1. Daemon Wolf

    Daemon Wolf Senior Member

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    Trilogy: writing each book differently. thoughts?

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by Daemon Wolf, Jul 26, 2015.

    So I had this idea for a trilogy:

    Basically I have two main characters in my trilogy. One is a super soldier created by an evil company who's "name" is Titan 215 (Given by the company from: What he is classified as [A Titan] and the order in which he was created [215]) a.k.a. Lume (As in Looms over you and Aluminium the metal). The other is a girl (18) who's name is Reyna who is a young innocent girl to start out with and then becomes more able to fight later in the first book.

    So my idea is to have the first book be a First Person Narrative from the view point of Lume and for the second book to be a First Person Narrative from the view point of Reyna a few years later. Then for the third book I was thinking of making it a Third Person Narrative possibly switching between the two (at the moment I don't have much of an idea of what to make the third book about but I have a good idea of what the first two will be[Currently half way through writing the 1st book]).

    I was wondering is this a good idea or would this be weird for the reader?
     
  2. Bryan Romer

    Bryan Romer Contributor Contributor

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    Anything can work, but shifting to third person in the final book might upset readers who have been following your series. The style and rhythm that the readers have become used to will be completely gone.
     
  3. Daemon Wolf

    Daemon Wolf Senior Member

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    The reason I am wanting to do the third book third person is because I believe that:

    First Person allows you to see more into what the character is thinking and feeling and gets you closer to said character.

    Third Person allows you to fill in detail things your MC would miss and with third person you can see more of the universe and more of what's going on and not just from one persons point of view.

    [I know different people have different views on it but that's how I write both]

    That being said the First book is a sort of coming of age story for Lume and then the second is focusing on what Reyna has to deal with when she finally grows up. After those two books I was/am planning to have a major event happen that I would prefer to overlook from a third person view to see a wider range of what's going on and to wrap up anything that I may need to wrap up.
     
  4. Daemon Wolf

    Daemon Wolf Senior Member

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    The set up for my books is basically:

    Book 1: Coming of Age story

    Book 2: Survival horror story

    Book 3: War story

    Whilst the Coming of Age and the Survival Horror I want to be more personal the War story going to be more about a LARGE war (where as the first book has a smaller war).
     
  5. Samson Michael

    Samson Michael Member

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    As Bryan said, the switch from first to third person could be jarring to some readers of your series. It isn't impossible, but it would lack a lot of the intimacy that the first person perspective brings to a narrative and the intimacy your readers might expect. Switching perspectives between every couple of chapters could work. In fact, I seriously considered doing that for a story I was working on awhile ago too. While I think you're differentiation between the "small" war of the first book and the "large" war of the last book is fine, that larger scale doesn't necessarily mean that it can't be from an intimate perspective. "The Red Badge of Courage" was a novel from the first person perspective and the scale of it wasn't exactly small. You could also write the entire series in third person with excerpts from the first person perspective (I.E journal entries, or maybe just certain emotions that a certain character is feeling at any given point at the beginning of a chapter, or in italicized excerpts throughout).

    I'm sorry, I'm probably not giving you much help. I don't write trilogies, or even write with the intention of making anything a series. I really don't know how to approach perspective. Do what you think is best for your story, as the writer you have to make that decision. If you truly think that third person is the best perspective for your third book than write it in third person. If it doesn't work, this is what revision and editing is for. No first draft is perfect.
     
    Daemon Wolf likes this.
  6. Chewie

    Chewie Member

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    I would definitely say either stick to either first or third person, never switch in a series. As Bryan and Samson said this could alienate readers who really love your characters. Also just because its first person doesn't mean you have to miss loads of the things around them, if its a war you could always use a meeting room with all the commanders to help fill in what is happening around them in the war.

    Are Lume and Reyna on the same side of the war? Or even in the same areas of it? This could allow you to fill out a lot of what's happening if they are interacting with different people on different sides.

    I would second what Samson says and go for a switching narrative in the Third book. I think first person in wars adds a lot of edge as you never really know what's going to happen next. Where sometimes third person can spoil climax's in battles.
     
    Samson Michael likes this.

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