I think in general I’m more inclined toward third person narration, but first person is also a handy tool. Each has its own strengths and weaknesses. When I do first person narration, I have to feel like I know my main character well enough to tell things from his perspective. Then I make it a point to make myself disappear and literally become that character writing down his own story.
Do you use present tense or past tense most in your fiction, or do you often switch tense for different stories, and why?
With fiction I almost always write in past tense—some stuff happened and the narrator tells the reader what happened, that sort of thing. I do sometimes use present tense in my essay work, but only when I feel it’s called for. Essays can get a little dull when it’s always I did this or I thought that, so I try to liven things up by playing around with tense and narrative perspective.
Pick one of your published stories. What combination of point of view and tense did you use for this story, and why?
With my upcoming novel Turn Again I use a combination of first and third person narrative, and present and past tense. The premise of the story is that in 1894 the main character, Aleksandr Campbell, an Alaskan of mixed Russian, Dena’ina Indian and American parentage, is in jail waiting to be hanged for a double murder he did not commit. During this wait, an anthropologist comes to interview him about the Native side of his background. The main body of the narrative is the condemned man speaking in the first person past tense, telling her his story. Between the chapters are a series of scenes where he’s in jail being interviewed. I used third person present tense for these because it allowed me a certain omnipotence over the story arc that I just couldn’t get with first person narration. This is essentially me trying to have my cake and eat it too, but I think it works well all the same.
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?
Much of Turn Again is told in Aleksandr Campbell’s voice, and as such is the voice of a nineteenth century man speaking to a nineteenth century audience. That’s the reality within the story, but the reality for the reader is that the story as a whole is written for a twenty-first century audience. This presents some difficulties, as I stayed “in character” as much as I could in the writing. Campbell uses a lot of old-fashioned expressions, and his views on family and women reflect the Victorian age in which he lives, which of course presents its own set of problems—hopefully readers will realize these are Campbell’s attitudes, not mine. His formal education is somewhat limited, though he has read a number of books, and of course English is not his first language. He grew up speaking both Russian and the Dena’ina language, so his speech reflects that. My twenty-first century language is of course quite a bit different, but then I grew up in a very different Alaska than did Campbell.
Did you tell this story with one narrator or multiple narrators, and why?
Essentially, Turn Again is told with two narrators: There is Campbell telling his story, and me the omnipotent voice narrating his jail cell interview sessions with the anthropologist. This tactic allowed me to get at the story from more than one angle. Campbell, being the protagonist, is a major character in the story. The why of that is obvious enough. For the jail cell interview scenes, the narrator is not part of the story world. This is the way the story came to me, so that’s how I put it on the page.
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?
[See answer to previous question.]
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?
Among my all-time favorite novels is Peter Carey’s True History of the Kelly Gang. I’ve read it four or five times over the years, and I keep giving it away to friends to read, then buying another copy when I need it. The narrative voice blows my hair back every single time. It’s as if Carey is channeling Ned Kelly’s ghost, and it comes across as both a compelling portrait of Australia’s bandit king, and the Victorian colonial world in which he lived.
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?
Whether or not I provide direct access to the thoughts of my characters is really determined by the needs of the story. In my first novel, The Devil’s Share, I give the reader very little access to the protagonist’s thoughts. More than anything, I was letting his actions and dialogue illustrate who he is. The Devil’s Share is, however, a very action-driven story. Turn Again is much more character-driven. Because most of it is told in the first person, I’m not sure how I could have written it without providing access to the protagonist’s thoughts.
To what extent does the narrative style of novels you read have an impact on why you read them, and why?
The narrative style of a novel can have quite a large impact on why I read it, in the sense that if I don’t like the narrative style I probably won’t force myself to read it. An example here is Ernest Hemingway’s To Have and Have Not. I like many of his books and would consider myself a fan, but the shifting perspective of To Have and Have Not was just too annoying for me to deal with. On the other hand, there are a number of writers whose narration I really admire: Jim Harrison, Italo Calvino, and Cormac McCarthy come to mind. Because I love their narrative styles, I’ll always read their books. Jim Harrison in particular tends to write about the same things over and over again, but the language and style he uses in his narration are lovely and engaging, and that’s why I keep coming back for more of his work.
My website is www.krisfarmen.wordpress.com. My publisher is McRoy & Blackburn, www.alaskafiction.com.
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