: Re: How to deceive the MC My protagonist is finally meeting with the big boss of a mafia. At least, he thinks he is. The boss actually sends someone to pretend to be him. I'm writing from the

@Steve161

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The problem you're describing is one that happens within third-person omniscient narrative, and therefore isn't a problem within your third-person (limited) POV. But I will tackle the problem as if you are writing omniscient.

It is really just a case of whether you want to deceive the reader or the MC. Deceiving the MC is quite easy, in theory, as the omniscient narrator you can just show/tell he's oblivious to the truth. I.e.

The fake mafia boss entered the room. The MC shivered all over. Oh boy, that's the mafia boss.

Italics can and to be honest, should be used to convey the MC's thoughts. Using that technique, you can easily tell the reader that the mafia boss is fake, but also tell them the MC has no idea. But what if you want to deceive the reader as an omniscient third person narrator? Well you can, and it's all in the art of leaving information out.

Consider this:

Instead of saying

The fake mafia boss entered the room

Say this

A man entered the room. He introduced himself as (name).

The name being established as being the name of the mafia boss. Or maybe he could have a more in-depth introduction were he talks about what he does, and how he runs everything. You can easily, and rightfully, fool your reader by, as the omniscient narrator, saying the objective facts (i.e. he entered), but have the characters themselves tell the lies.

And if you're feeling unique, you can have a omniscient narrator with a personality, that deliberately lies to the reader as if they're talking to the reader. And they might admit it later too. Though, this is within fourth-wall breaking territory.

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