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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33748
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33748
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

If you've ever played D&D, think of this character as having low wisdom, high intelligence: smart, but not knowledgeable. Curious. Interested in obtaining new information, looking at new things in wonder, awe - whatever emotion you wish to evoke in the reader. Consider not only the knowledge your character lacks, but also the knowledge he has, and have him respond to new situations in light of this knowledge. (This might lead the character to mistakes, but the mistakes would be understandable and interesting.) Do make sure that your character does have some knowledge - he comes from somewhere, right? He has a frame of reference. He fits new knowledge into what he already knows. Let your character learn (so he doesn't appear stupid), and make him curious to find out things - all the things you want your reader to be curious about. Let the character have an emotional response to acquiring new information - he might be surprised, or feel himself rustic, or whatever, depending on the situation. And sometimes, let this character's status as an outsider be an advantage.

Consider, for example, Pippin's role in the Lord of the Rings. He starts out as a "Fool of a Took" - he does not fully grasp the danger they are in, he acts on impulse. Seeing a deep hole in Moria, he's curious to find out just how deep it is, and coming from the safe, calm Shire, he doesn't have it in him to show caution. Instead, he throws in a rock. Which is what the reader would probably do. The same Pippin later, not fully understanding the political situation in Gondor, nor the magnitude of what he's doing, swears fealty to Lord Denethor - a generous act, as even Gandalf concedes. Here Pippin's actions are naive, but praiseworthy. And that same Pippin, when being given orders that are crazy (burn Faramir alive), does not have a soldier's "obey orders, trust the leader" training, but instead responds as the only sane man. In all situations, he is a fish out of water, to different effects. (Another effect is of course that we see the wonder that is Minas Tirith, as well as the pre-battle fear and the horror of the battle itself through the eyes of Pippin who is new to all those situations, rather than through the eyes of a character who is accustomed to them, and for whom the experiences are thus blunted.)

Original score: 2