Fanfic Question

[jetpack_monkey]

Do you find first-person present-tense narratives an enjoyable read? Would you read one? I'm writing a fic right now, and it just feels like a first-person present-tense narrative. I've been intrigued by the style since my introduction to the work of Dave Eggers, but if it's not something that people will find readable, then I'd rather not waste a lot of time on writing that way.

Comments

[sache.livejournal.com]

Ack, no.

Not that I have anything against that particular narrative. It's just that so many people TRY it and so few actually succeed at using it effectively.... And if that style isn't done effectively, it becomes an eyesore REAL quick.

[thevelvetdays.livejournal.com]

I echo her sentiment. It is so very difficult to pull off effectively and I'm convinced that 75% of the time, it's a crutch used by fanfic authors to create a distinction in their piece because they've otherwise run out of new ways to write about their chosen subject (I.E I've yet to see it done well in the fanfic universe. Eggers is a whole different realm.) In any fiction, I think that first person present defeats the primary purpose of fiction which is to reflect on the subject at hand. This style does not allow for the reflection element due to the immediacy of the action.

I'm trying to think of the author who does this, but I perfer first person past with some passages of first person present to move along the action. It doesn't sound confusing to the ear and actually is a very effective literary device in the proper story, given the proper plot.

This has been Literary Thoughts by Jack Handey under a large amount of snow.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

It's a very immediate fic, in its defense, from the perspective of a person who isn't given to reflection. And I'd argue that the primary purpose of fiction is to tell a story - reflection is just a positive upshot of a good deal of that.

However, it is sounding like I'm setting myself up to fail...

*sigh* I'll just have to tell the story that it's crazy and that it should be good and lay down in the past tense like a good little fic.

[thevelvetdays.livejournal.com]

Well, I think in terms of the point of fiction, we both have halves of the whole. Yes, fiction is about telling a story, but usually a writer is driven by a point to telling that story, which is what I was trying to clunkily say from underneath the snowpile. I think what I was trying to say is that it's harder to make one's point without the benefit of those 6 inches of breathing room third person, and particularly third person past provides. If you have multiple characters, especially, it can get very hairy in terms of keeping them straight with a first person narrative. Of course, you also have to get into perspective. First person omniscient (like sections of Gatsby, for example) can work much differently than limited first person and so on. So don't let me totally discourage you, just look at the characters and the story you're going to tell and see how the characters speak in your head and if they'll speak to your audience in the same way or if it will get confusing.

One type of structure I often enjoy in a short story (a very shirt story or else it gets annoying) is second person past, but it doesn't work for fanfic as much as cute little emotional vignettes. I just add that so I don't seem like some sort of third person activist.

By the way, this is my curse. I can work with other people's material, but I can't actually write on my own anymore. To extend the blizzard around me to a writing metaphor, I've been in the Big Chill of writer's block since 2002. But I'm always happy to blather on uselessly if I can help. ;)

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

I'm writing sort of a wacky hi-jinky goofball adventure starring Parker Abrams, with only one other major character and a handful of minor ones. It's supposed to have a very strong pop sensibility (or lack thereof), but nothing great in terms of emotional core. It's about two very shallow people who learn nothing, carried along by the currents of other people's lives.

So, in short, I don't have a point, really. I'm just amused by the concept.

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

For me, it's all about the quality -- and the quality is usually on one end of the spectrum or the other, not in between. It's hard to write it without the aloof, slightly neurotic arrogance that Eggers has.

That said... hell, try it. The worst that happens is that you learn something about your writing; the best, you write a kick-ass fic. =)

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm aloof and slightly neurotic. The character isn't, though. It's looking like I'm going to have to switch my tense, most likely.

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

Did you try it both ways to see which you preferred?

The hardest part I have with a first-person narrator is when I want to show that the narrator-character is mis-understanding something. People in my stories misunderstand stuff a lot, and it's a lot easier to show in the third person.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

I tried the story in third-person past-tense, but the problem with my writing in that style is that it reads like a police procedural. I'm inclined to list off actions as they're taken without hitting any sort of emotion. It's cold and it bores the crap out of me.

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

I have a tendency to do that, too -- I write it that way and then go back and add in the emotion in the rewrite. I find it a lot easier to just write in steps.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

True. I think I just need to learn patience. I'm so rarely a writer of second drafts, which is really my folly as an author.

[hjcallipygian.livejournal.com]

Yeah, you kinda have to be willing to write about twenty drafts if you want to do publishable work. For fanfiction, I usually deal with about three or so -- but don't tell anyone. =)

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

You're secret's safe with me -- no worries.

It's not so much that I think that my first draft is good enough, it's just that so often I'm so mind-numbingly sick of the piece when (and if) I finish it that I never, ever want to look at it again. Chalk it up to low self-esteem or whatever.

[packmentality.livejournal.com]

Not my favorite style, but if it's written well I usually enjoy it.

Of course, I'm one of those crazies who would dare try to write in second-person present, so I may be too nutso to take seriously.

[qkellie.livejournal.com]

I think for something short, it works fine. For something longer, it can almost become illogical after a point.

[jetpack-monkey.livejournal.com]

*nod* I think I'm sticking with the traditional 3rd person past tense that some 3000 words of the story is already written in. I just really feel like my writing gets really dry like that, especially since I still have the "Heroes"-era block up of "show, don't tell. Internal processes are verboten. Adverbs will shot on sight." So I have a lot of body language described in very clincial terms, and the story is starting to put me to sleep.