Tldr version: So in my anthology series I'm writing about yokai, Misako encounters a mythological Baku (which is said to be a creature that eats nightmares). The whole process goes awry, and then she accidentally body-swaps with a princess (who often uses shadow magic)... But! Since I have little experience writing a body-swapping episode, this requires more careful thought. How do I make sure the audience follows the shadow-princess, and I need more than having Misako cooped up in the same place (aka the other's body) for an incredibly long time (aka the princess's mindscape, as I like to call it)
What? I’m sorry but I don’t quite understand the question. Can you make it more general? What I think your question is: Character A has some tomfoolery with a magic creature and ends up in Character B’s body. You want to know how to ensure the reader follows which character is which? That’s a non-issue when it comes to text. You just say Character A did whatever, treat it the same as any other disguise.
Well, there is a short scene where character B has to act like character A, but it's hard to let the audience know which is which when body-swapping, so what's an easier way to let the audience know who is in charge? Basically since no one else there knows that Character A body-swapped with Character B. I did plan for a short scene where a former friend of character A calls up and character B answers, with the former friend not knowing of the prior switch beforehand
Who is the narrator? If you have an all knowing narrator, then the audience should just know as soon as the body swap scene takes place. Are they swapping back and forth for some reason that we wouldn’t know who’s in control? Once you establish that then minds are swapped, the reader is aware that they are swapped until you explicitly tell them they aren’t anymore. You still must describe the scene’s action somehow, and I would assume that the narrator would have access to the inner thoughts of the character. You can talk about the character struggling to pull peoples names that the princess would know but your character is only vaguely familiar with, or procedures. I image there would be a lot to bullshit. I don’t think you need to address it at all, the reader shouldn’t forget about the body swap just because the character is pretending to be them. We don’t suddenly forget that Jack Ryan is a CIA agent when he’s pretending to be a KGB agent and starts speaking Russian.
The narrator will be Misako, since the princess is in charge (for now). I was giving some thought as to how to portray the mind, is it more of a geographical landscape or a more metaphorical environment, since character A (Misako) will be spending 80% of her time there.
