Wednesday 29 July 2015

How Characters See Each Other

In a multi-viewpoint series, the viewpoint character of particular installments can elsewhere be shown as he appears to others. Manse Everard is the viewpoint character of the first four Time Patrol stories although never a first person narrator. However, both Carl Farness and Wanda Tamberly narrate in later installments.

Carl on Everard:

"Large, tough-looking, wielding more power than Caesar or Genghis ever dreamed of, he was as comfortable as an old shoe." (Time Patrol, p. 352)

Wanda on Everard:

"Mr. Everard is a surprise. His letters and then his phone call from New York were, well, polite and kind of intellectual. Here he is in person, a big bruiser with a dented nose...He's soft-spoken, with the same old-fashioned quality as his communications had." (p. 682)

"...old-fashioned..." is appropriate in someone who is not only older but also a time traveler, although Wanda does not know that latter fact yet. Later, she is able to comment:

"'Yes, you would stay a polite country boy, wouldn't you? Roving through history, you'd miss out on the social changes in your homeland.'" (p. 716)

When Everard returns as viewpoint character, we read how he thinks he appears to Janne Floris:

"Was she taken aback too? Had she expected the Unattached agent to be something more impressive than a big, homely guy with a battle-dented nose and still, after all he'd been through, 'Midwesterner' written upon him?" (p. 481)

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