POV of sentient artifacts

[wulfsbane]

Hey guys, this thread isn't really a question, it's more of a discussion generator. So this idea has been bouncing around my head for a bit (And probably some of your heads too). Basically writing a story from the point of view of a sentient artifact(or any inanimate object really), like the One Ring in LotR. What do you think? What would you do if you were to write a story about that? How easy/tough do you think it'd be to write? Just in general discuss.

 

[Ursa major]

Iain Banks did this sort of thing in his Culture novels with, for example, the Minds.

One problem is how you balance the very different perspective of something that doesn't think like, say, a human might, with the need not only to inform the reader of what's going on (the bare bones of the narration), but also to make it possible for the reader to immerse themselves in the PoV. I suppose one approach might be analogous to the one sometimes used with dialects (i.el use a sprinkling of dialect words and forms, but mostly stick to plain English**): so give a flavour of the differences (particularly where these inform the way the artifact behaves differently to the way a human might), but don't pour so much alien-ness in that the reader gets lost.


** - If you're writing in English, obviously.

 

[wulfsbane]

The dialects thing is a nice idea. And I ought to read those Culture novels. I'm interested to see how the author writes the Minds.

I suppose the other option is to give the object more of a human mind, so that you can get around the alien-ness issue.

 

[Tecdavid]

It might not be so difficult if the object can feel emotion (Say, for example, a human soul is trapped inside it, or something). That way, the narrative and thoughts of the "character" can be just as engrossing and inviting as a human character's. I think it would be much tougher if the object were sentient, but unfeeling.
Of course, if its narrative and thoughts (and possibly dialogue?) are just like a human's, the concept of following an object's PoV might not seem so fascinating anymore... Well, maybe. The whole inanimate thing might make it challenging.

 

[wulfsbane]

Challenging, yes. But it would be awesome if you could pull it off.

 

[Tecdavid]

Yep! Copies could fly off the shelves for the novelty alone.

 

[Colbey Frost]

You could turn the cliche of a talking sword in fantasy into something rather amusing and new. How would you describe, from the sword's POV, being swung at an enemy, the better part of the blade cruching through bone... the blade? No, no, the better part of him / her crunching through bone!

Would he / she remember their past life? Remember what it felt like to to hold someone close, to feel their warmth instead of the cold steel that now enslaves their soul. Its only fun would be by living through others, manipulating others into situations it finds amusing, or quests that might solve issues left behind, helping people he / she might have wronged before etc etc

Fun.

 

[Moonbat]

As Ursa said Banks did it with his minds, there was also some very alien sentence structure in one of his books (I think it was Matter) where the way the alien spoke took a little while to get the meaning as it was so distinct from our own understanding. This worked really well and although it was only in small doses, I expect that once the foundation has been set it would then be possible to write an entire narrative in this 'voice'. The reader would learn a certain amount of fluency in the new style. In 'feersum endjinn' another Banks novel and Clockwork Orange the use of an odd language becomes understandable once the reader is immersed in it.
It would take a huge amount of effort and a deep understanding of language, grammar and syntax to do well.

 

[Venusian Broon]

Basically writing a story from the point of view of a sentient artifact(or any inanimate object really), like the One Ring in LotR.

Thomas Pynchon devotes a bit of Gravity's Rainbow to the tale of Byron the bulb - an immortal electric light bulb and it's battle against an evil international light bulb cartel. (Well, it's that sort of a book - one of my all time favs though) So yes your idea has pedigree.

In 'feersum endjinn' another Banks novel and Clockwork Orange the use of an odd language becomes understandable once the reader is immersed in it.
It would take a huge amount of effort and a deep understanding of language, grammar and syntax to do well.

I haven't read Clockwork Orange, but the character (is it Bascule?) in Bank's feersum endjinn is just phonetically spelt dialect rather than a new language. I found it really easy - being Scottish - I think that's what he had in his mind. Perhaps he got inspiration from Trainspotting that had been published around about when he was writing Feersum (I think).

The alien language translation into English in Matter left me a bit cold though - I personally felt it didn't really work. Perhaps if I get back to it, I'll try harder.

 

[Sapheron]

There is a novel called (if I remember right) Blackberry Wine, which is told from the point of view of the bottle of wine. Or so I have been lead to believe. I haven't actually read it, but I've heard it's quite good.

 

[Ursa major]

There is a novel called (if I remember right) Blackberry Wine, which is told from the point of view of the bottle of wine. Or so I have been lead to believe. I haven't actually read it, but I've heard it's quite good.

According to Wiki, this is true of the UK edition, but not of the US one (which seems odd in itself).

 

[Mirannan]

I think there is an important distinction to be made here, between artifacts that can directly affect the physical world by themselves (Culture Minds and various other AIs with manipulative tools) and those that can't (the Ring, various sapient swords in fiction). The difference is, of course, that the latter have to work towards their goals by influencing the minds of other sapients that are mobile.

 

[David Evil Overlord]

There was a magic sword in The Colour Of Magic threatened to cut Rincewind's head off if he didn't carry it and do heroic deeds (despite Rincewind being an utter coward,a wizard not a warrior, and a very inept wizard at that). Though the book wasn't written from the sword's point (no pun intended) of view, said sword had a gung-ho fighting spirit that made sense for a magic weapon.

 

[Tywin]

There was a magic sword in The Colour Of Magic threatened to cut Rincewind's head off if he didn't carry it and do heroic deeds (despite Rincewind being an utter coward,a wizard not a warrior, and a very inept wizard at that). Though the book wasn't written from the sword's point (no pun intended) of view, said sword had a gung-ho fighting spirit that made sense for a magic weapon.

I remember that sword. I also remember that the old Baldur's Gate video game had a sentient sword that you could use and who would pipe into conversations now and then. Both "characters" were interesting/amusing because their involvement brought out the differences in needs and desires between a human and a sword. What does a sword want after all?

Similarly I read a short story about a town bell once that had similar implications, although I think in that one the bell received the spirit of little girl that died centuries before. Still, the interesting thing was getting to understand the Bell's perspective and what mattered to it.

 

[ratsy]

That is an interesting thought. I cannot really think of many examples from what I have read...I suppose you could say the liveships in Hobbs world would be inanimate objects that have thought and feelings.

Here is my version of the thread in 75 word (or less)form

Life is ticking away

I sit here on the wall alone, my face won't tell a lie.
My hands are always on the move, until my batteries die.
I may tick and tock all day, it's all that I can say.
Please do not get mad at me, I was made this way.


And that turned out quite sad...didn't know where I was going with that but I made a clock seem sad...and scene