Sometimes, the most important character in a novel isn’t the one who appears on the greatest number of pages. Sometimes a reader can be most emotionally affected by a character who doesn’t appear on the page at all. Neither of these describes the vast majority of novels; most traditional narratives generally put their most compelling characters front and center. Creating a character whose presence is felt without necessarily making regular appearances is harder to pull off: it’s a kind of balancing act, an endeavor to make sure that a character’s reputation doesn’t outshine their actual appearance. “Show, don’t tell” is the old maxim, to be sure–but if done with enough verve, the telling can be effective in its own way.
This shouldn’t be regarded as a particularly new literary device. Consider Bram Stoker’s novel Dracula. Reading the book now, one of the more striking aspects of it is how little the book’s title character is actually on the page. He’s there at the beginning, to be sure, menacing Jonathan Harker in his castle, and he returns for the novel’s climax. But for the bulk of the novel, he’s elusive; the book’s heroes are largely forced to contend with his machinations, and to piece together the often-sinister plans that he has made. It’s in keeping with the structure of the novel, where the story is assembled through from letters and journal entries. And, of course, it doesn’t…
