Most of my novels have been written in multiple third person narrative. However, my most recent novel ‘Bitter Greens’ was written in a mixture of first person and third person, a dramatic departure from my usual style.
Do you use present tense or past tense most in your fiction, or do you often switch tense for different stories, and why?
I always write in past tense.
Pick one of your published stories. What combination of point of view and tense did you use for this story, and why?
In ‘Bitter Greens’, I had three primary narratives. Two were told in 1st person, and one in 3rd person. This was a deliberate choice, the most effective way of telling the story.
To what extent is the vocabulary and manner of speech of the narration in this story different from your own everyday expression, and what does this contribute to the story?
I found that I needed to pay close attention to voice while writing in first person narrative, particularly since I had two different narrators. They had to sound different, in subtle but crucial ways. I made one use much more sophisticated language and syntax, while the other had a kind of bleakness or darkness running through her narrative.
Did you tell this story with one narrator or multiple narrators, and why?
Multiple narrators. ‘Bitter Greens’ is set in 3 different historical periods and three separate locations, and has a different narrator for each section.
Did you make the narrator of this story a character involved in the main action of the story, or did you make the narrator one which is not a charcater in your fictional storyworld, and why?
Charlotte-Rose de la Force was my primary narrator, telling her story of life at the court of the Sun King in her own voice. Banished to a convent in punishment for her scandalous ways, she befriends an old nun who tells her the story of a young girl locked away in a tower by a sorceress. This section of the story – set in late 16th century Venice and Lake Garda - is told in 3rd person. Then I have a central interlude, told in first person by the sorceress, which is set in early 16th century Venice, and which explains how she came to lock the little girl up in the tower.
What is one of your favourite fictional stories, in which you think is narration is written well, and how would you describe what makes the narration work so well for you as a reader?
I love Joanne Harris’s 'Five Quarters of the Orange’, a novel set in war-torn France about the friendship between a young girl and a Nazi soldier. Told in first person, its a gripping and surprising story of love and war.
Do you usually provide direct access to the thoughts of characters in your stories? If so, do you usually provide access to the thoughts of one character or multiple characters in a single story or point of view, and why?
Interior monologue is the one thing that narrative fiction can do that no other art form can. Of course I use it! It’s the great subtle insight of novels. Some of my books are told only from the POV of one character; most use multiple POV, and all allow the reader to glimpse inside a character’s soul.
To what extent does the narrative style of novels you read have an impact on why you read them, and why?
If I pick up a book and read the first pager and like it, I buy it. So it does have a profound impact. Generally I don’t like stream of consciousness, or styles that are too choppy, or hard to understand. I like to be fully immersed in the story from the very fist word.
Author website: www.kateforsyth.com.au
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