Okay. So I have a chapter or scene in which the MC is telling a story. I wanted to get reactions from her. Such as how she felt terrible or interruption from the listener. The story though is done in third person. The only idea I had was a long quote with quotes inside a quote. Or like; "I remember it well," she said. "The man told me 'go away!' if only I had listened." Except like really long. I guess normally this would lead to a flashback but I want to avoid that because I wanted her reactions and the listener to interrupt at points. Any ideas? Or is the only idea I had the correct approach? Did I explain the situation well enough?
I don't think writing a flashback automatically means the listener cannot interrupt - as long as you make sure the timeline is clear, eg when it's the memory and when it's the present - it's fine to write in the interruption.
That sounds confusing. Plus a flashback is more third person watching the event isn't it? I kind of wanted to have her narrate it as to showcase her disdain with her own actions. Can a flashback do that?
Flashbacks can be done in third or first person. Perhaps you should read some novels that include flashbacks and see how it's normally done? However, thinking about it, you shouldn't include a great many occasions of direct speech within the narration anyway - I mean, how many of us tell a story filled with quotes from other people? Barring the essential 1-2, they'd be almost non-existent.
Crap. You make a point. Flashback is needed to get into serious detail isn't it? The main issue is the interruption. As it is being told as a story. How would I properly lead in and out of a flashback for the listener to interrupt? Only thing I am familiar with in this style is comics. They often turn a normally white border black for a flashback.
It's hard to tell you without me simply writing out a similar scene, and that's far too much work lol, sorry. Off the top of my head I'm not 100% sure either, but I should imagine it's definitely doable. I'd say check out how others have done it, give it a go yourself, and then post your interrupted flashback scene in the workshop It's much easier to tell you what you might be doing wrong, and what alternatives there are, if there's actually a scene in front of you to edit So yeah, write it in whatever way you think works, then post it on the workshop!
Actually I already have a scene typed up. the approach I went with was switching to first person and writing it in narration. The rest of the story is in third person. So it needs to be improved I think. Definitely not ready for the workshop. Not sure if I should post it there anyhow. I already posted 3 chapters. (1-2 for generally opinion and chap 11 for a different but similar question.)
Again, there's really no reason why it can't be narrated in third person. But then again, switching POVs like that, while it's not the norm, has been done before (books written in both 1st and 3rd person). Anywau good luck lol.
