Books that have mindreaders as MC...

JerseyGirl1962 · Jan 24, 2006

...or other characters as mindreaders.

I need some help in fleshing out the MC of my current WIP. I've gotten some crits that say they're unsure as to what my MC can sense with his mind.

Basically, all I've had him do/say is that he can sense when someone is coming close to him, can check "around town" to see if certain people are around, and is also not able to pick up on this other character when that character shapeshifts (the reasoning behind that is told later in the story).

So I was just wondering if anyone here has read any books that have characters along those lines. I'd like to take a look at how other authors have dealt with this. I have an excerpt from a YA fantasy novel, and while it's decent for that particular story, it's not helping me all that much.

Thanks for any help!

~Nancy

dragonjax · Jan 24, 2006

Check out Octavia Butler's work. (Sorry, blanking on the actual title...)

Jewel101 · Jan 24, 2006

The halfblood chronicles by Andre Norton and Mercedes Lackey. There are elves, humans, and halfbloods. The halfbloods can read minds, except for the humans, who have magic protecting them.

Deleted member 42 · Jan 24, 2006

Butler Mind of My Mind, Pattern Master, and two others I can't recall in the series.

ChaosTitan · Jan 24, 2006

My novel has with characters with varying degrees of this particular talent. It might not be a bad idea to do a Google search of different kinds of ESP abilities (telepathy, clairvoyance, pre-cognition, post-cognition, etc...), and see which one fits your character best. It sounds less like they read minds than they sense the psychic presence of others.

Once you are certain of their ability and its limitations, you can put your MC into situations where those limitations are tested. All going back to showing us what the MC can do, rather than someone asking and them telling (although, if all else fails....).

Sage · Jan 24, 2006

chaostitan said:
My novel has with characters with varying degrees of this particular talent. It might not be a bad idea to do a Google search of different kinds of ESP abilities (telepathy, clairvoyance, pre-cognition, post-cognition, etc...), and see which one fits your character best. It sounds less like they read minds than they sense the psychic presence of others.

Once you are certain of their ability and its limitations, you can put your MC into situations where those limitations are tested. All going back to showing us what the MC can do, rather than someone asking and them telling (although, if all else fails....).

Good points. Does the character sense anything more than just the person's presence? The only example of this that I can actually think of is actually from Highlander. I'm sure there are literary examples, though.

As chaostitan mentioned, there are lots of different types of psychic abilities. Telepaths actually read minds, whereas empaths read feelings. Some people can see the future (pre-cognition), some can see the past (post-cognition), some can see auras. I'm not sure what it's called when you can just feel someone's presence.

Jarsto · Jan 25, 2006

I can't think of any characters with that particular set of talents in anything I've read (or written for that matter).

What I would wonder about as a reader is whether these skills are unique to the MC. So is he the only one with any psychic talent, or are there others in this world that have it?

And if there are others can they all do roughly the same thing, or is there a scale (some can just sense others, some can sense emotions, some can read thoughts), or are their talents totally different from each other (one can sense other people, another can teleport himself, yet another can command animals). You obviously have a shapeshifter in there, but is that a similar sort of talent or something totally different?

If you use those questions as a framework you should be able to make it clear whether this is all he can do now, and whether this is all he'll ever be capable of. That should clearify things for your readers, though slipping it in without info-dumping may be a challenge.

JerseyGirl1962 · Jan 25, 2006

Thanks Dragonjax, Jewel, and Medievalist - I'll have to check out those books and have a look-see.

~ Nancy

JerseyGirl1962 · Jan 25, 2006

chaostitan said:
My novel has with characters with varying degrees of this particular talent. It might not be a bad idea to do a Google search of different kinds of ESP abilities (telepathy, clairvoyance, pre-cognition, post-cognition, etc...), and see which one fits your character best. It sounds less like they read minds than they sense the psychic presence of others.

Chaos,

You know, I hadn't thought of that (duh). :tongue

I think pre-cognition and post-cognition aren't what I had in mind (no pun intended), but I may happen upon something that might better fit the MC. And if I have rearrange things in the story but the change makes it a better read, it's something I'll definitely have to do.

