One of the reasons I am beginning to write fiction is perhaps what government officials might call “plausible deniability.” (smile).
In non-fiction, even if it is written only third-person, the very inclusion of ideas means that you are giving them some sort of credence; that you are asking the reader to consider a concept and accept or reject it according to your own personal purpose in writing the article or book. Thus the author is reflected in that.
But ah! fiction! You can have all kinds of characters who don”‘t have to promote or counter the “point” of the book. One example of this is a character who provides “comic relief.”
On the other hand, the characters who drive the plot and the theme of a work of fiction must, at least to some degree, advance the purposes of the author.
I thought I was being really good about concealing that until I went to a friend”‘s house. He and his wife were reading the manuscript of my new novel, Latter-day Cipher as he recovered from surgery. His wife met me at the door and I knew the “jig was up,” so to speak, when she greeted me with, “Hi, Selonnah!” (the name of a character in my book.)
So much for mystery, huh?
