McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft

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

<< < (2/4) > >>

blgarver:

--- Quote from: Suilan on February 01, 2008, 08:47:35 PM ---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 . . .

--- End quote ---

Well, obviously the reader will find out what is happening, and why, but not til the end.  And they haven't really been abducted...it will just seem that way until the climax.

Gaereth:
In my humble opinion, what you have described is the essence of a first person story. You are immersed in what is happening and will only get glimpses of any back story via the thoughts of the person you are looking through the eyes of. If they know what is going on then they will be thinking it and it will come out in your story....if they don't then what comes out is them wondering, "What did I do to deserve this?".

A good first person story doesn't give you all the answers simply because the main character doesn't know either. You get to discover the story as the character does.

OZ:
For a novelI think this style growsw a bit breathless after a while. For a novella or even shorter this works very well. This style of story is often used in short horror pieces. It allows a tremendous amount of tension to be built. It also allows the author to tell a story in the first person and still conceal things about the main character. (The narrator ends up being the killer, or the narrator is actually insane and hallucinating, etc.)

blgarver:
Awesome, thanks for the input guys.  Now, as soon as I finish WIP, I will try my hand at this story.

conte:
Try watching the movie "Memento" -- First Person (in a sense, one person's POV), and moving backwards in time.  The movie will show you how a gimmicky concept can work...   But if you aren't absolutely perfect, "gimmick" is all anyone will remember.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page