First Person POV question

[wordwalker]

Be careful taking my name in vain.

The way I see it, part of "finding your voice" is learning how to make it work, how to find what's important at the moment, whether it's momentary color or moving the plot or some combination. And the more your narrative rambles, the more you want to keep control that it rambles interestingly, relevantly, and doesn't ramble too much longer than you're able to pull off.

And rambling with a prologue? Prologues shine spotlights on the slightest thing that looks irrelevant or slow; if you can pull that off, you're VERY good at your style. Mostly, I'd say bite the bullet and make the prologue --or rather, when you ask the hard questions of whether you've got solid reasons for a prologue-- the one time you stick to business.

I'm not trying to rain on parades here. But the quote is "do what works," and hopefully that's what works for the reader as well as the writer.

 

[Incanus]

Thanks for your thoughts, Wordwalker. I'm not really sure if the opening section is technically a prologue or not. I'm doing the novella in chapters and part 1 is the shortest. It ends with the MC stepping through the gateway into the other dimension, where the rest of the story takes place (though there might be a couple of pages of denouement at the very end, when he returns). It does, however, introduce two characters, and sets everything up. I haven't looked it over in a while, but the only thing there even approaching 'rambling' is the passage talking about his equipment. He also describes his device for a time too, but that's a bit more on point. I'll be adding a new element in the second draft that should help tie all these things together, things on both sides of the dimensional doorway.

But prologue or not, the big problem with part 1: there is not much in the way of 'scene'. On the other hand, one reader said they were immediately interested, after reading the first few sentences.

 

[fshamas]

Personal experience. First person POV should always be character based, and I mean a strong appealing character whom the reader gets drawn to. I have tried but often struggled with opening in such cases. You need to lay out the whole basis of a character, at the opening. If your novel, is more story based, then I definitely suggest 3rd person. If you want to go for 1st person, then you will have to very good and connect to your reader very well.