Learning from James

P.D. James’s “The Victim” (1973) tells the story of a man whose wife leaves him to wed someone else. Here are some of the first husband’s thoughts, early in the story:

Why, I still wonder, did he want to marry her? I thought at the time that he couldn’t resist depriving a pathetic, underprivileged, unattractive husband of a prize which neither looks nor talent had qualified him to deserve. I’ve noticed that about the rich and successful. They can’t bear to see the undeserving prosper. I thought that half the satisfaction for him was in taking her away from me. That was partly why I knew that I had to kill him. But now I’m not so sure. I may have done him an injustice. It may have been both simpler and more complicated than that. She was, you see—she still is—so very beautiful.

This paragraph is an example of a character’s metacognition. A character’s thoughts and then their reconsideration of those thoughts characterize not only in the way any thoughts would, but the reassessment shows readers another facet of the character. The paragraph shows readers two sides because it shows the character’s past thoughts and their present thinking about those thoughts. Characters who reveal change in themselves to readers are rounder than characters who do not.

The key sentences that make this possible in James’s paragraph are “That was partly why I knew that I had to kill him. But now I’m not so sure.” Similar constructions might include, “I still wonder, though I thought at the time,” “Once I felt ______, but now _______,” or thousands of other options.

In a paragraph, we might show a character rethinking earlier thoughts and reconsidering earlier events and feelings to round them.

Additionally, it is possible to borrow from film or drama: create another character to hear the confession or reassessment. This second character must exist for several reasons; hearing the confession alone is not enough. At least, consider how this second character reacts to the reassessment. How might that reaction characterize both the confider and the one confided in? What actions or plot results?