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Jay Squires (Unregistered Guest)
Work-in-progress guest
Posted From: 167.127.163.203
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - 11:35 am: |   |
Laurel Johnson, if you've got a moment would you email me at a072569@allstate.com
Thanks,
Jay |
LaurieAnne
Unity Member
Post Number:
1031
Registered: 12-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - 04:13 pm: | |
Steven,
I tried my hand at 1st Person, and I'm glad I didn't bet the bank on it. It was the second worst pile of dung to which I have ever signed my name. I am in the midst of rewriting said manuscript in 3rd person. 2nd Person reminds me too much of those "Choose Your Own Adventure" books from junior high.
As for reading 1st person, I have seen very few writers who have accomplished writing in the first to a point that would hold my interest. One of these such authors is James Patterson. However, he mixes the 1st person with 3rd person storytelling in order that the reader knows what the antagonist is doing while off screen. He blends the two by changing chapters when he changes points of view. ALONG CAME A SPIDER, JACK AND JILL, as well as the rest of the books in this particular series are all written in this form.
If you have the strength to tackle such a project, by all means, do so.
LA
LaurieAnne
http://www.authorsinkbooks.com |
Steven Shrewsbury
Wandering Member
Post Number:
218
Registered: 04-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - 04:28 pm: | |
My strength is sorta off right now, but I am getting ready for it.
I think I wrote GENERATION CLASH in first person. That is on my website at
http://www.stevenshrewsbury.com/fiction/bin/elijah-generation_clash.php
This features Blackthorn, who will be in the new novel...
It will nto be easy, but most of us motormouth jerks, hey, we will give it a try. I tried to start the book in 3rd, but it soudns weak. |
Gloria Marlow
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
426
Registered: 04-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - 05:19 pm: | |
Most gothic romance is done in 1st person. Victoria Holt's books are always great 1st person. Phyllis Whitney's it seems are 1st person, and if I stretch my memory way, way back to the distant past when I read Mary Stewart, I want to say she did hers in 1st person. Didn't she?
What is 2nd person? Did someone say? I missed it.
Gloria |
LaurieAnne
Unity Member
Post Number:
1032
Registered: 12-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 05:15 pm: | |
Gloria,
You are very correct in stating that Mary Stewart wrote the biggest majority of her works in 1st person, though I believe she blended some other POV's in order to capture the entire story. (I may very much so be incorrect in that, but I have not read much of hers lately.) I have most of her books sitting on my shelf, the favorite of those being TOUCH NOT THE CAT, and THORNYHOLD, followed very closely by the Merlin Trilogy and THE WICKED DAY. I was not much impressed with AIRS ABOVE THE GROUND, though.
he he he.....obviously, I am a fan of Mary Stewart....I'll stop now...
She is one of the few authors I have read who have successfully attacked the first person POV.
LA
LaurieAnne
http://www.authorsinkbooks.com |
Kevin R. Paglia
Awareness Member
Post Number:
28
Registered: 07-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 08:28 am: | |
I'm hoping the 1st person story I'm working n goes well. I hit the fifty page block (every story at about page fifty I get blocked and can't break through until I get supermotivated). Only knowing my perspective through out the story is one of the things I hope keeps the reader interested. When I verbally tell the story to people they really enjoy it (what I'm writing is a 85% true story which makes the perspective much easier).
Kevin |
Fred Dungan
Hsympothai Member
Post Number:
333
Registered: 10-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 10:25 pm: | |
I don't understand why all of this concern about which tense to use. There are a number of tenses in the English language. A good writer employs them as appropriate. While it may not sometimes be appropriate to mix tenses in the same sentence or paragraph, it is not unheard of and can at times produce a quality product.
Writing is communication, nothing more, nothing less. If you got your idea across, then you did it the right way. Don't let the rules bog you down. Remember, it's the story that is important.
(Please, Ms. Fitch, don't hit me with that steel-edged ruler again. I promise to be a good boy and obey the rules of grammar.)
http://www.fdungan.com/publish.htm |
Steven Shrewsbury
Wandering Member
Post Number:
231
Registered: 04-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - 02:34 pm: | |
Well, certain tales work better one way or another.
First person is, well, more personal. It ain't for everyone and i do not write all of my tales in thsi manner. However, I think the Blackthorn ones to work better this way....but since Elijah flashes back to observe hsitory...I sorta get to cheat and use other mediums than just his eyes...
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Todd Hunter
Wisdom Member
Post Number:
723
Registered: 02-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, September 24, 2003 - 03:54 pm: | |
Also, it's a matter of how the reader is able to read the story. For some people, a mix of tenses (how'd we skip from POV to tenses??) doesn't faze them. For others, they get confused. Same holds true for different points of view...I once had a celebrity-type tell me they were a bit confused by the first person I'd used (but then they got into the story, and it seemed to have righted itself??). Others have never complained.
