I'm still having trouble summoning the will to blog at the moment. I'm afraid that I'm not going to be able to find anything interesting to say. I've never been one for writerly posts... 'cos I know my way of doing things is a pretty ridiculous one, even though it does seem to get results in the end, judging by the kind things folks sometimes say about my work. But I wouldn't inflict my shambolic way of writing and working on anybody, when I wish that it was different for myself anyway.So, what's happening? The first draft of IN TOO DEEP is in the maturing vat at the moment, and in the meantime, I'm working on an old partial I wrote about two years ago [working title Thief] and 'bringing it up to code'. I thought this thing was pretty spiffy when I wrote it, but now I see it's not as good as it could be. It wasn't out and out terrible, just a bit 'flat' somehow. I'm getting a feeling I should change the voice, but it's complicated. Basically, my heroine wants to speak in 'first person, present' while my hero seems to want to tell his side of things in 'third person, past'!!!
Writers... have you ever had a dilemma like this? And how did you deal with it? Readers, if you started reading a book with two different viewpoints like this, would that put you off, even if you liked the story and the characters and the writing style in general?
[Editors, would you give a proven author a chance to get away with something like this? LOL]
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Telly: not yet
Choc/Yummy: banana
Mood: okay
Writing: Theif
Reading: Exclusive
RSI/FMS: bit sore generally
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5 comments:
a
As a reader, some writers could not pull this off, the book would be confusing and uncomfortable to read. I think you could make it work!!
I'm only ever drawn to writing 1st person in short stories. Anything longer goes multiple 3rd person PoV by auto default. no help, sorry. I'm curious to see how it works for you.
Yeah, I used to always automatically write novels in third person, but then I tried first person, present tense once and it was like being bitten by a bug. I want to always do it that way now. It seems easier and more 'real' to me... at least for the heroine, who is sort of a projection of me. The hero is at slightly more at a distance, so third person feels right for him.
Don't think I could do multiple first, that seems entirely wrong, because only one person can *be* the book.
Does any of that make sense?
My opinion as a reader and a writer. I was startled the first time I read a novel that was broken into 1st person for heroine and 3rd person for hero. That was Amie Stuart. I don't have an issue with it.
I do think that you should keep the tense the same as in both present or both past. I think it could get very confusing very fast. You could always write it in present and revise it to past. Good luck.
Good point, Amanda, about all present or all past.
I've tried it now, and the first/present, third/past feels okay to me, but that could be just because I'm on the inside.
I don't like first/past all that much as it reads like a memoir... but not sure how third/present is going to work for him.
Of course I'm cheating, because each section is prefaced by the characters name! LOL
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