Writing In The First Person

Every novel we’ve written has had multiple POV characters, and we do a very tight third-person narration style. The attitude and the diction are shaped strongly by which head we’re riding in for any given scene, and of course only information that would be available to that person can be brought up.

So, we haven’t done a novel in the first person. But we do have a little experience with telling a story that way: our tag-team chain story, aka “Tune In Next Time.” That project is a place where we operate outside of our standard process and our comfort zone. Not only do we not plan any of it out or do any revisions, we use a random generator to create the prompts. And, it’s the sole first-person thing we’ve done.

Using the first person is not just a stylistic choice. There are logistical considerations, since in most cases there will be only the one viewpoint available. Telling events out of order, or even skipping over any significant periods of time, will be much more likely to feel jarring. So for it to go well, the story itself has to belong to the set of stories that lend themselves to the treatment. And (so far at least) the kinds of stories that Rune Skelley wants to turn into novels aren’t members of that set.

Not that we would be opposed to giving it a try if the right story came along. Silly as it is, with over 800 installments (and counting!) “Tune In Next Time” does constitute a lot of solid practice in dealing with the form.

A writing partner is someone who shares your point of view.