Because science into life doesn't go

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Not Just Any Body

Dilemma:

The present story I'm working on begins with my main character being interrogated about an act of sabotage he may or may not have committed (but was certainly involved in, in as much as he was there at the time). Through the course of the interrogation the events of the crime are slowly revealed, so that by the end of the story both the denoument to the crime and his role in it are uncovered.

The problem I'm having is choosing the appropriate POV. If I choose the guy who was involved with the crime, then it makes the story artificial in that he deliberately withholds infomation about (a) the facts of the crime, and more importantly (b) his identity in relation to the crime (in essence, is he an enemy inflitrator, or not?). If I want to retain him as the POV character (ideally, I do, because the story is essentially his) then the only way I can do this is by using third person-cinematic -- the viewpoint where there is no interior monologue, just action like in a film.

If I don't want to do that I need to switch to the interrogator's POV; this allows me to keep the reader guessing about the true identity of the captive, but does mean that we are no longer directly attached to him, seeing the world through the interrogator's eyes instead. That's nice in the sense that I can explore the theme of trust more naturally, but it does also mean that I need a story for the interrogator as well. He cannot merely be a passive observer in the piece.

Which POV would be the better choice?

450 words. And good 'uns, too!

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hello British Steve! Afghan Joe here. Nice to see you back to blogging.

I know it seems to have gone out of fashion the past -- oh, I don't know -- century! But if the story is a short one you may want to consider the omnipotent POV.

Joe Jordan

9:35 AM

 

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