Every Sunday, the feature SHANNON MUIR’S MYSTERY OF CHARACTER on SHANNON MUIR’S THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF focuses on the art and craft of writing from Shannon’s perspective, or gives you insight on her process as an author. This week’s topic is about character’s state of mind and how it affects them. Stories tend to paint a picture of a character that remains consistent throughout, in order to keep the character fully rooted and perspective solid. But what if the character is one who crumbles under pressure, or radically changes with rage, and that change in behavior is important to the plot (if it isn’t, it might not be needed in the story)? What then? As long as the major shifts in state of mind happen for consistent reasons and are reasonably explained, this should still make for incredible and enjoyable storytelling. See you again in two weeks… next week I have a special event.