First Person Subjective Viewpoint – Finding Your Voice
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| Some fiction writers can slip into various personas Copyright Janet Cameron |
In
"Writing in the First Person" in The
Creative Writing Coursebook,
Elleke Boehmer considers the problem of choosing a viewpoint. Of the
first person viewpoint, she says: "This is one of the central
decisions a writer must make. It affects not only the angling, but
the force, atmosphere and shape of a piece of writing, especially,
perhaps, of fiction."
Writing
your Autobiography or Memoir
One
of the most pressing problems with autobiography is what to leave
out. If it’s your story, then everything in it may be of
overwhelming interest to you. You need to take on board a deep
awareness of this natural human partiality. Being objective is never
easy, but your memoir will work better if you choose key incidents in
your life rather than trying to cover everything.
Most
people have probably experienced a problematic first day at school or
in a job. So, ditch all those “so what!” passages. This means
anything boring or tedious or irrelevant to the main story. Instead,
concentrate on dramatising the most interesting parts. If you are
afraid to "waste" your writing, you’ll never produce
anything of quality.
Bear
in mind, also, that it takes great skill to handle the repetition of
the “I” pronoun elegantly.
Autobiography
into Fiction
It
could be you are using an autobiographical setting for a fictional
story. The advantage about using your autobiography and turning it
into fiction is, of course, that you can take a few liberties with
the truth, alter facts and situations, omit things and enhance other
passages to make the work more structured and, ultimately, more
satisfying to the reader. You are also more likely to be taken up by
a publisher, especially if you manage to produce an exciting,
well-rounded story that manages to sound like a novel.
Whether
you are writing autobiography turned into fiction, or regular
fiction, always think about what you’re taking on before you start.
You need to establish a real connection with your reader, so that
s/he will feel you are talking to her/him directly. You can only do
that by first connecting with your character in your first person
viewpoint fiction. So choose your viewpoint carefully – will it
suit this particular story?
Of
course, some fiction writers are able to slip into various personas
easily; they are able to assume characteristics in the same way as an
actor who impersonates politicians and other actors. For others, it
may take a little more practice.
Only
One Angle on the Story
The
most important point to remember is that the first person narrator
has only one angle, that of a character who is narrating their “take”
on the story. In other words, the story is told entirely from the "I"
position. You are only able to show the motivation of other
characters from the judgement of the first person narrator who draws
conclusions from their actions.
On
the other hand, this may suit your project of gradual revelation, or,
if you are a more experienced writer, you can allow your first person
narrator to “give away” little snippets of information for the
reader’s benefit. Your character knows what is normal for them and
those around them, while the reader can "read between the
lines."
Sources:
Your
Writing Coach,
Jurgen Wolff, Nicholas Brealey, London, Boston, 2007
The
Creative Writing Coursebook,
ed. Julia Bell & Paul Magrs, MacMillan, 2
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