Help with a troubled line

I've worked on this line from both sides now and still some how it's false illusions... You get my point, I need help with this line. It is important to the story or I would have deleted it long ago.

Set in France in the 19 century in narration:

I was getting so comfortable with deception, that I felt no regards between the truth and a lie.

Thanks

 

If it were my line, I would change it to

I was getting so comfortable with deception that I no longer distinguished between the truth and a lie.

Or if I felt a fraction more formal:

I was growing so comfortable with deception that I no longer distinguished between truth and lies.

 

Thanks ChickenFreak
I'm stealing no 2 line and moving on. It looks so simple but I was obviously caught in a loop

 

This makes the most sense.

 

I became so comfortable with deception that I held no regard between truth and a lie.


I pruned the passive.

 

What is "the passive" in the original?

And I'm not familiar with the phrase "held no regard" or, I assume, "held regard". Is this a regional idiom, or just a misuse?

 

Number 2 but cut the 's' off of 'lies'.

 

There wasn't any passive. (If you mean passive voice.)

 

That would be pairing a collective noun with a singular noun. They should, IMO, match.

That is, either:

the truth and a lie

or

truth and lies

or, perhaps

truth and falsehood

 

Or a different approach, "I'd grown so comfortable with lying that truth no longer mattered."

 

When I write in narrative I often overuse the word 'felt', A bad habit.
Based on ChickenFreak's help, I now have this:
"I was getting so comfortable with deception, that I can no longer distinguish between the truth and a lie."
But I see your point, and if it wasn't in the 19th century I would write:
"Deception was my new normal."
I will look at a way to make the two part sentence more of a composite.

 

I'd look at your verb tenses - either "I am getting..." or "I could no longer...", right?

 

Yeah, who put that can in there?
It should be I could..
My editor is constantly on my case, because I have a bad habit of writing with mixed tense.
I think in present, and try to write in past, but I still have things slip through.

"I was so comfortable with deception, that I no longer distinguish between truth and lies."

 

Distinguished, right? Past tense.

 

I agree with @ChickenFreak 's use of 'distinguish between' instead of 'regards for'—if you mean the character can't tell the difference between truth and lies any more. Felt no regards between is not really specific enough here. I have a hunch it's not even grammatically correct.

If you mean that the character no longer cares whether something is true or not, that's a different issue. In other words, if your character CAN distinguish between truth and a lie, but no longer cares which one they are telling (because they've grown comfortable with deception), that would require a different approach. A little more context would help us.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with the above post, except for your harsh treatment of the much maligned... semicolon (though I wouldn't use it in the "Deception" line). The semicolon is both a comma and a period; as if they've come to a fork in the road... "May we stop here?" said the Period, out of breath and wiping the sweat from his brow. "No, my friend, we must carry on," replied the Comma, uncertainty in his tone. There are times when a semicolon is the perfect break before that final roll up to a poignant line. It's all about controlling tempo and flow and making it seem effortless, like breathing. It's easy to imagine, and sometimes so fucking hard to accomplish!


“Yes, the very same. Though he’s now Jean-Paul Marat, the politician. During my travels I befriended some people, ladies exactly — or to be precise, they befriended me... or should I say there’s nothing at all precise about the matter. These women of modest means required an eye in the keyhole to the uppermost echelons of power that I so comfortably ply. I gave them entrance, and so began my double life. I enlisted Jean-Paul in this endeavor, an ally from days gone by, who had at one time a grand purpose in life. But it seems he’s become infatuated with his own reputation. His words no longer inspire the best in us; he balances on a razor, appeasing those hungry for revenge on the one side, and flattering the masses on the other. All else is dust on the balance.”

 

My initial take was that the character had lost all reverence for the truth... but Mr. Thundair seems to be waffling a bit as to this character's true intent.

 

The background is: She has spent most of the story in life threatening situations, that caused her to hide her true identity.
With the threat gone and a chance to return to some kind of normalcy she maintains the lie.
My mistake
I meant to put 'could' back in
"I was so comfortable with deception, that I could no longer distinguish between truth and lies."

I am starting to like "I was so comfortable with deception, that I no longer distinguished between truth and lies."

 

How committed are you to the comma? I can never remember the comma rules, but that one goes against my comma feels.

 

I reread it, and it seems ok without the comma. To me initially I felt like it was two independent clauses.

I was wondering if you could put it after: "...... between, truth and lies."
Nah that's no good either. It is for sure no one else will ever use this line that should read: "Deception was my new norm."