1. hawky94

    hawky94 Active Member

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    Two "I's"

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by hawky94, Oct 31, 2011.

    Hi there!

    My friend and I are co-authoring a novel. We have two main characters, and we're wondering... (we want to write it in first person)... so there are two "I's"... both coming from different backgrounds, different parts of the military.

    Just wondering how possible it is? Is it a bad idea, purely for the complexity of it?. I know it sounds complicated/confusing.

    Feedback appreciated...

    Thanks, hawky.
     
  2. Lightman

    Lightman Active Member

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    One of my favorite novels, The Savage Detectives, has upwards of thirty first person narrators. You're fine.

    (Though I personally couldn't stomach the idea of co-writing a novel).
     
  3. hawky94

    hawky94 Active Member

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    Thank you. Well, this friend and I are coexisting for the moment, but we each bring something to the table, we both have a knowledge of what we're writing about (military fiction) - he knows more than I do about stuff, most of the time :) Thank you for sharing that The Savage Detectives - gives us hope.
     
  4. AmyHolt

    AmyHolt New Member

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    The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan has two main characters both first person narrative. The reason it works in this book is because there is only one person talking per chapter and at the top of each page it has the name of the character on stage.
     
  5. SnappyUK

    SnappyUK New Member

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    'Girl 4' by Will Carver uses a similar principle, with multiple characters each having their own chapter(s), but I've also seen other books where each character has their own typeface.
     
  6. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    i hope you had a collaboration contract in place before either of you wrote a single word!... to not do so is suicidal, as there are too many horror stories out there about 'best friends' who became worst enemies over co-writing something... the best agreement you'll find is the one on www.wga.org ... while it's for screenplays, it only takes the changing of a few words to make it apply to any written work...

    if you haven't done this yet, DO IT NOW!

    love and hugs, maia
     
  7. Pink-Angel-1992

    Pink-Angel-1992 Active Member

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    The genre and stuff will be way off your's and your friends idea, but Mary-kate and Ashley, Two of a Kind Diaries as the two 'I's' you are talking about. I read book 11 and this book tells each sisters stories in the form of a diary. It's indicated which sister it is at the begining of each entery. You and your friend could do something like that. Work out all the planning and stuff, then write your two MCs views in th form of a diary or journal. Or I'd recomend to indicated clearly at the beginning of each chapter/POV, unless you want the reader to be guessing on a certain part and have it revieled later.

    Hope that helps!
     

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