. And for that, I will start to use a slightly different format than before. While the reflections and notes will continue in this part of the public [[Building a Second Brain - Commented Reading Note|second brain]], the actual scenes will get their own folder. If you're intersted in how the scene is crafted, you'll find the scene card and structure here: [[0001 - Friedrich's Mother - Scene Card]] If you just want to read the current draft version of the scene, you'll find it here: [[0001 - Friedrich's Mother - Draft 01]] ## D. Wrap up So, it's done - the origin scene is written. It's still a first draft, and there's quite a bit of line editing to do - but I'll skip this for now as we're not here for line editing, but for story building. And so with this, it's time for the next step: [[Step 4 - The Misbelief Takes Over]] --- > [!example] Links > - [[Welcome 2 My World - deutsch|Welcome 2 My World - deutsch]] > - [[A. What if -- Intro]] > - [[B. The Who - Introduction]] ![[Links & License#^c7e67d]]