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wetcircuit
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It all depends on your narrative voice, and how sympathetic the narrator is to the characterhow sympathetic the narrator is to the character.

she absolutely intends to become a new person each time, and sees herself as a "Jane" then a "Dolores", etc, at different points of the story, but I don't know if it would be clear enough for the reader.

The narrative voice should confirm the new identity, not undermine it, if the reader is going to have any sympathy for this character.

Read Jane Austen who is still considered the master of playing with POV, using a technique called Free Indirect Speech in which the 3rd-person narrator is temporarily replaced with the internal thoughts of various characters. Austen also does a more subtle technique where the vocabulary and tone of the narrative voice will shift to the vocabulary and emotional tone of a character in the scene.

Each new "identity" will have shifts in their tone and vocabulary which become more confident over time. The narrative voice should echo this transition, not fight against it – depending on how the reader is meant to relate with (or alienate) the character.

Give her a transition phase while she is still filling in the gaps with the new persona. For instance, she verbally stumbles as she must invent a bit of history on the fly, but when that same lie comes up again she has woven the details together more convincingly. If it comes up a third time she doesn't even need the details because her emotions of it are now genuine.

As always with writing, the more you can show the process (not tell) the more the reader will be involved, sharing the stakes along with the character. If we see her invent her new identity through her actions and speech, you won't need to hit the reader over the head with explaining the plot of the novel, or constantly stop the show to pull back the curtain and remind readers that she isn't really Mrs So-and-so.

It all depends on your narrative voice, and how sympathetic the narrator is to the character.

she absolutely intends to become a new person each time, and sees herself as a "Jane" then a "Dolores", etc, at different points of the story, but I don't know if it would be clear enough for the reader.

The narrative voice should confirm the new identity, not undermine it, if the reader is going to have any sympathy for this character.

Read Jane Austen who is still considered the master of playing with POV, using a technique called Free Indirect Speech in which the 3rd-person narrator is temporarily replaced with the internal thoughts of various characters. Austen also does a more subtle technique where the vocabulary and tone of the narrative voice will shift to the vocabulary and emotional tone of a character in the scene.

Each new "identity" will have shifts in their tone and vocabulary which become more confident over time. The narrative voice should echo this transition, not fight against it – depending on how the reader is meant to relate with (or alienate) the character.

Give her a transition phase while she is still filling in the gaps with the new persona. For instance, she verbally stumbles as she must invent a bit of history on the fly, but when that same lie comes up again she has woven the details together more convincingly. If it comes up a third time she doesn't even need the details because her emotions of it are now genuine.

As always with writing, the more you can show the process (not tell) the more the reader will be involved, sharing the stakes along with the character. If we see her invent her new identity through her actions and speech, you won't need to hit the reader over the head with explaining the plot of the novel, or constantly stop the show to pull back the curtain and remind readers that she isn't really Mrs So-and-so.

It all depends on your narrative voice, and how sympathetic the narrator is to the character.

she absolutely intends to become a new person each time, and sees herself as a "Jane" then a "Dolores", etc, at different points of the story, but I don't know if it would be clear enough for the reader.

The narrative voice should confirm the new identity, not undermine it, if the reader is going to have any sympathy for this character.

Read Jane Austen who is still considered the master of playing with POV, using a technique called Free Indirect Speech in which the 3rd-person narrator is temporarily replaced with the internal thoughts of various characters. Austen also does a more subtle technique where the vocabulary and tone of the narrative voice will shift to the vocabulary and emotional tone of a character in the scene.

Each new "identity" will have shifts in their tone and vocabulary which become more confident over time. The narrative voice should echo this transition, not fight against it – depending on how the reader is meant to relate with (or alienate) the character.

Give her a transition phase while she is still filling in the gaps with the new persona. For instance, she verbally stumbles as she must invent a bit of history on the fly, but when that same lie comes up again she has woven the details together more convincingly. If it comes up a third time she doesn't even need the details because her emotions of it are now genuine.

As always with writing, the more you can show the process (not tell) the more the reader will be involved, sharing the stakes along with the character. If we see her invent her new identity through her actions and speech, you won't need to hit the reader over the head with explaining the plot of the novel, or constantly stop the show to pull back the curtain and remind readers that she isn't really Mrs So-and-so.

added 801 characters in body
Source Link
wetcircuit
  • 27.8k
  • 4
  • 48
  • 114

It all depends on your narrative voice, and how sympathetic the narrator is to the character.

she absolutely intends to become a new person each time, and sees herself as a "Jane" then a "Dolores", etc, at different points of the story, but I don't know if it would be clear enough for the reader.

