Close 3rd with a hive minded character

[Joshua Jones]

Does anyone have any ideas/examples of close 3rd person being used with a protagonist who is at least partially, if not fully, hive minded, but not the source of the the hive mind? Looking for ideas and tips for pulling this off.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

I do it in the last two Abendau books where I have a race of space roomers who have a collective hive mind. I stay in close POV with two of them and it was fine to do. I put some checks in place - like they could maintain a little distance between their own thoughts and that of the hive (although one does not maintain that distance - and that was a little subtler to write.)

As ever in close 3rd, empathy is the key. How would it feel to be that person ?

 

[HareBrain]

The dog things in Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep are a very good example, as far as I remember. The "hives" are small (up to five? individuals) but the way the protagonist's mind is depicted as sharing the thoughts of the others is pretty inventive. His thoughts get more complex the more individuals are involved.

 

[The Big Peat]

I think there's a bit of this in Codex Alera, although I'm not utterly sure.

 

[sknox]

More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon has three people closely linked
A Fire Upon the Deep, Vernor Vinge, has a pack mind. Oops, HareBrain already covered that one.

Of course, a search returns many hits
Themes : Hive Minds : SFE : Science Fiction Encyclopedia