First Person Issues

by Caro Dee

carodee99@hotmail.com

I write in first person almost exclusively and I L-O-V-E it! You can really get into your character's head and experience what he's experiencing. I mostly write PWPs and find I can get the descriptions much more vivid that way. I also feel like I can drag the reader further into it! <g>

The only real drawback (besides the tense thing) is that you can only write what your character knows. And plot-wise that can be a real problem. You can sometimes solve that by switching between two different characters' POV, like the hero and the villain, or both lovers. But in general you've got one perspective and you have to make that work. I find it fun and challenging.

I just posted part of a fic I wrote where the main character is losing his marbles. *He* doesn't know it though so I can't come right out and say it. But he acts strange and the reader will be scratching their head (if I've done it right <g>) and going, "Okaaay, something weird is going on here. This guy's crazy!"

I'm varying between straightforward telling of what is going on, and a remembering sort of thing.... If you have no idea what I mean by that, at least you can maybe understand my confusion from it! Please, any help would be wonderful!

I do that all the time. People's thoughts can go all over the place and thinking about their past is pretty common. And so useful for adding backstory too! <g> The way to handle that is to either change the memory to past tense and make the first sentence a clear break, i.e.,

(present) Shaken by memories, I reach for the chair and sit down before I fall down.

(past) It used to be, back when I was a kid, that Tom and I would .... yadda yadda.

(present again) A knock on the door startles me. Okay, enough thinking. Briskly, I stand up and head out.

See what I mean? Easy as pie.

Another way to handle it is to separate the memories out with italics or asterisks. That way it's clear when you're remembering and when you're in the present.