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| Today, I need strong Turkish coffee and 4 more boxes of tissue—could you hand me another blanket too? Thanks! |
We've committed more disastrous mistakes in early
manuscripts than we care to admit—we’re talking about manuscripts pushed under
the bed never to see the light of day. For we literary mortals, skillful writing
takes more than innate talent; the learning process can only be perfected by
constant practice and brutal self-examination. By constant, we mean every day;
working endless hours on unworthy prose—learning what is bad and learning what
resonates with an audience and becomes readable. One lesson: beware of being
your own critic. Writing in an unexamined, non-evolutionary manner won’t lead
to a sale. We need fresh, honest eyes from the outside...experienced, talented
writers, teachers or a reading/critique group to point out mistakes we've made
and to teach a new, fresh approach to our language.
We’re told to write what we know, but this can be spectacularly
bad advice when it leads the novice to attempting a first-person novel. We
assure you, once you've looked at the first hundred submissions in the
legendary slush pile, you’ll join us: the idea of reading another will make you
want to poke out your no-longer-virginal eyes with a pencil. If you are a
rookie writer submitting a first-person manuscript, here’s the sequence of
events you can expect from the submission screener:
- Rookie writer?
- First person perspective?
- Quick response to the author: unfortunately, your submission does not meet our needs at this time.
Next manuscript.
Even for a fledgling company like Stairway Press, we see far
more manuscripts than we could ever dream of publishing. With severely limited
decision-making time, we are forced to be quick. This sad reality of the
publishing business leads to a conundrum because we have many beloved
first-person novels resting comfortably on our bookshelves. It can be done and
the result can be remarkable and memorable, but the unskilled writer must
overcome many hazards.
One hazard: the tendency for the unskilled writer to slip
out of the first-person point of view. The writer has to stay in the narrator’s
head—the reader will only know what the narrator knows. All information must
come from the observations and the experiences of the narrator. By slipping up
and presenting things others see…this is called head-hopping and is a lapse of
necessary writing discipline.
However, that’s not the biggest hazard. If the story is a
thinly disguised autobiography, the tendency is to only include events as
experienced by the author. Frankly, as fascinating as your life is to you, the
recounting will seem random and mundane to the outside reader. Be honest—has
your life been amazing and filled with ample pithy lessons to support a
satisfying fictional story arc? There is a natural tendency to honestly
report the facts as experienced; otherwise, you’d be a liar, right? But, a
satisfying story can’t just be about you. We’re sorry, but unless you’re Brad
Pitt or Hilary Clinton, your life simply is not that interesting. To create a
vivid tale, you need to stretch and make things up. The story needs focus and
plot and clean movement from point A to point B. Does that
describe anyone’s real life? Probably not. Beyond that, most of us need to
build a career with more than one book, so why not dive in now to create that
detailed imaginary place where the good stories come from?
In fiction, the reader must connect with interesting
characters and follow them along a colorful path to a rewarding conclusion. The
story has to be believable and the characters must ring true. This is a
contradiction, but to make the typical story real it must be invented.
We have read many excellent books written in first-person
perspective. In the hands of a skilled writer, it doesn't matter which
POV is used. If the plot is compelling, the characters are relatable and the
writing is fresh and original. That book will be a success.
Here’s a test. If your story is strong, it will work in the
more common third-person perspective. If it will work, then why not take that
approach? It could be the direct, visceral flow from the first-person
perspective is a benefit to your story, but, if you’re inexperienced and your
book will only work in first-person perspective?
- Agree? Disagree?
Let’s hear your thoughts.
AUTHORS:
Laura Elvebak is the author of the
Niki Alexander mystery
series.
Ken Coffman is a writer and
Stairway Press publisher.
Fairhaven
is his latest novel.
