Ivan Sailor
Dreamer
This is a series of questions I wanted to ask since I've been having these ideas that seem really awesome to me, but might in fact be really bad for a story. I am writing my first novel and I'm afraid of encumbering it with all this stuff.
First of all, I'd like to know if changing the point of view from third person to first person once in a while is too distracting for the readers. (Even though I'm probably not going to have any.) The way I wanted to write it would be something like this: It starts in the future, one of the characters wants to execute another, when the blade strikes she sort of clears her mind, flashback ensues - She starts telling the story in first person from the point when she initially lost her memory (sort of). She tells part of her story in first person, then switches to third person on the other characters. While I don't want to clearly state that it is she telling the story, it is heavily implied.
I'm still using third person limited for the rest of the book though, which brings me to the next thing. Is the "O" shape ever used in third person? For those of you who might not know, the "O" shape is a way of structuring stories that starts at the end or near the end, either at the big climactic moment or when whatever conflict has already been resolved, like the first part of The Great Gatsby or Fight Club. I've never seen this being used in thirds person stories though, but maybe I just haven't read enough. That would also replace the need for what Dan Wells called "The Ice Monster Prologue". Basically the first scene in A Song of Ice and Fire with the whole Ice Monster fight.
So now, here are my questions:
Is the person change too tiresome to read?
Is it a good thing to make the narrator a known character. (Take into consideration that she has some sort of omniscience. Not any god-like omniscience, it's more like the oracle kind.)
If not, how could I make this stuff work?
Should I just give up this fancy stuff and simply write a linear story with a clear beginning and end?
If something is unclear, please tell me, I have a tendency of being writing really scattered.
PS. Should I post an excerpt so you can see what I'm talking about?
First of all, I'd like to know if changing the point of view from third person to first person once in a while is too distracting for the readers. (Even though I'm probably not going to have any.) The way I wanted to write it would be something like this: It starts in the future, one of the characters wants to execute another, when the blade strikes she sort of clears her mind, flashback ensues - She starts telling the story in first person from the point when she initially lost her memory (sort of). She tells part of her story in first person, then switches to third person on the other characters. While I don't want to clearly state that it is she telling the story, it is heavily implied.
I'm still using third person limited for the rest of the book though, which brings me to the next thing. Is the "O" shape ever used in third person? For those of you who might not know, the "O" shape is a way of structuring stories that starts at the end or near the end, either at the big climactic moment or when whatever conflict has already been resolved, like the first part of The Great Gatsby or Fight Club. I've never seen this being used in thirds person stories though, but maybe I just haven't read enough. That would also replace the need for what Dan Wells called "The Ice Monster Prologue". Basically the first scene in A Song of Ice and Fire with the whole Ice Monster fight.
So now, here are my questions:
Is the person change too tiresome to read?
Is it a good thing to make the narrator a known character. (Take into consideration that she has some sort of omniscience. Not any god-like omniscience, it's more like the oracle kind.)
If not, how could I make this stuff work?
Should I just give up this fancy stuff and simply write a linear story with a clear beginning and end?
If something is unclear, please tell me, I have a tendency of being writing really scattered.
PS. Should I post an excerpt so you can see what I'm talking about?
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