A Prox On You!
Using Characters As A Substitute For The Reader.
How do you get your characters to explain what they know to your readers without making a team of highly trained specialists sound like a bunch of simpletons?
More specifically, how do you impart backstory and key information to your readers, without pages of dry text?
How can you explain a character’s thought processes, without reams of inner monologue?
How can you show not tell?
This is where a character that acts as a proxy for the reader can be useful. Their job is to tease information out of others in a natural, dialogue-driven fashion.
Great examples of this exist on TV. In the series Arrow, based on the DC comic book, there is a character called Felicity, invented specifically for the TV series. In addition to being an essential character in her own right, she serves two very important roles.
1) She is a confidante of Oliver McQueen, the main protagonist. Because of this, he explains his decisions to her – and by extension the viewer.
2) She is in charge of the series’ technical wizardry, meaning that she has to explain (and justify) what she is doing in simple terms, again informing the viewer.
In this example, the role of the proxy is a two-way street. By listening in to their conversation, the viewers find out why Oliver decided (imprudently) to enter a warehouse alone and blow stuff up, and just what Felicity is doing as she rattles away at her keyboard, perched in front of her screens of baffling data. Without Felicity, the viewer would be left guessing, or in need of voice over detailing the characters’ inner monologues.
The role of the proxy has a long history in literature. Dr Watson serves this role for Sherlock Holmes. In addition to being his chronicler, Watson famously needs Sherlock to explain his deductions to him, and thus the reader. Captain Hastings performs the same job in Agatha Christie’s Poirot series.
But it doesn’t need to be a subservient role.
M.W. Craven’s Washington Poe series features the wonderful Tilly. Although Poe is technically in charge, this is a much more equitable partnership. Poe is a self-confessed technical dunce, requiring Tilly to explain the complexities of modern electronic policing to him. In return, Tilly is wonderfully socially inept and naïve, often not picking up on social cues or spotting subtle clues, forcing Poe to explain what he has just observed and its meaning to the readers. All done hilariously, I might add.
But what are the pitfalls?
There can be a fine line between the proxy character and the ‘data dump’ character. Or the ‘character invented for the slow of thinking’.
The proxy character MUST have a legitimate reason to exist, or they risk becoming a parody. There have been many poorly conceived characters in TV especially who would appear to have been inserted as an afterthought when the script is too complicated. They literally stand in the background doing pretty much nothing, until something needs explaining to the reader, when they step forward and ask a dumb question that requires a lengthy explanation. They are a walking footnote.
In the aforementioned Arrow, Felicity was initially conceived as a guest role. Yet she became an integral part of the series’ entire run. In addition to a complex relationship with Oliver, she brings a lot of humour and is sometimes the moral centre of the show.
The role is not a fixed position.
One way to avoid labelling a single character as ‘the data dump’ person, is to spread the load. In the Washington Poe series, Tilly and Poe serve different roles. They are both essentiall to the series. Many of Craven’s legions of fans would find it hard to envisage Poe without Tilly.
In a book, it is possible to switch the role of proxy between individuals as necessary. Below I list some useful characters that can act as proxy. I also describe some ways to make an existing character serve the role as proxy. Although I have focused on crime writing, you can hopefully see how this is relevant to any genre.
Examples or role.
Junior officer.
This is one of the most common examples. The hierarchical nature of the police means that a more senior officer will often impart instructions. They might then need to explain in more detail what they are looking for. Alternately, they might need to show a less experienced colleague a new skill or explain the significance of what has just occurred.
Pitfalls: This is easy to over-use. Beware of making them seem ignorant to the point of incompetence, or the senior officer patronising. And accept that sometimes, you just have to give the reader the information in prose not dialogue – neither officer is going to say, “they have a record on the PNC, the Police National Computer” – all police officers will know what the PNC is – you will need to tell the reader this directly.
Senior officer.
Keeping their boss in the loop or justifying their behaviour is a way of bringing your character’s thought processes and reasoning into the open.
Specialist.
They are the most obvious way to explain complex ideas – they can be an outside expert (eg a solicitor from the Crown Prosecution Service describing what they need to authorise charging someone, or a forensic expert interpreting blood spatter), or they could be part of your existing team. I have a couple: DS Mags Richardson liaises with the Video Analysis Unit and DS Rachel Pymm is in charge of the HOLMES case management database. Both have to explain to other officers (and thus the reader) what they are doing.
Non-police character.
The police have an obligation to keep victims and suspects informed of what is happening to them. You can use that to your advantages – have somebody sit down with a victim and explain what is going to happen next, or outline what they think might have happened to their loved one. For suspects, read them their rights. Have their solicitor translate what it means for their client. Be clear in the interview.
Tricks you can use.
Make your protagonist slightly dumb.
Washington Poe is a technological ignoramus – he needs Tilly to help him.
Make them relay their actions over a radio channel.
If your protagonist is deciding whether or not to enter a building, they can talk through the pros and cons over the radio; they will need to describe what they are seeing, rather than just rushing in, or staying outside for reasons that are unclear to the reader..
Have somebody miss something previously and so need it explaining in context.
Rest days, toilet breaks, an old case, there are plenty of reasons a character might be ignorant of something others in the book would be expected to know, but which needs explaining to the reader.
Have a character express their ideas poorly, requiring them to repeat themselves again more clearly.
An incomplete, rushed explanation from an excited character, which colleagues ask them to ‘repeat that again in English’ is an opportunity to expand on their resoning.
Final thought
Proxies are not the sole answer; you still need to supplement them with prose. Sometimes, there is no realistic way to use a proxy, if all the characters in a scene would be expected to know what is going on. A close-knit team working together for hours or days will speak in shorthand or assume that when they announce that an ARV full of AFOs is three minutes out, their colleagues understand that they mean an armed response vehicle with authorised firearms officers is three minutes from arriving on the scene.
Do you use proxy characters in your stories? What are your favourite examples in TV or books?
As always, feel free to comment here or on social media.
Take care,
Paul.
