One of the people in this new story is introduced in a chapter all of her own. Except, I chose to write about her in the present tense. I was playing with tenses and quite liked what I had done with it. Actually, the original plan was to write the book in first person. Of course, one of the restrictions is that the main person in the story must be present - everything being viewed through his eyes. I couldn't marry that with how the story was meant to pan out. So, I switched to third person, past tense. I left the chapter for a while and didn't expand on it at all, not knowing if it was a true part of the story. Well, I've changed it. The chapter is now in third person past tense - like the rest of the story. And, you know what? It works!
The reason it works is probably because I had left it. Then, when I did look at it again, everything seemed fresh and quite new. There was no hangover, and, having written the other chapters in past tense, the new chapter looked rather odd in comparison. It had to be changed. A job done, and a chapter saved!
Moving on with it all now.
2 comments:
I seem to recall that David Mitchell wrote Ghost Written in multiple first-person povs(?), each chapter devoted to a single pov, with a main arc woven through them all.
As a reader, it takes a little getting used to, but is a great way of worming into the souls of multiple protags.
I still remember that freaky fourth-person pov you did! :o)
So do I! I'm sure there's a fifth-person pov in me somewhere...
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