Max: The Horrible, Horrible Secret
One literary device that consistently gets on my nerves is the POV character who thinks, worries or otherwise obsesses over their horrible, horrible secret™ without actually thinking, worrying or otherwise obsessing over a single detail of that secret. How often do people worry about their horrible, horrible secrets™ without thinking of at least some of the details?
One example of this can be found in Charles Stross's otherwise brilliant Halting State. One of the main characters has a Scarlet Letter™ in his criminal record that he worries about for several chapters before having to spill the beans. That he manages to worry about this on several occasion without actually thinking of any of the details would normally be considered a sign of mental illness or Zen mastery. It is made that much worse that his Scarlet Letter™ was the fault of a surveillance society and poor lawmaking, not really anything wrong that the character did. The character to whom he spills the beans readily recognizes that. But then, a particularly slow blade of grass would also readily recognize that -- assuming it's not a Republican. I still don't understand why this reasonably intelligent character was worried that anyone worth his time would condemn him. If the desire was to create suspense, all that was created for me was annoyance.
That is not to say POV characters should be any less able than the rest of us to keep secrets from themselves. The same character from the same book spends a quite a few brain cycles trying not to think about a truly devastating memory. There are even some places where conflict arises between the facts of this event versus the small(?) lie he lives with in order to function. But even then, his detail-free thoughts -- thoughts that reflect the lie he tells himself to keep his sanity -- make sense given the trauma he went through.
I am all for taking some literary license, and I am the last person who should be telling real writers what to do. But may I suggest that before taking this license writers ask themselves two questions. First, do human beings really think like that? And if not, is this device essential to the story?
One example of this can be found in Charles Stross's otherwise brilliant Halting State. One of the main characters has a Scarlet Letter™ in his criminal record that he worries about for several chapters before having to spill the beans. That he manages to worry about this on several occasion without actually thinking of any of the details would normally be considered a sign of mental illness or Zen mastery. It is made that much worse that his Scarlet Letter™ was the fault of a surveillance society and poor lawmaking, not really anything wrong that the character did. The character to whom he spills the beans readily recognizes that. But then, a particularly slow blade of grass would also readily recognize that -- assuming it's not a Republican. I still don't understand why this reasonably intelligent character was worried that anyone worth his time would condemn him. If the desire was to create suspense, all that was created for me was annoyance.
That is not to say POV characters should be any less able than the rest of us to keep secrets from themselves. The same character from the same book spends a quite a few brain cycles trying not to think about a truly devastating memory. There are even some places where conflict arises between the facts of this event versus the small(?) lie he lives with in order to function. But even then, his detail-free thoughts -- thoughts that reflect the lie he tells himself to keep his sanity -- make sense given the trauma he went through.
I am all for taking some literary license, and I am the last person who should be telling real writers what to do. But may I suggest that before taking this license writers ask themselves two questions. First, do human beings really think like that? And if not, is this device essential to the story?
posted by Max Dobberstein at 9/08/2008 01:01:00 PM
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