1. Zerotonin

    Zerotonin Serotonin machine broke

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    First-Person Perspective Issue

    Discussion in 'Research' started by Zerotonin, Aug 8, 2018.

    Back again, with another random question. For those of you who are familiar with my thread asking for punny names for a terminal illness support group, this is another question about that same story.

    First, a bit of background. My protagonist, Beau Hanson, is diagnosed pretty early in the novel with Fatal Familial Insomnia (FFI).

    FFI is caused by a mutation of the PRNP gene. This mutation causes an attack on the thalamus, which controls your sleep cycles and allows different parts of your brain to communicate with each other. It’s considered a progressive neurodegenerative disease. This means it causes your thalamus to gradually lose nerve cells. It’s this loss of cells that lead to FFI’s range of symptoms. One of the most common symptoms of the condition, as you may have guessed by the whole "neurodegenerative" part, is deteriorating cognitive and memory function.

    Now then, I'm in a bit of a pickle. I could write the story in third-person, but, as this story is very emotion-based, I feel like I need to write it in first-person. This, however, would pose a problem, considering the protagonist, and narrator's, cognitive function and memory would be fading steadily throughout the story.

    Have any of you run into a dilemma like this? If so, how did you dig yourself out? Also, do you think my story's emotional impact would be weakened due to writing it in third person?
     
  2. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    I usually respond to this sort of thing by saying something like, "You can get just as close and emotion-based in third person as in third person. That said, if first person 'feels' more right for you, go for it."

    In this case you have a very clear reason for third person being a better choice. So I would suggest actively studying the techniques that can make close third person just as close and emotion-based as first person.

    One possible starting exercise could be to write a bit in first person--presumably early, when her cognitive abilities are OK--and then doing a purely grammatical change to third person.

    I'm going to find the example I've used before, the one with the neon signs, and link it here...

    This is it. My main point in this thread is not that it's full of angsty angst. It's an example of a purely grammatical change from first to third person.

    https://www.writingforums.org/threads/god-narration-by-a-character-in-the-story.158352/#post-1680688
     
  3. Steerpike

    Steerpike Felis amatus Contributor

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    Have you read The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana? It is an Umberto Eco novel, written in first person, dealing with fading cognitive issues (specifically, amnesia/memory loss of the protagonist). I think you can write something like this just fine in first person, so I wouldn't let the cognitive impairment put you off.

    However, I also believe you can get just as close in terms of POV in third person as in first, as @ChickenFreak indicates above, so I wouldn't feel hampered by adopting a third person perspective either.
     
  4. Zerotonin

    Zerotonin Serotonin machine broke

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    Well put. I've got a lot more experience in writing first person, but I have written third person before. As a whole, I think that third person is going to be better overall for this project simply because it'll allow me to tell the story as easily as possible. Who knows, maybe after the first draft, I'll decide I want to scrap it and write in first person anyways, but I think that, at least for my initial draft, it's gonna be third person.

    Can't say I've read that, but it's got me intrigued. I may have to give that a look.

    While it'd be an interesting challenge to write through the guise of a character whose mental capacity is dimming by the day, I think it may not work for this piece specifically (for reasons you couldn't have possibly known). Beau's health issues are a big part of the story, but they're not necessarily the focus, so I feel like having his cognitive impairment so directly affect the narrative would be doing a disservice to readers, as that's not the primary focal point of the story in its entirety.
     
  5. deadrats

    deadrats Contributor Contributor

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    You're going to have a lot of explaining/teaching to do about this illness. That might be something to think about when deciding on a POV.
     

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