McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

First Person, Present Tense, and No Backstory. Can it work?

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blgarver:
A concept popped into my head the other night about writing a story that was all action (not like car chases and gunfights, just stuff happening) and events with no backstory to muck up the flow.  I will know backstory about the characters and events, but I won't fill the story with it.

I want it to be very in the moment and immediate.  Initially I think it will have to be first person, and present tense to capture the immediacy that I'm trying to get across.

It's a scifi story about a small group of people that are imprisoned on a space ship and being put through these tests and procedures. 

It will seem like a run of the mill abduction story, which is why I will need the present tense and immediacy to hold the reader until the end, where you find out what's really happening.

This isn't going to be more than a novella, and will probably be shorter than that even. 

So, can this thing work?  Will it be a pain to read?  Are people too accustomed to backstory that this would be too jarring?  I'm not starting this thing til I finish my novel but it's been in my head for a few days and I need to at least chat about it, or it's gonna eat a hole in my brain. :)

Thanks for input!

BLG

3by2:
i don't know about writing it, because i'm not an author, but as a reader i would say it wouldn't be a pain at all.  as long as there's good tension between characters and whatnot, i can easily be sucked into the situation at hand without needing to know the backstory on everyone.

the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh:

--- Quote from: blgarver on February 01, 2008, 03:42:56 PM ---So, can this thing work?  Will it be a pain to read?  Are people too accustomed to backstory that this would be too jarring?

--- End quote ---

There is no technical way of doing a story that cannot be made to work if you are good enough.

Look at the top selling SF/Fantasy novels on Amazon right now.  Stross' Halting State is up there in the top ten, and that's written in multiple second-person singulars, which are to my mind a lot weirder than anything that can be done with first.  Lots of people are buying that.

blgarver:
Well, I don't know how good I am, but I am pretty fired up about his idea. 

Second person is wierd...I never liked reading stuff in second person.

Suilan:

--- Quote --- So, can this thing work?  Will it be a pain to read?  Are people too accustomed to backstory that this would be too jarring? 
--- End quote ---

I think it might be OK, even fun, but as a reader I would expect to learn some astonishing background fact about the main character in the end. Something from his past that catches up with the story, or something that explains why he (if that's how the story goes) is the only one to survive, or something that explains why they were all abducted . . . something about him caused that . . .

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