Hatrack River Writers Workshop   
my profile login | search | faq | forum home

  next oldest topic   next newest topic
» Hatrack River Writers Workshop » Forums » Open Discussions About Writing » First Person Writing

   
Author Topic: First Person Writing
KPKilburn
Member
Member # 6876

 - posted      Profile for KPKilburn   Email KPKilburn         Edit/Delete Post 
I know I saw a thread about writing in the first person, but I can't seem to find it. Can someone point me to the thread or answer this... thanks.

When writing in first person, how do you establish the "timeframe"? For example (and I believe this is what that thread answered), if I write...

"I walked into the room and saw a woman in the shadows. She moved into the light and I recognized her as Janice."

The question is, if the author is writing, then at this time he would already know it was Janice. Would you simply write, "I walked into the room and Janice was standing in the shadows?"

It seems that you'd remove any suspense from the story by doing this too often. Does that mean that some stories are better suited for third person writing?

Can you write first person (effectively)in past tense, but almost as if it's happening in the present (like the first example)?

Thanks.


Posts: 172 | Registered: Nov 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
TaleSpinner
Member
Member # 5638

 - posted      Profile for TaleSpinner   Email TaleSpinner         Edit/Delete Post 
Well, the narrator knows now that it's Janice, but did not know at the time he walked into the room. I think in first person the narrator can choose to recreate the experience he had at the time of the event, so if he wasn't sure who it was until she moved into the light, and felt uncertainty at the time, that's okay and a legitimate source of suspense.

If uncertainty about her identity isn't material to the plot--and the suspense isn't authentic in the sense of not being a feeling MC would have had--then your second version would be the one to go with.

Cheers,
Pat


Posts: 1796 | Registered: Jun 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Grant John
Member
Member # 5993

 - posted      Profile for Grant John   Email Grant John         Edit/Delete Post 
I second Talespinner, as a reader I am happy for a first person narrator to recreate confusion.
Posts: 181 | Registered: Aug 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
kings_falcon
Member
Member # 3261

 - posted      Profile for kings_falcon   Email kings_falcon         Edit/Delete Post 
I found this thread -

First person narrative - how and why - http://www.hatrack.com/forums/writers/forum/Forum1/HTML/000394.html


Posts: 1210 | Registered: Feb 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
InarticulateBabbler
Member
Member # 4849

 - posted      Profile for InarticulateBabbler   Email InarticulateBabbler         Edit/Delete Post 
Now, Survivor's a voice too long among the missing.
Posts: 3687 | Registered: Jan 2007  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Christine
Member
Member # 1646

 - posted      Profile for Christine   Email Christine         Edit/Delete Post 
A first person narrator is permitted to tell the story as a story-teller, and a story-teller might definitely write in the way you describe.

There is a lot of gray area on this one. Depending upon the motives of the story-teller, they need not tell you everything that they knew at the time, let alone what they know now. Telling you everything they know now would be a boring story. Telling you everything they knew at the moment of action is almost always the right thing to do, but you can also establish an unreliable narrator. In fact, I just finished reading a murder mystery written in first person in which the narrator himself was the murderer! The way it was done, it was brilliant and did not feel at all like a cheat, because the narrator was recording the information for others to read and so of course would not want to implicate himself in the crime.

Some stories are more suited to first person than others. But generally speaking, you need to think about who the narrator was then, who he is now, why he's writing the story, and then give him a dramatic voice to tell it.


Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Kathleen Dalton Woodbury
Administrator
Member # 59

 - posted      Profile for Kathleen Dalton Woodbury   Email Kathleen Dalton Woodbury         Edit/Delete Post 
I've read two murder mysteries like that, Christine--one by Agatha Christie, and one my M. M. Kaye. Was the book you just read by either author, or is there a third book out there?
Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Christine
Member
Member # 1646

 - posted      Profile for Christine   Email Christine         Edit/Delete Post 
It was Agatha Christie -- she's so good! I've read 3 books by her now and am planning to get more.
Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Kathleen Dalton Woodbury
Administrator
Member # 59

 - posted      Profile for Kathleen Dalton Woodbury   Email Kathleen Dalton Woodbury         Edit/Delete Post 
Okay, I know which book you read. She's great fun, so enjoy.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled topic: consider TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. The narrator, Scout, was telling the story as an adult, looking back on her childhood, so there were a lot of things she not only knew as a narrator but also understood better than her child-self. However, the story is told from her child-self's point of view and shares only what that child-self knew and understood, and it works powerfully.


Posts: 8826 | Registered: A Long Time Ago!  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

   Close Topic   Feature Topic   Move Topic   Delete Topic next oldest topic   next newest topic
 - Printer-friendly view of this topic
Hop To:


Contact Us | Hatrack River Home Page

Copyright © 2008 Hatrack River Enterprises Inc. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.


Powered by Infopop Corporation
UBB.classic™ 6.7.2