ABSTRACT
Once all-powerful and omnipotent, the author of fiction gradually receded into the shadows and even appeared in the obituaries, only to be resurrected again in the discreet figure of the signifier, standing behind a range of hypothetical intermediates. She has been called an artist, a social reformer and a gifted genius. She has been incriminated for treating her characters as puppets, and more recently, for her perplexing insistence to treat them ‘as if they were real.’
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the authorial identity, role and purpose, absolving the author from the assigned function of the moral instructor, examine her art as a craft, and dispel the myth of the ‘character delusion.’
Varotsi also introduces her four stages of creativity – Observation, Perception, Empathy and Imagination – discussing empirical knowledge and practical research.
The chapter also entails an analysis of Point of View and Unreliable Narration.
