A Couple Snippets From A Presentation I Gave At School This Past Week On Storyboarding!!

Ohh, so I was looking at my storage and found these! I originally shared them on twitter before yeeting the platform. Anyway, feel free to use! Art memes for your oc :D

how do you write a liar?

How to Write Liars Believably

Language

The motive of every goal is the make the lie seem plausible while taking blame off the speaker, so liars will often project what they say to a third party: "Katie said that..."

Referring to third parties as "they" rather than he or she

In the case of a deliberate lie prepped beforehand, there will be an overuse of specific names (rather than pronouns) as the speaker tries to get the details right.

Overuse of non-committal words like "something may have happened"

Masking or obscuring facts like "to the best of my knowledge" and “it is extremely unlikely," etc.

Avoiding answers to specific, pressing questions

Voice

There's isn't a set tone/speed/style of speaking, but your character's speech patten will differ from his normal one.

People tend to speak faster when they're nervous and are not used to lying.

Body Language

Covering their mouth

Constantly touching their nose

fidgeting, squirming or breaking eye contact

turning away, blinking faster, or clutching a comfort object like a cushion as they speak

nostril flaring, rapid shallow breathing or slow deep breaths, lip biting, contracting, sitting on your hands, or drumming your fingers. 

Highly-trained liars have mastered the art of compensation by freezing their bodies and looking at you straight in the eye.

Trained liars can also be experts in the art of looking relaxed. They sit back, put their feet up on the table and hands behind their head.

For deliberate lies, the character may even carefully control his body language, as though his is actually putting on a show

The Four Types of Liars

Deceitful: those who lie to others about facts

2. Delusional: those who lie to themselves about facts

3. Duplicitious: those who lie to others about their values

Lying about values can be even more corrosive to relationships than lying about facts. 

4. Demoralized: those who lie to themselves about their values

Additional Notes

Genuine smiles or laughs are hard to fake

Exaggerations of words (that would normally not be emphasized) or exaggerated body language

Many savvy detectives ask suspects to tell the story in reverse or non-linear fashion to expose a lie. They often ask unexpected, or seemingly irrelevant questions to throw suspects off track. 

Here's some notes on some of the upper body muscles so you, artist, don't need to look them up

They are not medically accurate, just enough for artists to know the necessary muscles and how they work together

I 100% recommend doing the last exercise I did to be able to actually place the muscles

Using motifs to create thematic depth.

Motifs are one of the most powerful tools a writer has for weaving deeper meaning into a story.

What Is a Motif?

A motif is a repeated element in your story that highlights a theme. While similar to symbols, motifs are more dynamic and can evolve as your characters and story progress.

Symbol: A single red rose representing love. Motif: Flowers appearing throughout the story to represent different aspects of relationships—love, decay, growth, and loss.

Why Use Motifs?

They deepen your story’s meaning. Motifs give your readers something to latch onto, creating a sense of unity.

They enhance immersion. Repeated elements help ground readers in your world.

Tips for Crafting Effective Motifs

1. Choose a Motif That Fits Your Story’s Themes

Ask yourself: What’s the central idea of my story? Your motif should subtly reinforce that idea.

Theme: Resilience in the face of hardship. Motif: Cracked glass—a recurring image of something that’s damaged but still functional, reflecting the characters’ inner strength.

2. Use Motifs to Reflect Character Growth

A well-designed motif can evolve alongside your characters, reflecting their arcs.

In the beginning, a character always wears a watch to represent their obsession with time and control. By the end, they stop wearing the watch, symbolizing their acceptance of life’s unpredictability.

3. Keep It Subtle (But Consistent)

A motif shouldn’t feel like a flashing neon sign. It should quietly enhance the story without overpowering it.

If your motif is rain, don’t make every scene a thunderstorm. Use it sparingly—maybe it rains during moments of emotional turmoil or reflection, creating a subconscious link for the reader.

4. Use Recurrence to Build Meaning

The more your motif appears, the more it will resonate with readers. The key is repetition with variation.

In a story about family bonds, food could serve as a motif.

Early on: A tense family dinner where no one speaks. Later: A shared meal where characters open up and reconnect.

5. Connect Motifs to Emotion

Motifs are most effective when they evoke a visceral reaction in the reader.

Motif: A recurring song. First appearance: A father sings it to his child. Later: The same child hums it as an adult, remembering their father’s love. Final scene: The song plays during the child’s wedding, tying past and present together.

Examples of Motifs in Action

Motif: Mirrors

Theme: Self-perception vs. reality. A character avoids mirrors at first, unable to face their reflection. They slowly start using mirrors to confront their flaws. The final moment shows them standing confidently before a mirror, accepting themselves.

Motif: Keys

Theme: Freedom and control. A character collects keys, searching for one that unlocks their past. They find an old, rusted key, which leads them to uncover family secrets. The motif shifts to symbolize freedom when they lock a door behind them, leaving their past behind.

Motif: Birds

Theme: Longing for freedom. Early scenes show a bird trapped in a cage, reflecting the protagonist’s feelings. Later, the bird is released, symbolizing a turning point in the character’s journey.

Motif: The Ocean

Theme: Emotional depth and uncertainty. Calm waters reflect peace in the protagonist’s life. Stormy seas mirror moments of inner conflict.

Practical Exercise

1. Identify your story’s central theme.

2. Brainstorm objects, actions, or images that resonate with that theme.

3. Introduce the motif subtly early on.

4. Repeat it with variation, tying it to key emotional moments.

5. Bring it full circle by the end, letting the motif reinforce the resolution.

"Side by side, they were very much alike, in similarity less of lineament than of manner and bearing,

a correspondence of gesture which bounced and echoed between them so that a blink seemed to reverberate, moments later, in a twitch of the other's eyelid.

Their eyes were the same color of gray, intelligent and calm. She, I thought, was very beautiful, in an unsettling, almost medieval way which would not be apparent to the casual observer.“

~ Donna Tartt, The Secret History

“but what if i’m being annoying :(“ everyone’s annoying dipshit it came free with fucking being alive and existing. now go talk to your friends

minecraft has this deep deep sense of underlying dread but it also has this sense of tentative hope about it. sometimes you can hear echoes of minecarts in the caves. 11, 13, and 5 are all recordings of some nameless wordless fear that was encountered deep in the caves. and the universe said i love you because you are love. you the player can bring light and meaning back to these lost places. everything not lost will be saved

you disagreed w me in an intellectually honest way. we're friends now.

Fish & Gill

I'm not a prayin' man, but the night I found out my at-the-time-fiancé had been sending sex horny nasty horny sex asks to my friend on THIS VERY WEBSITE, I sat in the car in the parking lot of an abandoned church and watched a family of deer play in the snow, and it didn't quite feel like a sign because that part of Pennsylvania was mostly deer and abandoned buildings and snow, but it felt nice, and once the tears stopped, I looked down at my phone and my other friend had sent me a text that said, "HE'S TRYING TO CHEAT ON YOU ON THE ONE DIRECTION IMAGINES WEBSITE?" and I realized that life is all about your curated experience. A real choose-your-own-adventure deal. I have never seen someone post about One Direction on here in my life.