No really, this is novel research, lol!

Try it out!

So after having a bout of cold feet on my 1st person alternating POV narrators, 35% into the second-ish draft of my novel, I decided to look through a few of my all-time favorite books and see how they were done. I was very surprised to find about 90% of the novels I own (as many of my favorites as I can afford, of course) were written in first-person, and a good handful of those used alternating 1st person narrators too.

Kind of telling then why I’m trying to do the same for my own novel – whether I can or can’t has yet to be decided

The list, favorite novels in 1st person:

A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving
Great Expectations, by Charles Dickens
The Feast of Love, by Charles Baxter (4-5 different narrators)
Kiss Me Judas, by Will Christopher Baer
Lolita, by Vladimir Nobokov
Who Will Run the Frog Hospital, by Lorrie Moore
A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore
The Virgin Suicides, by Jeffrey Eugenides (1st person plural)
Then We Came to the End, by Joshua Ferris (1st person plural, and one chapter in 3rd person)
My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult (4 different narrators)
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury
The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
Timequake, by Kurt Vonnegut
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, by Junot Diaz (2 different narrators)
The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky
Survivor, by Chuck Palahniuk
The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner

***

Not counting short stories, and not counting books I loved but don’t own.

Password-locked entries are to keep search engines out (or at least I hope it works that way!), and to maintain some amount of privacy on the most guarded projects of mine.

But if you’re a friend or a fan in the least, then you’re welcome here. For any password-locked entries, the word will usually be the same, “letmereadit”.

So you can read them if you want

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Because I’ve been traipsing about the English countryside for the last couple weeks

167 pictures in total, click through for the full set.

Out hiking in the woods. It’s dark and ominous, about to storm, the kind of day that inspires stories… No, really, we’re a mile from home and about to get rained on.

Chapter 5 continues to be this big fat black hole, where I keep putting things into it, and nothing ever comes out.

Reading my first Janet Fitch (Paint it Black), she’s amazing! Every sentence is so nuanced and alive! Oh, *sigh* I want to write like this!

Bought some fresh, organic, local strawberries today from the farmers’ market, and they came with a fresh, still alive and wiggling worm… Cut your strawberries open before eating, people! You know, unless you like the extra protein… :\

Dylan says, “Mommy, I’m getting bigger. I’m almost a man.”

Dylan, on his bug bite medicine, “Like lotion for vampire bites.” – and it even doubles as a good title for a short story too, lol!

Pilot Speed are my new favorite band of the moment! (Remind me a lot of Radiohead, or Muse) Love, love, LOVE!

Note to self: probably not possible to finish both five novel chapters and six LH updates before this trip, in two weeks, just so you know.

Well, at least I accomplished something before the monkey-child started climbing on me. Maybe more later.

A conversation with the real live people in my head.

[Note: If you are not a writer, this post may be disturbing for you. But don't be alarmed. In some professions, it is quite normal to converse with the voices in your head.]

Danny, to me: What the hell? You haven’t written about us in over two weeks!

Lexi: I know, I was about to win an argument over here.

Me: Sorry guys, things were getting a little juicy over in LH Land.

Danny: Corbin’s nothing special, I can spew out some philosophical bullshit and be all quiet and brooding.

Lexi: He can!

Me: But Daniel, my dear, can you do tai chi shirtless?

Danny: Uhh…

Lexi: Oooh, who’s Corbin?

Me: Eh, don’t worry about him – it’s probably better you two live in different dimensions.

*makes note that Lexi and Corbin should never meet*

Me: So you guys are so hot to get back to work, what do you have for me?

Lexi: Isn’t that your job?

Danny, to me: Do you see what I have to put up with?

Me: Oh, I know it. Don’t forget, I kind of made her. But I gave her nice boobs for you.

*Lexi crosses her arms over her chest*

Me: So Danny, your dad is dead, and your mother is lecturing you about your sister’s religion (or lack thereof).

Danny: Oh, for Christ! Not that part. Still? Haven’t you finished that yet?

Me: Sorry, no. But I’ll try to make it quick and painless.

Lexi: Do I have to be there for that?

Me: No, you’ll be doing laundry.

Lexi: Oh, joy!

Danny: Can we do a sex scene instead?

Me: Maybe later. Okay, back to work you two.

Chapters 1 and 2 are fine. Chapters 6 and 7 are fine. Chapters 8, 9, and 10 are in pieces, but have potential, and will probably end up fine.

But chapters 3-5 are not fine. They feel like soggy bread, you know, like when a bit of sandwich crust ends up in the dirty dishes?

Once upon a time, I thought I’d finish the first draft of my novel by the end of May. A silly girl I was, hopeful, bold, and too many clouds in my head. In reality, the end of May approaches quickly, and the novel is expected to reach a scrawny, but extremely endearing 30,000 words by then. Maybe more, if I can buckle down and focus. My novel is that delightful skinny child that doesn’t look like much now, but you just have a feeling might grow up to be something “special.”

I have no qualms with these clouds in my head, or the reality that shows up and tells me how silly I was. I replot my schedule, and see a finished first draft by not May, not June or July, but probably September or October instead (and even then, it’s only hoping). Out to agents by the end of the year? Oh no, probably not. Finished and solid first draft by my 30th birthday is the new goal – beginning of September. If I do nothing else, I want to have finished a solid draft of a novel before I turn 30.

Just to say that I did it.

Can I tell you a secret? Sometimes I want this book finished so quickly because the year 2012 is coming up so fast, and I want to see my book in print and being adored by the masses before we all become blindsided by Planet Nibiru.

Do I really believe there is a Planet Nibiru? No, probably not. They usually turn out to be flops, don’t they? Am I just fascinated by “end of the world paranoia”? Oh, probably. Am I weaving it in as a major undertone of my novel? Oh yes, I’m trying!

So, how about you all? What do you want to get accomplished in your life before we get smashed into oblivion by Planet Nibiru?

Now I know why the last people left our new place – supercute apartment, but the woman upstairs takes a shower at 4:45 every morning, and the pipes/tub floor or whatever is LOUD AS HELL!!!

But otherwise, I’d probably still be in bed, snuggled up against my honey and sleeping like a baby. Instead, I’m up and working. Perhaps in a few months time, I might owe the completion of this novel to my loudass upstairs neighbor?

I wonder if anyone ever wrote that in the acknowledgments of their book? “Thanks, to the loudass bitch upstairs, for showering at 4:45 a.m..”