The Writer’s Guide to Mind Control: How to Brainwash Your Characters

Brainwashing and mind control are two of the most popular writing tropes.

Whether your character is a cult member, tortured into accepting their new beliefs, or controlled through an implant in their brain, you need to know how to write this character well.

So today, let’s uncover some of those cliches and give you some new ideas for brainwashing your precious characters.

OBVIOUSLY none of this is meant to teach you how to brainwash real people. That’s just not cool. However, you can brainwash as many people as you want in your fictional universe.

Before we begin, I want to point out that there are a LOT of similarities between brainwashing and manipulation. If you’re new to my blog, I recommend starting with this post I wrote about manipulative characters, and then reading this post.

Let’s get started with the first point: brainwashing vs. mind control.

Brainwashing and Mind Control Are Not the Same Thing

Even though they sound similar, brainwashing and mind control are two very different things in the world of fiction.

Brainwashing is changing a person’s beliefs in the long term.

Mind control is completely controlling their thoughts or actions for a short time.

When you have a character who’s indoctrinated by a cult, that’s brainwashing. When your character is forced to become a killing machine because of a special drug or a metal cap on their heads, that’s mind control.

We’ll talk about brainwashing first. (Again, it has a lot in common with manipulation, so be sure to check out this post if you haven’t already.)

Brainwashing Takes a Long Time

Typically, brainwashing could take months, even years, to take full effect.

It’s not just a weekend torture session.

• Most brainwashing comes from people that the victim already trusts, such as religious figures, close friends, and family members.
• If the brainwashing is from the bad guy, the bad guy has to do a LOT more work to trick their victim into trusting them. It’s not impossible for this to happen, it just takes more time. (Or a lot of torture. We’ll get to that later.)

Brainwashing starts with isolation and forced trust. This gives the perpetrator complete control over their victim’s lives, which over time, helps them control their thoughts as well.

Isolation could be physical, like throwing them in a jail cell. Or it could be emotional, like turning the victim against their family until the victim doesn’t want to be around them any more.

Once the victim is isolated, then they can begin to “relearn” their beliefs.

Indoctrination: A New “Education”

With a brainwashed character, you need to know what the perpetrator wants the victim to believe.

Not only that, but it has to be similar in some way to the victim’s original beliefs.

• For example, if the perpetrator wants the victim to believe that the earth is flat, the victim should already have some (very small) reason to believe that. Maybe they’ve never travelled, so they don’t have any “proof” that the earth isn’t flat.
• The new beliefs could also touch on the victim’s insecurities. For example, trying to make them believe that they are worthless.

If the new beliefs are too outlandish, they won’t stick.

There are three main keys to indoctrination:

1. Using peer pressure.

People instinctively want to follow the majority. If the victim is outnumbered (or even just one-on-one with the perpetrator), there’s a much higher chance that they will just follow along.

2. Repeating the ideas.

By creating slogans or sayings and repeating their beliefs constantly, the perpetrator can start to pound ideas into their victim’s head. If the victim is forced to repeat these slogans back, they will eventually begin to believe them.

3. Demonizing the other side.

The perpetrator will do everything they can to make the other viewpoint look like the bad guys.

Total Dependence

So if all of this brainwashing is so extreme, why doesn’t the victim just walk away?

In many cases, the perpetrator wants to have complete control over their victims.

A successful brainwashing should include at least one of these elements:

• The perpetrator controls the victim’s food and water.
• The victim’s physical appearance is controlled (for example, they’re forced to shave their head or get a certain tattoo).
• The perpetrator destroys the victim’s personal belongings or steals from them, claiming, “I’ll take care of you, you don’t need these things.”
• The victim doesn’t have a job, so they don’t have a way to earn their own money.
• The perpetrator could force the victim to become addicted to drugs.

Torture

Another factor that might come into play here is torture.

This website has more information about the link between torture and brainwashing:

https://www.decision-making-confidence.com/brainwashing-techniques.html

However, before you use torture in your story, I recommend reading this post. The writer makes several arguments against using torture in your story, and this is something every writer should consider carefully. (https://mythcreants.com/blog/stories-need-to-stop-promoting-torture/)

When is the Brainwashing Complete?

When the character adapts their new beliefs, they have been successfully brainwashed.

For example, a character slowly adapts the belief that the cult leader is actually a god. What are some small details you could use to show their new reverence for the cult leader?

Sure, your character can state their new beliefs, but the reader might not be convinced until they see those new beliefs in action.

