Learning to Trust People Carefully

[Venusaur26]

In many betrayal novels, the MC then becomes someone who’s incapable of trusting anyone and takes a lot of time to learn who to trust

The first question is how to make this development possible and the second one is if there could be characters who knows who to trust and who to distrust from the beginning

 

[Plantorsomething]

Trust is just one of the major story themes you can choose from making a main character. According to well-renowned storywriting book ‘Save The Cat! Writes A Novel,’ almost every story ever has one or more lessons derived from these ten. Forgiveness, Love (all types including self), Acceptance, Faith (all types including self), Fear, Trust, Survival, Selflessness, Responsibility, and Redemption

 

[InceTagn]

To make the Mc so hesitant in trusting, the easiest way is to make him trust the wrong person, first. They got familiar with each other and invested sentimental with each order. It can be a lover, a camarade or whatever. And then the person betrays the mc, the person can be even eviler by saying something like " it was easy to make you believe what I wanted", " you are so gullible".
The Mc will then lose not only something precious but also his innocence, learning a hard lesson.

For the second question, I don t really understand. Do you think about something like an ability to see who is trustworthy or not?
Who is a liar? Just like the hulk or wolverine who can literally smell lies?

I also think about the favorability system, if you can see how people feel about you through a supernatural ability.

Perhaps it is also possible to do all these things with experience and knowledge.

 

[Bartun]

The author needs to build upon the trust so that when the betrayal comes, it comes as a shock to everyone. If the MC just trusts someone who is obviously wicked then he is just stupid. The thing with sociopaths is that they can completely fool even the most cautious.

Characters in novels tend to behave differently from people in real life. In real life, people tend not to trust so easily, most people learn it the hard way in their youth, so when they become adults they have already experienced betrayal in one way or another. I mean, if some random stranger comes to you with a get-rich-quick scheme or the most beautiful girl in town suddenly finds you attractive for seemingly no reason, then you know something is up.

 

[RainingSky]

Trust is something gained through another's actions.

Trusting a stranger without good reasons usually does not happen but Trust gained through time is something that developes naturally.
A person proves their trustworthiness through their actions and their untrustworthynes the same way.

 

[Imahermit]

You could possibly make them a long time friend who always seems to help but not overly so they don't attract suspicion, maybe their position too. Anyway that's my two cents, not the best but I do it in my stories

The author needs to build upon the trust so that when the betrayal comes, it comes as a shock to everyone. If the MC just trusts someone who is obviously wicked then he is just stupid. The thing with sociopaths is that they can completely fool even the most cautious.

Characters in novels tend to behave differently from people in real life. In real life, people tend not to trust so easily, most people learn it the hard way in their youth, so when they become adults they have already experienced betrayal in one way or another. I mean, if some random stranger comes to you with a get-rich-quick scheme or the most beautiful girl in town suddenly finds you attractive for seemingly no reason, then you know something is up.

Also this is really good advice. Don't have them trust obviously wicked people, it ruins the novel in my opinion.

 

[Cipiteca396]

Monster no Goshujin-sama - Novel Updates

www.novelupdates.com

I feel this story followed through on that theme beautifully. It's not a perfect story though for a few reasons, in particular... It's quite long and the translation is unfinished. You'll have to read the MTL if you want to see what I mean.

For the second question. It's basically only possible if the author makes it so. Who to trust isn't something you can just know, unless you have a cheat skill or the author just says, 'And they trusted each other immediately!' And yes, it counts as a cheat if the character is just very good at reading people. That's not a normal skill.

 

[Dewux]

Pretty much the same as every other character development; weak to strong, enemies to lovers, immature to mature, and more. Since in your case it's from distrustful of everyone to trusting, all you simply have to do is challenge your MC's belief: "I can't and shouldn't trust anyone, otherwise it would bite me in the ass."

Have your MC be surrounded by people who sincerely are good or wants to help him, but the MC keeps rejecting them out of fear of betrayal. Slowly but surely, he's learning to trust again because of the people around him; make him encounter situations that pretty much forces him to choose to confront his fears or run away (which he confronts since it's a positive character development), but he still can't get past the final hurdle, not until near the end of the volume or book, where he realizes that he can't defeat the external antagonist alone so he asks for help by the people earlier (in here, make sure the MC's stakes are very high, like possibly losing someone he subconsciously cares about, so that the impact of him asking for help, which is a sign of trust, is strong).

Watch "Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl" if you can't get a flash of inspiration. Although there's no betrayal, the movie is about learning to trust and friendship, which would probably help with your story.