I recently started my new project, it's tentatively titled Fallen Angel and already I'm in love it. Before you ask I will confirm that yes it is another teen romance because despite being a bitter old cynic I can't seem to stop writing them.
So far this project had been interesting in more ways than I bargained for. All my projects so far (bar one and it doesn't count) have been written in the 1st person. I've always really liked this style because it allows me to really get inside my main characters head - I can put across all her feelings and hopes and dreams (it's always a she) but Fallen Angel has two main characters, Astrid and Sebastian and I wanted to write from both of their POV's.
Ha ha you say - you know where I'm going with this then. Well first off I 1st POV'd them both, to me it was all perfectly clear - I knew who was who, what was what and how Sebastian and Astrid were thinking etc - and if I knew then of course everyone else would yes... well actually no. I posted these first very rough chapters in my house at Litopia for crit and the message was CONFUSION! Who is who? Which bits are Astrid, which are Sebastian - clearly it was not working.
Some sage advice, much thrumming of fingers on keys, sighing at monitor and eating too many caramel crunchies later and I came to the inescapable conclusion that I was gonna have to 3rd POV the lot. So I have.
And this is what I have learnt, it is far harder to write in the 3rd person than it is to write in the 1st. 1st person POV is almost like diary writing, you can just waffle on, pretend you're the character and it all word vomits out - 3rd person POV is not like that at all. You have to think a lot more about your prose, you have to think about the clarity of it - it can't be all he thought, she said etc you have to really labour on it.
Fallen Angel is going to be a very interesting experience for me and I have no doubt that it is going to improve my writing skills tremendously. I'm several chapters in now and already I can see that it reads better from this change... so the point of this rambling post - well it's just to say to all those 1st POV addicts out there that sometimes it's worth thinking about doing something different even if it is more challenging.
Instead of aiming for 1st - hit a 3rd!
Wednesday, 12 November 2008
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When I first started writing seriously, aged about 18, I wrote in 3rd person, because I figured it was easier to tell a story. Then I realized that even in 3rd person, you have to write the narrative from one perspective, or the reader gets a bit lost with who's thinking what. So I tried 1st person - now, I used to hate reading books written in 1st person, because I figured they were too restrictive - you only got one character's perspective. But now, that's all I write in. You can write 1st person from different characters' perspectives, and it still works - as I did with my first "published" (albeit it self-published story) "The Journal". But don't forget as well - you can write 1st person in the past or present tense as well. The one I'm working on at the moment (working title "Putrid Underbelly") is written in 1st person present tense, so the lead character is writing things like, "I sit her, lighting up a cigarette, while he's staring at me, wondering what I'm gonna say next." It's an interesting experiment for me! So I wish you luck, Emma! Experimentation is great!
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