Re: POV question

Monique Y. Mudama <spam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Jonathan L Cunningham penned:

The witch, no longer being even remotely human, would be having very
strange thoughts. So strange, it never occurred to me to report
them. But maybe I should?

Even more hmmmm: I'm not sure a merely human reader would be able to
understand them. So could I write them?

Even more hmmmm: If the witch is so alien that her motivations are
completely opaque to humans, does that make everything in the story
that involves the witch seem contrived or inexplicable to the reader?

I have this problem with the idea of writing about truly alien
beings. If they're truly alien and completely incomprehensible, then
aren't they going to ring a false note with the reader?

I think that may depend on how the author does it. He's human, after
all.

So it's either something very weird but still comprehensible to him,
thus understandable by humans. (Even if you don't have exact words to
describe the feeling you get; words depend on what language provides,
after all.)

Or it is just random bits without sense, in an attempt to create
something incomprehensible.

(I'm ignoring the possibility that the author is a mutant, evolved
beyond human comprehension. :) )

So is the witch really completely inscrutable, or have you just not
fleshed her out yet?

Maybe all she does is providing the curse. Afaik she gets killed right
away, after all.

{Digression: how often do characters know their own limitations?}

How often do humans know their limitations?

Needn't be the same. (And IMO, decent characters do.)

(I would argue not very often; to know them you'd have to have tested
them.)

Or be a good judge of their own abilities.

That ability may, for example, be a trait of an alien. You may think
humans can't do that no matter what, thus the idea is strange, alien,
and could be part of a proper alien. It isn't incomprehensible because
you know all the parameters, they're just put together differently.
(Just a thought. It's one of the things why I prefer non-human
characters; they can come with human flaws removed.)

On the other hand, once you've got your proper non-human species, with
suitably different traits, it suddenly doing something common for humans
(just a small, offhand thing) can ring false. (I've encountered that.)

--
Tina
WIP: [Untitled]: 1622 words
WISuspension: Seasons & Elements trilogy | Magic Earth series
Posted to Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.sf.composition.

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