First Person
A friend of mine in a writing group said this about writing in First Person:
I'm toying with the idea of writing my Secret Novel in Multiple First Person. I'm wondering now how different each "voice" should be. My characters are quite diverse in background and age, and I suppose that ought to be reflected in the narrative diction, but I don't want to draw too much attention to it.
In general, I think the key to writing effectively in first is about not treating it like third person with a find-and-replace button, he or she swapped out for I in the same sentences, structures, and techniques. For first person present to be truly sustainable at novel length -- and, well, more readable in shorter lengths -- it has to be more experiential. If I'm telling a story, "No shit, there I was," I'm telling you about what I saw, how I felt, what my emotional reactions were; how I tell you and even what I tell you will be coloured by what I think of the whole thing.
So the major thing I'd put out there for writing effectively in first would be this: Think about how people actually do tell stories about themselves. What kind of language they use, how casual or formal they are, how they get across their personalities in the style and what they omit and what kinds of things they mention. Think about how they put the listener in the story with them.
I'm toying with the idea of writing my Secret Novel in Multiple First Person. I'm wondering now how different each "voice" should be. My characters are quite diverse in background and age, and I suppose that ought to be reflected in the narrative diction, but I don't want to draw too much attention to it.
Comments
Faulkner's "As I Lay Dying" has five or six first-person narrators in rotation, all with unique voices. I think you should make each voice strongly individual if you go with multiple first-person narrators. One, it will be more believable and compelling, and it will open doors to showing the story from a true variety of interpretations. Which could be very cool. Orhan Pamuk's "My Name is Red" also does this really well. Iain Pears' "An Instance of the Fingerpost" is the same story told four times in a row by four different characters.
I've written one in multiple first persons, and it was a lot of fun. The voices need to be as different as they need to be. You do want there to be different nuances, just as real people would have. My advice would be to just write them in without worrying about whether there will be too much attention drawn to their individual voice. Later on, if you feel there is a problem, you can always revise. o:)
I like to think of first person as part of my strategy. Only the person telling the story gets first person (most of the time.) I want the reader to be more involved with my hero.
But really it depends on how I feel the story is best told. Sometimes you want to have a character who is a bit opaque, and first person overshares in that situation.
As I Lay Dying had some great first person, but as a reader I found it difficult to switch from one head to the other sometimes.
The reaction to first person can be hit or miss among readers anyhow; so mileage varies on the usage both from writing and reading perspectives.
I like the advice your friend gave and think that it might be a great challenge to write your secret novel in multiple 1st POVs. You'll learn a lot! And then you can share your wisdom with us. :D
2) Don't worry about toning it down until after you type "THE END". I often have to remove 20-30% of the dialect words from my Southern characters, since dialog (even personal narration) isn't really writing things the way people talk, but is writing to imply the way people talk.
3) A character's narration during their own section should strongly resemble their dialog during another narrator's sections. Although, the difference between their narration and their dialog can also illuminate the characters of the two people involved.
Take a person who naturally thinks in flowery terms, but who socially restricts themselves to logical statements. That dichotomy implies things about the person's upbringing and the culture they inhabit. Interesting to play with, but perhaps more work than it is worth for a multiple-first-viewpoint work.
4) Remember that all first person narrators are unreliable, in that they have opinions and "filters" based upon their personalities. Develop those quirks before you begin to write in a voice, and the rest will follow.
5) Expect that, if doing multiple firsts, you will have to do a complete pass to correct for voice for each person, once you know the final story. This complicates your editing job, but it means the final layering of the story should be very subtle and rich.
Now I sit back and hope that I don't sound like a broken record.