I'm now on the 4th chapter of my latest novel, and writing it has been going very smoothly, thankfully. I guess since it's my 5th novel I'm finally starting to get the hang of it. That said, I'm still struggling with accepting first person as the POV. I'm doing it, but I always feel like the language isn't consistent enough. I'm trying to write it in first person present tense, but often things have to be in past tense, as the narrator is observing things. So it feels like a jumble of both tenses. I don't want to write it in full past tense, because there are 3 protagonists that switch as narrator between chapters. Writing it in present keeps up the suspense, because ultimately one of them dies. Writing it in full past tense would either not make sense of give that away. I keep considering just switch the story to third person past tense, like my other novels. I said I was going to finish this novel in first person, but I won't be surprised if the feedback I get ends up being to change it to third person past tense.
On Writing : Still Not Sold of First Person by Terrence Sellers
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2 people like this
Depends on the genre. Dashell Hammett enjoyed great success with his The Maltese Falcon (1929), a classic noir detective thriller written entirely in fly-on-the-wall 3rd person omniscient past-tense: purely blow-by-blow visuals, no delving into a character's thoughts or emotions (and therefore no risk of head-hopping), with minimal intrusion by a punchy-voiced narrator recounting a tale that has already happened.
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The great thing about first person is that you can jump back and forth between tenses, since you're mimicking a narrator telling their own story. It sounds more conversational and natural that way, almost like transcribing an interview. I like your idea of having your 3 protagonists switch as narrator between chapters -- as long as they don't switch within the same chapter, as that would be "head-hopping" and confusing for the reader to follow.
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I think it's impressive that you're challenging yourself in this way, Terrence Sellers! It's not easy to approach a book from a different POV when you're so experienced as a writer already. Whatever you decide to do, it's admirable that you pushed yourself in this way at all.
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Only one of my novels was 1st person, past tense, book #1 in my 9 book mystery/crime series, so it was fairly easy. I just wrote as if I were the protagonist. Only switched to third person, past tense, in later books, because I wanted to get into some supportring characters views of events.
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William Joseph Hill Definitely not changing POV mid chapter. That would be just as hard to write as it would be to read for this. LOL