Last week I introduced the Unaware Character technique. The reader knows what’s happening, but the character doesn’t realize.
I’ve been thinking about it as I read Mary Calmes’ Marshals series.
She has this fun little fantasy where Milo keeps getting hit on by just about everyone he encounters and he doesn’t realize it because he’s so in love with his partner. Calmes uses this technique over and over in the series. The neighbor. The witness. The officer he’s temporarily working with. The doctor who heals his wounds. His friend’s friend that he meets at a bar while he happens to be borrowing a purple shirt that’s too small on him and unintentionally shows off his muscles in a super sexy way.
First of all, since the series is in first person POV and we see it through Milo’s eyes, we the reader love the fantasy of everyone who comes across our path falling for us. Sure, I could be a regular person and have everyone be interested in me when I’m not even trying.
Second, we the reader enjoy the contrast that we realize what’s happening and Milo doesn’t. We get to watch Ian gnash his teeth and be jealous. At the same time as we are in Milo’s head thinking “I’m a regular person and my mate is the hot one.”
Why is that contrast so delicious?
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