GATES OPEN #2

When and Why

I have had problems accessing my website: my doings and part of my learning curve. You are never too old to learn something new but it can be challenging:)

Now that it has been conquered, I will write and post a blog piece on Fridays. Thanks for your patience.

My Writing Rule Number 2:  Write in the third person.

Why?

Life stories of relatives who came before interest me and I often feel that I know so little. What was life like when my Grandpa George and Grandma Margaret held the tickets for their passage on the Titanic in their hands and why did they not go on the ship? What was it like when my Mom gave birth to my brother during the war and my dad didn’t hold his son until two and half years later when the war ended? What was it like for my grandma Lillian to have had seven children and not live long enough to meet even one of her 33 grandchildren? I wanted to know their stories. Perhaps one or more of my grandchildren will want to know my story. Perhaps a great-grandchild or even great-great-grandchild would want to read my life stories. I started this senior side writing journey writing the stories of my life for my children and grandchildren. I called then my family storied and I wrote in the first person. It was okay but somewhere in the evolution of writing these, I felt limited. I wanted the complexity and depth that a narrator, the author, could provide by writing in the third person. I especially wanted this for my collections of microfiction and short stories beyond the family stories so I switched to writing in the third person, It worked but there was a problem. When I put all my family stories into a book collection I had a mix … some in first and some in third and it was confusing. I decided that the first person was best for my family stories and the third for all the others, including the mystery novel I started. Oh my, what a lot of work. Now I had to edit 57000 words of my family stories into first person. I am still working through this.

Nevertheless, unless I am writing a memoir book/collection, I still think the third person is best for stand-alone stories both CNF (Creative nonfiction) and fiction.

In the third person, I can include the perspective of other characters. I can include and draw on thoughts and ideas that are unknown to the main protagonist. This helps me to develop the plot and create tension or suspense etc.

What do you think?