Some people like a lot of dialogue, others like a lot of detailed description...others don't like either...
So, it's all a crap shoot... |
Marshall S Thomas
Awareness Member
Post Number:
5
Registered: 07-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 05:36 pm: | |
Hi all,
On first-person - my SF series (Soldier of the Legion) is all first-person POV, past tense. I like it and I believe it gives the reader greater involvement. However there are some problems in writing first person. I kept wanting to do scenes that did not directly involve the narrator. That's hard to do if you're stuck with first-person, and when I tried to put in some third-person scenes to show the readers things that the narrator couldn't know, my editors at Timberwolf said they didn't want it.
First or third, they're both good as long you understand the limitations of each. As someone said above, the idea is to communicate. Do whatever works best for you.
Regards, Marshall.
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Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2307
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 06:36 pm: | |
Hello Marshall. So good to see you!! |
Marshall S Thomas
Awareness Member
Post Number:
7
Registered: 07-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, September 27, 2003 - 08:01 pm: | |
Thanks, Laurel! It's good to be back. I was away too long. And it's good to see all my old friends are still here.
Regards, Marshall |
LaurieAnne
Unity Member
Post Number:
1041
Registered: 12-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 06:32 am: | |
Steven,
Be careful not to overkill the flashbacks, too. One thing I heard before I started the first (hundred) round of rewrites for TSA1 was that I flashed back so much that the reader lost the story.
The whimsical song and dance of creating a quality product....isn't it grand.
LA
LaurieAnne
http://www.authorsinkbooks.com |
Steven Shrewsbury
Wandering Member
Post Number:
248
Registered: 04-2003
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 06:47 am: | |
LA, no, the thing about Elijah is, well....ya gotta kinda read it. 
Many of the tales I can live in both time frames...for example, in the upcoming ZENITH OF THE TOTEM in the DEATHGRIP 2 LEGACY OF TERROR paperback...Elijah touches a shrunken head at the beginning....and gets a bizarre vision of ancient Celtic warriors, shrunken heads around the necks of their horses...a druid in a stone circle...and a native American Totem in the ring...
Thus, he is confused when he snaps out of it, for there was no such event in the past....
Or was there?
Or is it the PRESENT?
Thus, Elijah heads off to Canada, by Hudson Bay...in pursuit of things.
In this Blackthorn tale his powers of psychometry are not used much and he is the catalyst for much of the action. Whereas, in stuff like GENERATION CLASH (voted in the top 5 on P&E tales online last year) Elijah's vision of the battle-ax people and Beaker folk takes up 95% of the tale.
The novel will be short on flashbacks and long on experience...for example, he will bump a terrorist at an airport and see the bomb making process...etc...he wears thin gloves most of the time...ah well....
To read GENERATION CLASH to to this link at my site:
http://www.stevenshrewsbury.com/fiction/bin/elijah-generation_clash.php
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Nancy Marie
Unity Member
Post Number:
1610
Registered: 08-2001
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 08:03 am: | |
Marshall, good to see you,
Kitty |
Laurel Johnson
Unity Member
Post Number:
2308
Registered: 01-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 08:54 am: | |
Yes, the way you write the Elijah Blackthorn psychometry experience works very well. He is a distinct and very well written character. |
Marshall S Thomas
Awareness Member
Post Number:
8
Registered: 07-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 09:07 am: | |
Thanks for the welcome, Kitty. It's good to be back. I hope all is well with you. I'm looking over the site to see what's been happening. Looks like a lot of activity!
Regards, Marshall |
C. E. Winterland
Mindsight Moderator
Post Number:
1170
Registered: 06-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 06:06 pm: | |
Hello, Marshall
Nice to see you. How are the goings on with Soldier these days?
CEW |
Marshall S Thomas
Awareness Member
Post Number:
10
Registered: 07-2002
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, September 28, 2003 - 07:41 pm: | |
Hi Chad!
It's good to be back. For a quick read on how things are going with Soldier, please see Nancy Mehl's message in the 'Publishing Message Forum.' She quotes an e-mail I sent her asking for advice on how to generate publicity for my book. I'm new at publishing and I need some good ideas about how to publicize a book. Timberwolf is doing what they can, but they're hesitant to do a big print run before knowing for sure that there's lots of demand out there.
What's the latest on your fantasy novel that you sent to Timberwolf? I hope there's some progress. One thing I've learned is that the publishing world moves at glacial speed.
Best wishes, Marshall.
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