Just Do It

When I worked as an actor, one of the first lessons I learned was about stage presence: if you walk onto the stage as if you own it and have every right to be there, then you can communicate anything you want to a captive audience.  On the other hand, if you creep on looking uncertain about how you could possibly have ended up in the limelight, you will be lucky to  project anything as far as the front row.  It has a little bit to do with conviction and a lot to do with energy.

The same applies with writing. The novel I am working on at the moment is told from one character's point of view and involves two principal protagonists.  Another crucial character is part of the story, but never makes an appearance.  My agent suggested that this off-stage figure should have a presence in the narrative and I've been agonising about whether it matters if I break the literary convention I've established and if it doesn't, how I should set about it.  I've spent ages cudgling my brains and I've finally arrived at the answer:

Just do it.

As with acting, if you do something with total conviction and a certain amount of verve and energy, your reader will accept any convention you throw at them - first person, third person, present tense, past tense - whatever.  If you have faith in what you are doing, they will too.  If you are uncertain about it, you can bet your bottom dollar your insecurities will be transmitted to them as well.  For writing, the solution is unusually simple.  Get on with it.