Author Knowledge, Character Knowledge

Any of you who are familiar with roleplaying games have probably been scolded about the difference between 'player knowledge' and 'character knowledge'. For the uninitiated, 'character knowledge' consists of things your character is aware of at that particular point in the game, whereas 'player knowledge' is meta-awareness you probably have about the world of the story, the other players, and the like.

If you're an author working alone, with no one to call you out on it, it's easy to let 'author knowledge' inform your character's actions when the character in question shouldn't really have this information. A big part of this, I think, is that as an author you are immersed in the world of the story, and forget that the characters don't share your omniscient perspective (unless you are writing God, as played by Morgan Freeman-- in which case, ignore this post). This is particularly true if you're writing multiple characters who have radically different takes on the situation, and if you're taking up an omniscient or limited-omniscient authorial voice. (Another part is probably the urge to keep our characters out of too much trouble, which is probably worth a separate discussion.)

Personally, I like to keep tabs on what each character knows or doesn't know in any given chapter via a spreadsheet (Michael likes to keep his notes in a more organic format). You can use index cards, an outlining tool, or simply character sheets, as long as the method helps you remember. This will keep your characters from mysteriously acquiring knowledge about the plot that they simply shouldn't have.