That's What She Said...

~ My first novel, In The Dark, is written purely from the perspective of one person, Steve Lewis. For clarity:First-person perspective: "That's what I said."Second-person perspective: "That's what you said."Third-person perspective: "That's what she said." Most fictional novels are either written in first-person or third-person perspectives.I wrote In The Dark from a first-person perspective for several reasons: 1) I personally enjoy stories that only allow the reader/viewer to see the world (and the story) from the eyes of the main character. Stories like Memento, Fight Club and Before I Go To Sleep are great at this, and the real thrill comes from discovering that things may not be quite what they seem because the central character is ...well, in the dark.

2) The first-person-perceptive is more natural for me than third-person, and easier to write in. Giving an imaginary person a real personality is something that, at least for me, requires some backstory that the reader/viewer may never see. For example, Steve Lewis had a rough childhood and was a bit traumatized (emotionally) by some of the things that he encountered when he was younger. These aren't life-changing events, or horrible, or anything like that, and they aren't even relevant to the story. This is why I did not add them. But they give me, the writer, an idea of what his personality may be like, in a way that I could not write down without overcomplicating the narrative (or over populating the story with backstory, something I struggle with reading from other authors). All writers are sort of actors in a way and, using the extra information about the character, then placing myself into what it might be like to have that personality (and in these situations the characters might find themselves in), I find it easy to write what I think I would feel. As I'm currently writing my second novel, Ties That Bind, I started in the first-person perspective, switched (and re-wrote) the first 4 chapters in third-person, then switched back again (and rewrote again) to first person. (As a side note, a writer re-writes and edits their own work many, many times so this is not necessarily uncommon). For me, it's just not natural to write in third-person, and I struggle a bit with things like past/present tense. Example: He looked at the blog –or- he looks at the blog. I found myself switching back and forth on accident. I'm certainly not saying that I'll never write a book in the third-person perceptive (or even the second-person perspective). But for now, for me, I'll be sticking with writing from the view of the main character(s). After finishing up his blog entry, meticulously checking it for grammar errors and typos while being fully aware of the fact that he probably missed some (and that a few readers that he knew personally would certainly find them), he headed off to enjoy his day. Cheers!