Writing Tiger Pieces challenged my convention of what I wanted in the point of view. Many would be editors pushed for a third person point of view. I didn’t want that as my first novel. I wanted first person and not only one but two first person points of view.
Yet I couldn’t help hearing in my head what a friend shared with me on this topic.
She was listening to NPR and an Author was asked about writing in first person. His response was that an editor once told him, “Only suicide notes are written in first person.” Did I do that to my novel…and subsequently to my hoped for author career?
I knew it was unconventional. Not only do I have two first person points of view, I use flashbacks within flashbacks in the first half to show how the main characters arrive in the present with their baggage.
I wanted the second half to be an intimate dance between Vy and Gordon as they navigate the world of happily ever after. Here they are in the present being driven by past choices and circumstances. Using first person, I could approximate dance steps around their shared events through trading off who is speaking. I also could have them talk as if relating their life’s story to a friend
As for readers, would they take this journey? Did I make it too confusing, too frustrating, too deadening? I can always second guess, but at the end of the day, the story drives the structure. I wanted a “faux memoir” that brought to the characters a happy ever after.
It will be up to you, the readers, if I killed them off by not letting them speak in third person. Tell me about it. Looking forward to our conversation…
Until next time, may your PATH be true.
Cheers,
WE Coble
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