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FICTION-WRITING SCHIZOPHRENIA

To be an effective fiction writer, it helps to be a little schizophrenic. Well, maybe not with the actual psychosis, but it certainly helps to be adept at shifting in and out of four different mindsets.

The mindsets I'm referring to are that of the author, the narrator, the point-of-view character, and the reader. This may seem self-evident, but failure to understand and respect these relationships can lead to unwitting, and possibly unfortunate, decisions regarding choices for:

* Narrator of the story,

* Person and tense of the narration, and

* Viewpoint character.

Fundamentally, the concepts are pretty simple:

* The AUTHOR is the creator, doing the brainwork, making decisions, writing.

* The NARRATOR is the teller of the story, the orator, doing the mouth work, or its in-print equivalent.

* The POINT-OF-VIEW CHARACTER is from whose consciousness the reader hears, sees, and feels the story.

* The READER is not merely the intended audience; he or she is a critical participant, reacting to the presentation.

This four-headed relationship dates back to the earliest storytellers. Cavemen have been getting a bad rap in TV commercials recently, but fiction writers owe them a lot.

Imagine cave dwellers around a campfire recalling their adventures. A caveman's first story may have been about success at hunting or an escape from disaster. The first time the story was told, it might have been quite factual. But as do most stories in the re-telling, it probably entered the realm of fiction as the woolly mammoth got bigger or the saber-toothed tiger got faster.

Even in this purest form of storytelling, the author was schizophrenic:

* The caveman was acting as author by deciding which parts of the tale to emphasize and which parts to downplay, or even leave out.

* Since the story was being communicated orally, the caveman was also the narrator.

* The caveman's first stories may have been about himself, from his own perspective, using himself as the point-of-view character.

* If that first storyteller had any sensitivity at all, he was conscious of his audience and how they reacted, not only to the story, but to how he told the story.

Throughout generations, as the author developed his craft, storytelling became more sophisticated and more complicated. Initially, since the storyteller was obvious (literally onstage at fireside), making no attempt to disguise himself or his voice, he was an obtrusive author. As the caveman aged, he may very well have taken a seat

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