I use first-person in my Eddie LaCrosse fantasy/mystery novels for a couple of reasons. One, it’s a mystery genre convention, and the best way to subvert those is to first embrace them. Two, I enjoy writing in the character’s voice, showing the readers only what he knows, and allowing his observations to color the reader’s opinion. We see the world through his perceptions, and since he’s our only point of view, we have to share it.
I use third person in my other two novel series. The advantage to this is that you expose the reader to multiple views of the same people and events, and allow them to comprehend all the characters from the inside.
Do you use present tense or past tense most in your fiction, or do you often switch tense for different stories, and why?
I’ve done that in some short stories, where I’ve been more experimental, style-wise. But my novels are pretty straightforward technically. I pick a voice, I pick a tense, and I stick with it.
Pick one of your published stories. What combination of point of view and tense did you use for this story, and why?
My most recent novel, “The Hum and the Shiver,” is in third-person and jumps among several characters. There are three major characters, but if I need to devote a scene to a minor character, I have no problem digging into their heads as well. The reason is always clarity: making sure the reader understands why the characters do what they do, and hopefully allowing the reader to see a little of themselves in even the worst character.
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?
“The Hum and the Shiver” takes place in the American South. I’m a native, so the speech patterns come naturally to me. Conveying them is trickier, though, because the last thing you want to do is write in vernacular. I try to do it through word choice and rhythm, which I think works pretty well.
Did you tell this story with one narrator or multiple narrators, and why?
Multiple narrators, because I wanted the reader to empathize with all the characters as well as experience the society as much as the story.
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 character in your fictional storyworld, and why?
The main character/narrator is luckily (for the story) in a position of being simultaneously an insider and outsider. She left home deliberately, and now she’s coming back damaged; she has to relearn some things and reconnect with her former friends and family. That allows me to “introduce” things to the reader without having to break from the narrative voice.
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?
“Heart of Darkness” by Joseph Conrad is a terrific use of perspective and narration. The story is told by a nameless narrator who relates the first-person narrative of Marlowe, the main character. Since the nature of perceived truth is one of the themes, this is brilliant.
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?
Yes, I do, because I feel that if you don’t do that, then there’s no point in relating the character’s actions.
To what extent does the narrative style of novels you read have an impact on why you read them, and why?
That’s hard to say. I love mysteries, so it seems only natural to embrace their first-person style when I began my own fantasy/mystery series. But at the same time, I get annoyed by narrative styles that draw attention to themselves, and have no plans to emulate them. For example, a book in second person, like “Bright Lights, Big City,” is trying to impose depth and meaning on a story that doesn’t have much on its own, and I think that’s true of most narrative tricks. If you’ve got a solid story, get out of its way as much as you can and the narrative style will take care of itself.
Author website: http://www.alexbledsoe.com/
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