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Q&A In a first-person web novel, how to make the reader aware of a motivator the POV is unaware of?

Have a third party observe his actions and let them linger on the MC's reasons for doing what he did. This way you can let the MC be oblivious to his own reasons for sparing his enemy, while the re...

posted 5y ago by Totumus Maximus‭  ·  last activity 4y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T10:06:40Z (over 4 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/39931
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Totumus Maximus‭ · 2019-12-08T10:06:40Z (over 4 years ago)
Have a third party observe his actions and let them linger on the MC's reasons for doing what he did. This way you can let the MC be oblivious to his own reasons for sparing his enemy, while the reader becomes aware of it.

This technique is also seen a lot with unlikeable antiheroes. A third party explains why the things they do are for the greater good (or a lesser evil). And there you go. You can also find examples in the many interpretations of the stories of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-11-06T13:29:34Z (over 5 years ago)
Original score: 0