So, ya’ll know that I started NaNoWriMo last Saturday. And I wrote a little on Sunday as well. And that was it. Mostly because of some personal issues, but also partly due to a lot of joy at prospective business issues, I stopped working on my NaNo novel. And by the way, a good friend said he liked what I’d written so far!
Anyway, last night I had the urge to start working on my WIP again. No, not the NaNo novel- the one that I actually want to try to find an agent and publisher for when it’s finished. I’d started it in first person, but decided that third would be better.
Since it’s been months since I worked on it, and I really hadn’t gotten to far, I decided to rewrite the first part in third without rereading what I’d already written. It actually went pretty smoothly for a little while, but eventually I felt stuck again. I just couldn’t envision how the next part should go, how she would react, and so on.
So I reread what I’d written previously. And laughed my butt off. Sure, there was no depth to it, little description, and so on… But it was funny! And I could see where things would need to be filled in later to give it more flesh. In fact, I’d probably have to double the word count to get it looking like a reasonable facsimile of something publishable.
But when I got to the end of what I’d written, I was still stuck. You see, my character is going through a very emotional time at this point, and is beginning to suffer symptoms of something much more important than mere emotion- but without knowing the cause.
And I don’t know how she’d react. And I don’t know how to gloss over this section (though I may just have to put “insert 25 pages here” for now, and move on to the next part that I know basically what should happen). I’ve never really gotten inside my character’s head. Or heart. Plus, I know what’s going on, and she doesn’t, so trying to play that off… it’s a little difficult. And I know I’m being a little heavy handed with her symptoms because I have no story to fill in to this part!
Maybe that “insert 25 pages here” idea isn’t too bad after all. I still feel a bit guilty for neglecting my NaNo Novel, but obviously this one is more important if I’m able to work on it. I just wish that it counted for my NaNo wordcount, because I’d LOVE to have that winner badge!
I also wish that I could write it in a notebook and have it magically appear in my wordprocessor.
As for first vs third, I’m meeting up with two of my writer friends tomorrow, and I sent them a sample of both. Hopefully they’ll have some good advice for me. And in the mean time, I may just pick up a few of my favorite books that were written in first person to see how they did it. I’m a bit of a snob about preferring third person, but I do love some of these books!
So what about you guys? If we’re talking chick-lit/YA type novels, would you prefer to see more third person? Or are you perfectly happy with first? I never feel as though first is well rounded out, but then, these types of novels are usually meant for light reading.
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