Thanks.

~Nancy

JerseyGirl1962 · Jan 25, 2006

Sage said:
Good points. Does the character sense anything more than just the person's presence? The only example of this that I can actually think of is actually from Highlander. I'm sure there are literary examples, though.

As chaostitan mentioned, there are lots of different types of psychic abilities. Telepaths actually read minds, whereas empaths read feelings. Some people can see the future (pre-cognition), some can see the past (post-cognition), some can see auras. I'm not sure what it's called when you can just feel someone's presence.

Sage,

You've made me think about a lot of things in my story - thanks! At this point, I only have the MC sensing other humans that can't shapeshift; he can't tell if a human has shifted into an animal.

The way it goes for my MC is he senses humans just a few feet near him; fights off painful intrusions into his mind (someone doesn't want him to get close to a certain secret); with just a thought, can get people off him (flip people into the air, that sort of thing); and senses certain humans within the radius of the city he's in. As to the last one, he learns to pick up on certain "fantastical attributes" that help him to hone in on just certain humans, but this is much later in the story.

As for thinking something and then having that very thing he thought of happening...I'm not sure if I'm going to keep that part in. I was unsure about including that at all and decided to go with it for now; but I don't think I've written those particular scenes all that well.

Something I'll have to come to a decision on before long.

Again, thanks for the ideas and question!

~Nancy

JerseyGirl1962 · Jan 25, 2006

Jarsto said:
What I would wonder about as a reader is whether these skills are unique to the MC. So is he the only one with any psychic talent, or are there others in this world that have it?

The MC isn't the only one with psychic talent (see my answer to Sage).

Jarsto said:
And if there are others can they all do roughly the same thing, or is there a scale (some can just sense others, some can sense emotions, some can read thoughts), or are their talents totally different from each other (one can sense other people, another can teleport himself, yet another can command animals). You obviously have a shapeshifter in there, but is that a similar sort of talent or something totally different?

If you use those questions as a framework you should be able to make it clear whether this is all he can do now, and whether this is all he'll ever be capable of. That should clearify things for your readers, though slipping it in without info-dumping may be a challenge.

Others are similar but not the same. A friend of his hears conversations and is one of only two people he's told about his sensing (figuring she would understand).

Shapeshifter - hmm...now that's a good question. I think I may have to flesh him out some more. I'd say his talent is different. He's learned to shapeshift and has gotten good at it. But he has to use a human conduit (my term for it) to access certain magical properties to delve into people's minds (he's the one who is causing the MC pain); he can't use his mind for anything other that shapeshifting and having knives whip through the air.

Much thanks for the questions and ideas. I appreciate it!

~Nancy

Euan H. · Jan 25, 2006

Take a look at the Farseer trilogy (Assassin's Apprentice, Royal Assassin, and Assassin's Quest) by Robin Hobb. The book's in 1st person, and the main character has a telepathic ability (it's labeled as magic, but really it's telepathy) that he can't fully control. The way Hobb handles this is brilliant--and much more convincing than hearing voices in your head.

As well as that, they're good books in their own right.

pdr · Jan 25, 2006

Andre Norton

Andre Norton has several books with main Characters with physic mind reading talents. 'Cat's Eye' might be a useful one to read.

TheIT · Jan 25, 2006

For TV examples, Babylon 5.

TheIT · Jan 25, 2006

Anne McCaffrey's Pegasus series. To Ride Pegasus describes present day when psychic powers came about, while The Rowan and the sequels are far future and extrapolate from the present day stories.

ChaosTitan · Jan 25, 2006

JerseyGirl1962 said:
and having knives whip through the air.
~Nancy

That would be telekinesis. That's a whole other ballgame. :hooray:

But an equally exciting ballgame.

