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McAnally's (The Community Pub) => Author Craft => Topic started by: Abstruse on December 29, 2006, 02:58:03 AM
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Short and simple...do you feel that first person perspective is necessary for the urban fantasy genre?
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
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Necessary? No. But I think it reflects a trend in literature in general, not just in this particular genre. It allows the author certain liberties, in that they don't have to explain anything that the narrator isn't privy to (until they're gosh darned good and ready. Mysterious cars hitting Harry ring a bell?). That element of limited view, of implied failibility (I'm too tired to spell correctly, sue me), adds to the reader's identification with the narrator. That identification and empathy keeps us coming back. It's a good technique. Like any technique, it can be done poorly or overused, but it's still good.
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The problem I'm having to weigh is that the series I'm writing, the main character isn't the main character through the whole thing. The first and second books are about a girl, the third book is about the girl and the guy she meets, the rest of the series becomes more and more focused on their son until he's the main character. Plus I have a tendency to kill off protagonists like I were a serial killer...seriously, you think Joss Wheden's bad? Plus there's a character that's a supporting character in all those books but he's the main character in the one I'm currently working on. I'm just worried that writing in the first person would be jarring from book to book. It'd be like Thomas telling his story about his big adventure before he met Harry in book one, then we have Storm Front and all that, then Thomas shows up in Grave Peril. The question is, would it be better to go for first person, third person, or re-examine the structure of my big epic storyline?
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
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Can you write in first person, but with different voices?
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Sure you can. The most common reason to do so would be a project told from the POVs of multiple characters: e.g. Chapter 1 is Harry telling the story, Chapter 2 is Murphy, Chapter 3 is Butters, etc...
Although I can conceive of reasons why you could still do so with only one protagonist...
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I meant does he have the talent to do so. ;) It's a difficult art to master.
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Oh, it would work with each person telling their own story. Say Molly turns out to be the main character. It would go something like Book 1: Thomas, Book 2: Murphy, Book 3: Harry Book 4 and on: Molly for example. My question is would that work for a series? Would people lose interest if it turns out the little girl with pigtails who turns into a goth ends up the main character? Would people stop reading if they realize that Thomas isn't going to tell another story after the first and just be a sidekick character?
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
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I don't think it has to be first person. I think it's fun to read it that way, but from an author's perspective... I'm currently writing an urban fantasy-ish story, and I'm trying to write in first person and it is HARD. It's great and flows so well for my main character's style of talking, but it's hard to find my way around when I've read so little fiction written that way.
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I'll say this:
My wife has been reading a 1st Person POV series ... Kushiel's somethingorother. Not my bag, so I haven't read any of them.
Apparently the first book or two were from the POV of an adult female character, first person. She thought they were well done and quite interesting and she liked the character.
The most recent book, the POV character is apparently a young male child. But, she says, the author voices the character like he's ... an adult female ... she literally put the book aside and said it was unreadable. She didn't like the character, she didn't like the change of viewpoint, and the author went into something that she may not have been able to pull off.
I would have put the Dresden books down if Murphy had been the POV for book three and Thomas book six. I'm not as interested in those characters, as main characters, as I am Harry. If I pick up a book of the Dresden Files, I expect it to be from Harry's POV. When I pick up the first book of a series, it's just me, but if it is in first person ... when I go to the next book, I'll be expecting the same main.
Now, a great author might be able to pull me back in, but I don't even like it in 3rd person narratives. When I'm reading about Main Character 1, and I get into his story, if the next chapter is Main Character 3 ... I want to skip the chapter and look for the next one with the other guy. All of my favorite authors stick with one character for a whole book, if not a whole series.
--fje
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The story I'm writing doesn't work that way though. The events that the child who grows up is the key to start before he's even born. It wouldn't work in flashbacks, so I'm not sure what to do.
Imagine this for a moment...Harry and Susan have a child and their son is the key to protecting the world and all that when we get to the end of the Dresden series...since Jim says he's going to end the series somewhere in the 20s, say that by book 15 or so, their child is a teenager and he starts taking the center stage from Harry. By book 20, Harry is no longer in the story at all, and the last 5 or so books are about his son. That would be a pretty good analogy of how the series would work.
Any suggestions?
The Abstruse One
Darryl Mott Jr.
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Personally, I'd write it third person. When reading books that go back and forth between different characters all in the first person, I get confused easily. Especially if the characters dont have strong enough personalites, it can get to the point where you can barely tell the difference. Also, first person can make it a lot more personal for the reader. With third person you have the option of following someone else around for a chapter or two. With first person, that just doesnt make since.
but that may just be me.
good luck!
-d
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Imagine this for a moment...Harry and Susan have a child and their son is the key to protecting the world and all that when we get to the end of the Dresden series...since Jim says he's going to end the series somewhere in the 20s, say that by book 15 or so, their child is a teenager and he starts taking the center stage from Harry. By book 20, Harry is no longer in the story at all, and the last 5 or so books are about his son. That would be a pretty good analogy of how the series would work.
If it for something of the scope you described above (over 20 or so books) I would probably stay first person for all of them, but on the crucial book(s), where the son becomes the focus, I would have chapters where he is the POV character. It would be a transition of sorts. You might lose some readers, but I would think it would be easier than something more abrupt.
Of course, I have a problem writing in 3rd person. It never seems to work for me.
Again, just my two cents...
-paul
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First/Third person perspective isn't necessary for any genre, I don't think. Just depends on which the author feels like writing or feels fits the character best.
I myself usually write in third person though I do have a handful of first person stories. It really just depends on what sort of character I'm writing or the time-set. Example: current fantasy story in the works is written third person with main character featured strongly alongside the others and a werewolf story I have on the side with the main character loosely based on myself and written first person because its modern time setting. Somehow the two viewpoints work differently.
So, like I said, I think it just depends on what you're writing.