Remember! Brainwashing has to do with changing someone’s beliefs, and it can take years of therapy to undo.

So now that we’ve covered brainwashing, let’s move on to the more sci-fi friendly version: mind control.

Mind Control

Mind control is one of the most popular tropes in fiction, especially sci-fi and dystopian.

In mind control, the perpetrator changes the victim’s brain and controls their thoughts, movements, and memories.

This trope doesn’t really belong in historical fiction or contemporary stories.

A good example of mind control is Bucky Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. By saying a string of pre-programmed code words, Hydra agents can turn Bucky into the Winter Soldier, controlling his movements until they release him.

However, even though it’s an easy trope to add some quick conflict to your story, there are some problems with it.

Problems With Mind Control

I’m a sucker for mind controlled characters. But there are some plot issues and cliches to watch out for as you write this trope.

• Mind control is too easy for the characters to escape. Of course, the victim can’t escape by themselves, but the other characters can undo the mind control pretty easily.

For example, once the implant in Bucky’s mind is removed, he doesn’t have to worry about being controlled any more.

• It has very little basis in reality. Of course, not everything has to be scientifically accurate, but it’s something to think about, especially if your story takes place on Earth.
• Once the mind control is over, the character can heal relatively quickly. Since their core beliefs haven’t changed, the victim should be able to re-integrate back into society.

However, if you still feel that mind control is the best option for your story, here are a couple of ways to include it.

Methods of Mind Control

The simplest method of mind control, and also the weakest, is hypnosis.

In hypnosis, the brain waves slow down. The person enter a meditative state, and they become very relaxed and open to suggestion.

Hypnosis is the weakest form of mind control, for several reasons:

• You cannot hypnotize someone against their will.
• If someone is hypnotized, they can’t do anything that violates their beliefs (murdering someone, for example).
• It doesn’t work on everybody.

However, if you want to make your character do something small that doesn’t go against their beliefs (such as walking into a room that later turns out to be a trap), you could use hypnosis in your story.

Just remember that hypnosis can’t do much, and it doesn’t last long.

Another form of mind control is technology.

Although it’s one of the most popular/overused options, it’s also one of the easiest to write.

If your character has an implant in their head, the controller can use electrical pulses to different areas of the brain and stimulate emotions, pleasure, and pain.

It probably isn’t enough to turn your character into the Winter Soldier, but it’s still very effective.

Even if the perpetrator can only control their victim’s anger, pain, and pleasure, they could manipulate their victim into doing almost anything.

The third method is magic.

This one doesn’t need too much explanation.

(But if you’re using magic in your story, please don’t make the victim’s eyes change color. That makes it too easy to tell when the mind control is over.)

Also, remember that no form of mind control is complete. What are some downsides that could come from using the magic?

Last but not least, the fourth method is drugs.

This gif is a 3D model of scopolamine, also known as Devil’s Breath. If inhaled, Devil’s Breath can make you drowsy and compliant to almost anything.

When you wake up, you have no memory of what happened while you were drugged. Pretty scary stuff.

Drugs are a very real possibility for mind control in your story. If you decide to go this route, make sure that you consider:

• The side effects of taking the drugs long term.
• How it feels to take the drugs (for example, Devil’s Breath makes your throat super dry).
• Where would your character buy these drugs? (Most street corner drug deals involve drugs that make the user feel good, so a drug that can brainwash the user wouldn’t be too popular. Your character will probably have to turn to an underground crime ring or the dark web.)

Last but not least, let’s talk a little bit about recovery from brainwashing or mind control.

Recovery

Therapy. Your character will need lots of specialized therapy.

For a brainwashed character, there might be a strong emphasis on cognitive therapy, rebuilding and retraining their minds until they can think for themselves again. They will also need therapy for their trauma and PTSD.

Also, someone who has been brainwashed will have a hard time adjusting to their new freedom. Simple choices like what to eat for dinner or what clothes to wear might be overwhelming.

What about a character who was mind controlled?

Since their beliefs haven’t really changed, their main focus would be recovering from trauma.

Also, they might be feeling guilt about whatever they did while mind controlled, so they’ll have to learn how to deal with grief.

And as always, there are no hard and fast rules here. Some characters might heal after 6 months of therapy, others might take 6 years.

In Conclusion

There are a lot of different things to consider when you’re writing a character who is brainwashed or mind controlled.

But in the end, remember that it’s your story. And your story is limited only by your imagination.

If you found this post helpful or interesting, please like this post and share it on social media. I appreciate your support.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back with a new post soon!

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