Hello again, readers and welcome to my June blog. I am writing, amazed that it is already June and summer is fast approaching ; it doesn’t feel long since I was writing January’s blog . Today the subject of my blog is the use of the first person, in my latest book “The Edge of Perfection”.
My previous books have been written in the third person (that is to say: reading as though you are hearing about the character).By using this first person perspective, I wanted to give the readers the feeling that they are the main character and that they are going on the same adventure as Sam. The aim is that the reader experiences Sam’s journey, living and feeling it as if it were their own life and their own journey.
The book is written from Sam’s perspective, as he looks back on his past. The fact is that Sam doesn’t give us any clues as to what might happen next; we only know that this is a past event. The intended effect of this is to give a taste of the adventure that the reader is about to experience. The sense of unpredictability is what, I believe, creates a good storyline. I have therefore written it so that the reader follows Sam every step of the way.
Another effect of writing in first person is that the reader gains a strong understanding of Sam and the type of character Sam is. Although you would experience this through a story written in third person, reading the story in first person also allows the reader to gain insight into Sam’s thoughts and feelings. Therefore the impact I was aiming to make, was to bring the reader along on the adventure and not only understand what Sam did but also how Sam felt about everything, thereby creating tension and emotion.
My final intention of writing in the first person is to give the reader an opportunity to consider what they themselves might do in a certain situation. So when Sam reaches a tense or challenging point in the story, the “oh what happens next?” remains a pertinent question but reading from a first person perspective, the reader might also guess what happens next. They can later find out if their ideas and their judgement were correct.
I have already written books in the third person but this is my first book, written in the first person. I think a story can be written from either perspective but for this particular adventure, involving a boy trying to find perfection, I felt it more appropriate to bring the reader on a journey and adventure as if they themselves were there – is the journey worth it?
Jonny Pardoe
Jonny Pardoe © June 2017
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Jonny Pardoe
