Hatrack River Writers Workshop: A Question on Point of View?

This is topic A Question on Point of View? in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by QuickSilver (Member # 4683) on :

I'm currently working on a story in which the main character has frequent black outs. The problem is, I'm unsure of whether to describe what he does during these black outs. After a blackout he has absolutely no memory of what he has done so would describing the events from his point of view be wrong?

Thanks.

Posted by Slartibartfast (Member # 4673) on :

As I understand it, in 3rd person limited omniscient, you can tell the story naturally by following your character(s) around, concious or not. Whether you want to do that is another question, because you might have a hard time avoiding telling EVERYTHING that happens during the blackouts, and then the reader knows too much in what could be a suspensful story.

Posted by kings_falcon (Member # 3261) on :

It depends on your POV. Get Characters and Viewpoints .

If the POV is the MC and told from first person - YES it would be a POV violation to tell the reader something the POV character doesn't know.

If the POV is full omniscient POV - NO, you won't violate POV if you tell use what happens during the blackouts. Full Omni is hard to do well though.

If the POV character(s) which may not be your MC, doesn't know it than generally speaking the reader can't know it without violating POV.

A 3rd person limited POV of the MC would probably lead to a POV violation. We can learn about what he did as others tell him or interact with him based on the events. If the POV is another character that sees the MC during the blackouts we can "see" it at the same time as the POV. If the non-MC POV learns about what happened after the fact the reader should also learn about it after the fact.

Posted by spcpthook (Member # 3246) on :

This really depends on what you're trying to do. It sounds like perhaps when he's blacked out there's another personality inhabiting his body and thus the body still functions and is a viable character. I may have misinterpreted what you're saying but that's my take on it.

If you want us to be aware of his actions but not him, I would treat it as though telling the story from two POV's. Patricia Bray's The First Betrayal is a good example of handling this in just such a way. We get two POV's from two vastly different personalities who wake up bewildered at what has happened to him in the intervening timeframe.

If you want the MC to be aware that something strange is going on but he can't put his finger on just what it is, perhaps tell the story from only one POV but include a lot of reaction from other characters. i.e. the merchant shied away from him as though he'd just slain ten men... or use dialogue, either directly to the MC or overheard snippets...

Without knowing the story and what you wish to convey better it's difficult to say what the best way to handle your particular scene might be.

Posted by Spaceman (Member # 9240) on :

Actually, for this situation, i would look at a copy of Ben Bova's How to Write Science Fiction. He discusses this and gives a great example of something similar.

Bottom line is this. If your character doesn't know what happened, you can make great use of that. It allows you to hide facts from the reader. It allows the character to be lied to.

This should be treated as opportunity, not handicap.