The narrative voice should confirm the new identity, not undermine it, if the reader is going to have any sympathy for this character.

Read Jane Austen who is still considered the master of playing with POV, using a technique called Free Indirect Speech in which the 3rd-person narrator is temporarily replaced with the internal thoughts of various characters. Austen also does a more subtle technique where the vocabulary and tone of the narrative voice will shift to the vocabulary and emotional tone of a character in the scene.

Each new "identity" will have shifts in their tone and vocabulary which become more confident over time. The narrative voice should echo this transition, not fight against it – depending on how the reader is meant to relate with (or alienate) the character.

Give her a transition phase while she is still filling in the gaps with the new persona. For instance, she verbally stumbles as she must invent a bit of history on the fly, but when that same lie comes up again she has woven the details together more convincingly. If it comes up a third time she doesn't even need the details because her emotions of it are now genuine.

As always with writing, the more you can show the process (not tell) the more the reader will be involved, sharing the stakes along with the character. If we see her invent her new identity through her actions and speech, you won't need to hit the reader over the head with explaining the plot of the novel, or constantly stop the show to pull back the curtain and remind readers that she isn't really Mrs So-and-so.

It all depends on your narrative voice, and how sympathetic the narrator is to the character.

she absolutely intends to become a new person each time, and sees herself as a "Jane" then a "Dolores", etc, at different points of the story, but I don't know if it would be clear enough for the reader.

The narrative voice should confirm the new identity, not undermine it, if the reader is going to have any sympathy for this character.

Read Jane Austen who is still considered the master of playing with POV, using a technique called Free Indirect Speech in which the 3rd-person narrator is temporarily replaced with the internal thoughts of various characters. Austen also does a more subtle technique where the vocabulary and tone of the narrative voice will shift to the vocabulary and emotional tone of a character in the scene.

Each new "identity" will have shifts in their tone and vocabulary which become more confident over time. The narrative voice should echo this transition, not fight against it – depending on how the reader is meant to relate with (or alienate) the character.

It all depends on your narrative voice, and how sympathetic the narrator is to the character.

she absolutely intends to become a new person each time, and sees herself as a "Jane" then a "Dolores", etc, at different points of the story, but I don't know if it would be clear enough for the reader.

The narrative voice should confirm the new identity, not undermine it, if the reader is going to have any sympathy for this character.

Read Jane Austen who is still considered the master of playing with POV, using a technique called Free Indirect Speech in which the 3rd-person narrator is temporarily replaced with the internal thoughts of various characters. Austen also does a more subtle technique where the vocabulary and tone of the narrative voice will shift to the vocabulary and emotional tone of a character in the scene.

Each new "identity" will have shifts in their tone and vocabulary which become more confident over time. The narrative voice should echo this transition, not fight against it – depending on how the reader is meant to relate with (or alienate) the character.

Give her a transition phase while she is still filling in the gaps with the new persona. For instance, she verbally stumbles as she must invent a bit of history on the fly, but when that same lie comes up again she has woven the details together more convincingly. If it comes up a third time she doesn't even need the details because her emotions of it are now genuine.

As always with writing, the more you can show the process (not tell) the more the reader will be involved, sharing the stakes along with the character. If we see her invent her new identity through her actions and speech, you won't need to hit the reader over the head with explaining the plot of the novel, or constantly stop the show to pull back the curtain and remind readers that she isn't really Mrs So-and-so.

Source Link
wetcircuit
  • 27.8k
  • 4
  • 48
  • 114

It all depends on your narrative voice, and how sympathetic the narrator is to the character.

she absolutely intends to become a new person each time, and sees herself as a "Jane" then a "Dolores", etc, at different points of the story, but I don't know if it would be clear enough for the reader.

The narrative voice should confirm the new identity, not undermine it, if the reader is going to have any sympathy for this character.

Read Jane Austen who is still considered the master of playing with POV, using a technique called Free Indirect Speech in which the 3rd-person narrator is temporarily replaced with the internal thoughts of various characters. Austen also does a more subtle technique where the vocabulary and tone of the narrative voice will shift to the vocabulary and emotional tone of a character in the scene.

Each new "identity" will have shifts in their tone and vocabulary which become more confident over time. The narrative voice should echo this transition, not fight against it – depending on how the reader is meant to relate with (or alienate) the character.