The brook has babbled and now an Old Mutt wants to drink from it. So I have agreed to share this blog with him when he is not solving murder mysteries and hanging out with Tink, Pam and Jayson

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

A Person of Substance ... Oh really ... A Pusher???

Every book written on how to write novels includes a section on point of view. Third person, first person, don't wander in second person to long or you'll lose your readers. Person is the camera through which a scene is viewed, changing perspective. It creates closeness and intimacy or telescopic viewing of characters in another land.
But person filters the light that is recorded by the camera. The same view reported by different people is described differently. Is there a Japanese movie like that about Samuri? You know there is I just can't spell it.
I am not concerned with the language style of the narrator, proper versus vernacular, that's a character issue. I am concerned with the perspective and perceptions of the narrator. Is he observent or is he misinformed and lazy or sloppy. How much can the reader rely on his reporting, insights and conclusions. The writer misses an opportunity to create suspense or tension if his narrator is rock solid every time.
How easy is it to involve the reader when he is looking to evaluate the narrators statements. In the
Great Gatsby is our narrator reliable or biased? Does he harbor any emotions that affect his analysis? Of course, and that is what the reader has to evaluate throughout the book. Is Gatsby as he is presented.
Good literature involves the reader. It is not just involvement as in caring for the characters, but it is involvement in the world the characters inhabit and form. They become real and we live with them for a time. Why cry at a sad ending unless you picture yourself in the scene.
Point of view allows the writer to filter the reader's information, and to make him question whether the narrator has all the facts? Don't you hate when someone has a secret and they won't tell you. Do you get involved to find out what it is?
Archie in the Nero Wolf series is accurate with what he knows. He's down right bland as buttered bread. He rarely even understands everything involved in the mystery. We try to beat him to the answer. We trust the information he gives us, but we know there is more.
Humans are incomplete, and inaccurate, so in creating realistic characters let human flaws add interest and character to your narrator, a side product is reader involvement.
If you want to hook the reader, pick a narrator that can be misled, or has a bias or is just lacking in intuition enough that he is a poor source of information, and let your reader do the leg work. It gets 'em every time.

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