Pthom · Jan 25, 2006

LeGuin, Ursula K. -- "Lathe of Heaven" (Although whether it's mind reading or dreaming in this story is debatable)

Butler, Octavia -- "Xenogenesis" series ("Dawn" "Adulthood Rites" "Imago"); and -- "Paternist" series ("Wild Seed" "Mind of Mind" "Clay's Ark" "Survivor" "Patternmaster")

Euan H. · Jan 26, 2006

Pthom said:
Butler, Octavia -- "Xenogenesis" series ("Dawn" "Adulthood Rites" "Imago"); and -- "Paternist" series ("Wild Seed" "Mind of Mind" "Clay's Ark" "Survivor" "Patternmaster")

Heh. I'd pick up on the Paternist series of examples of how it shouldn't be done, IMO. Butler treats psychic powers as being functionally equivalent to physical powers (at least, as far as I can remember, and I only read three of the books). That series also had some rather unpleasant undertones about the inherent superiority of psychics--as did the Pegasus series mentioned earlier. Any novel that starts with an assumption that some people are superior to others based solely on accidents of birth gets a black mark against it. JMO.

Deleted member 42 · Jan 26, 2006

Euan H. said:
Heh. I'd pick up on the Paternist series of examples of how it shouldn't be done, IMO. Butler treats psychic powers as being functionally equivalent to physical powers (at least, as far as I can remember, and I only read three of the books). That series also had some rather unpleasant undertones about the inherent superiority of psychics--as did the Pegasus series mentioned earlier. Any novel that starts with an assumption that some people are superior to others based solely on accidents of birth gets a black mark against it. JMO.

Err . . . that's part of the point Butler was trying to make -- the characters with that attitude are pretty much not likeable -- including main leads.

TheIT · Jan 26, 2006

Medievalist said:
Err . . . that's part of the point Butler was trying to make -- the characters with that attitude are pretty much not likeable -- including main leads.

Same with the Pegasus series as I recall, though it's been a while since I've read them. What I remember was an X-Men type situation where the people with extraordinary powers needed to figure out how to deal with their abilities and society had to evolve to cope.

TheIT · Jan 26, 2006

All right, this is going to bug me until I remember the author and where I read it. Might have been in Analog. I just recalled a story set in contemporary times where only a handful of telepaths exist. They have to remain physically separated by great distances otherwise their minds merge into insanity. The story involved an airplane/car chase through the mountains. I'll check my bookshelves tonight, but does this ring a bell for anyone?

TheIT · Jan 27, 2006

TheIT said:
All right, this is going to bug me until I remember the author and where I read it. Might have been in Analog. I just recalled a story set in contemporary times where only a handful of telepaths exist. They have to remain physically separated by great distances otherwise their minds merge into insanity. The story involved an airplane/car chase through the mountains. I'll check my bookshelves tonight, but does this ring a bell for anyone?

I answered my own question: Timothy Zahn's Red Thoughts in Morning and Black Thoughts at Noon printed in Analog.

To add to the list: Emerald Eyes and its sequels by Daniel Keys Moran.

Euan H. · Jan 29, 2006

Medievalist said:
Err . . . that's part of the point Butler was trying to make -- the characters with that attitude are pretty much not likeable -- including main leads.

Obviously I didn't make myself clear. From what I got from the novels I read, it wasn't only that the characters had that attitude. If I write about a character who thinks the Holocaust didn't happen, that's one thing. But if in the narrative I (the author) deny the Holocaust happened, then that's something else.

As for the Pegasus series: it contains the same kind of undertone. It's not that the characters think they're superior, it's that that is one of the ideas that's embedded in the novels.

SeanDSchaffer · Jan 29, 2006

I remember an old A.E. van Vogt novel from the 1940's, entitled Slan, in which the main character was able to read minds. The MC, a slan named Jommy Cross, turned out to be quite likable and a very interesting character.

I believe you can still get it at the online stores. Good read, though it is quite violent.

AnneMarble · Feb 1, 2006

The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester!
:Trophy:

It won the first Hugo award.

Also, Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar books are about characters with psychic abilities -- some stronger than others.

Here's a reader's Amazon Listmania list with some other suggestions.

Books that have mindreaders as MC...

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