Character Secret Thesaurus: Choosing Cowardice Over Bravery

What secret is your character keeping? Why are they safeguarding it? What’s at stake if it’s discovered? Does it need to come out at some point, or should it remain hidden?

This is some of the important information you need to know about your character’s secrets—and they will have secrets, because everyone does. They’re thorny little time bombs composed of fear, deceit, stress, and conflict that, when detonated, threaten to destroy everything the character holds dear.

So, of course, you should assemble them. And we can’t wait to help.

This thesaurus provides brainstorming fodder for a host of secrets that could plague your character. Use it to explore possible secrets, their underlying causes, how they might play into the overall story, and how to realistically write a character who is hiding them—all while establishing reader empathy and interest.

Maybe your character is…

Choosing Cowardice Over Bravery

ABOUT THIS SECRET
In difficult moments, it’s easy for a character to allow fear or uncertainty to keep them from the harder work of doing what’s right. Some situations that fall into this category are when a character doesn’t stand up for someone being bullied, pretends to agree with others to conceal their true beliefs, or knows someone is in danger but doesn’t help them.

Whether it was an active choice or because they were paralyzed in the moment, regret and shame can set in afterwards, feeding their insecurity. Everyone wants to be seen as brave and capable, so it’s natural for a character in this situation to hide what they’ve done (or didn’t do) so they won’t be perceived as cowardly.

SPECIFIC FEARS THAT MAY DRIVE THE NEED FOR SECRECY: Being Judged, Being Unable to Achieve a Dream, Failure, Humiliation, Letting Others Down, Losing the Respect of Others, Persecution, Rejection

HOW THIS SECRET COULD HOLD THE CHARACTER BACK
No longer trusting their instincts
Feeling incapable and untrustworthy
Avoiding leadership roles

BEHAVIORS OR HABITS THAT HELP HIDE THIS SECRET
Distancing themselves from anyone who may have witnessed their cowardice
Changing the narrative around the event to cast themselves in a better light
Seeking to discredit or silence witnesses
Shifting blame by shaming the person they failed; trying to make it their fault
Becoming a zealous supporter of the ideal or person they let down (compensating for their failure)
Jumping too quickly into action (to avoid becoming paralyzed by indecision again)
Calling out cowardice in others

ACTIVITIES OR TENDENCIES THAT MAY RAISE SUSPICIONS
Getting defensive when the event is brought up
The facts about the event changing with each retelling
Obviously avoiding the event—the place where it happened, the people who were there, talking about it, etc.

SITUATIONS THAT MAKE KEEPING THIS SECRET A CHALLENGE 
A person standing up for the character in the same way they failed to (and lied about)
Being around those who deserve to know the truth
Being questioned about their role or involvement by someone in authority
Having to testify under oath about what happened

Other Secret Thesaurus entries can be found here.

Need More Descriptive Help?

While this thesaurus is still being developed, the rest of our descriptive collection (18 unique thesauri and growing) is accessible through the One Stop for Writers THESAURUS database.

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