charlie_cochrane: (promises made)
[personal profile] charlie_cochrane
I have a story, set on Jersey, which I've been working on for the last couple of years and which has got no closer to being finished. I've reworked the first bit time and again to pick up the pace but it still felt mannered, slow and unconvincing. Last night I had an attack of the bleeding obvious. Change it to first person point of view. So I'm doing that and, you know what? It's starting to work. Why didn't I do that in the first place?

(no subject)

Date: 2013-04-03 12:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] julian-griffith.livejournal.com
Do we get a first-person account of how the future Helena Stewart decked an impertinent suitor? (I can hope, can't I?)

(no subject)

Date: 2013-04-03 12:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] charliecochrane.livejournal.com
She gives a first person account of it in Lessons for Discovery, sweetie pie.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-04-03 12:25 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] julian-griffith.livejournal.com
But only as recounting an anecdote! I want to see the thoughts of young Helena. :)

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Date: 2013-04-03 12:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] charliecochrane.livejournal.com
They would be unpublishable. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2013-04-03 12:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] julian-griffith.livejournal.com
That makes me want to see them all the more. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2013-04-03 08:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] marasmine.livejournal.com
I've given up fighting my characters about viewpoint. I try to write third person, as first person is often a problem for some readers and I've never seen a complaint about third person. But if the character wants first person then the story won't write any other way - except as the stodgy, boring mess you mention!

I had one short that I wrote in first person present tense (I don't even like reading present tense). I finished it and then tried to 'convert' it to third person past tense and it turned into a stodgy mess. I tried to make it first person past tense without much improvement; and then gave up and went with the original version. I haven't tried to convert anything since.

Maybe I should try converting some of the stalled stories in the wip file. Even if the conversion doesn't work it might regenerate the inspiration.

(no subject)

Date: 2013-04-04 09:08 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] charliecochrane.livejournal.com
Sounds like a good idea. I've got a couple of stories that aren't bad in themselves but just don't work at present. I need to find the magic key (more than just tense in this case) to bring them to life.

Maybe your short story needs something radical. Like being told in letter form or something equally out of the ordinary.
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