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Q&A How do I write from a non-person point of view?

I am writing a novel with an ensemble cast. Each chapter is told from a different person's point of view. Some of the chapters are about a non-sentient machine that communicates with the human char...

1 answer  ·  posted 8y ago by RichS‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T05:12:26Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/21749
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar RichS‭ · 2019-12-08T05:12:26Z (over 4 years ago)
I am writing a novel with an ensemble cast. Each chapter is told from a different person's point of view. Some of the chapters are about a non-sentient machine that communicates with the human characters. It's not a sentient android like R2D2 from Star Wars or the killer machine from the Terminator movies or Data from Star Trek. It's no more self-aware than a very sophisticated machine, but many of its actions and communications drive the plot and decisions of the other characters.

This character will never become sentient during the story. It will never have feelings the way your laptop never has feelings.

How would I write from its point of view?

Edit to Add:

- This character only **seems** intelligent and sentient.
- It does not comprehend human motives.
- It considers human requests baffling even when it understands the requests.
- It seems extremely intelligent in that it has access to extraordinary amounts of knowledge and can even put that knowledge together in unpredictable ways.
#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2016-04-18T00:33:34Z (about 8 years ago)
Original score: 4