I always feel so cheated in stories when characters are walking around with this Big Guilt and then...you find out that the thing wasn't their fault at all. And not in a "they thought they did it but it turns out they were set up" way, or even a "accepting that just because they did A which caused B which caused C it doesn't mean C was their fault", way but where they finally lay out the sequence of events and it's clear that any thinking person would not connect them. Like, fucking commit!!! The character isn't LESS compelling if they actually did the thing! You can't have the haunted brooding meow meow who is...also completely blameless
#!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!#the version of this that pisses me off most is the 'they were mistaken and the bad thing didn't even happen at all and no one died' version#it's such a cop out#bc i do think a character who's wracked with guilt over something that wasn't their fault can be quite compelling#but you need that 'just because they did A which caused B which caused C doesn't mean C was their fault' part of it#character who takes on all the blame when they deserve only some if it heart emoji#character who takes on all the blame when someone else put them in an impossible position and they had functionally no choice heart emoji#even character who thought they deserved all the blame but someone else set them up CAN be fun although often i find it disappointing#but 'actually nothing bad even happened'? boring.#edit: also thinking about it more i DO think clueing the reader in sooner rather than later is better#that's the problem is a lot of storytellers want to save it for a Big Reveal#and it's like man.....that's not a reveal it's a rug pull#have your OTHER characters telling me 'yeah that horrible thing wasn't actually their fault'#even as the character in question is going around like 'i'm a monster'#make it a character trait not a plot twist. y'know? via @storybook-souls
YES
and like done right, "nothing bad even happened" COULD be done really well. Like, Character A thinks they got Character B killed, fucks up their life over it, but Character B was actively hiding from them and there are huge emotional and interpersonal consequences? Good shit. Character A is guilty about Character B, Character B turns out to be alive, Character A is like, yay? Thumbs down emoji.
The biggest one I hate is "Character A thinks they got Character B killed and is very fucked up about it, Character B is not dead but thinks Character A has abandoned them and decides to become a villain about it even though it is really difficult to make us believe it's Character A's fault, even though Character A also thinks it is."
Basically I find performative angst boring I guess.
