IS FIRST PERSON THE VOICE FOR YOU?
My "Aunt Lutie's Blue Moon Cafe" is written in the voice that seemed to come from the heart of the story--first person. When the muse came to me with this story of a young woman in East Texas inheriting a cafe, it was her voice I heard telling me the story. "I've been hog-tied to Harts Corner, a place I've tried to run away from half of my life." Who could resist her right to tell the story?
Contrary to what many experts tell us, writing in Mary Margaret Butler's voice was easy. Her tone flowed, page after page, until some 400 plus double-spaced pages later, she gave me the exciting, surprising ending. I hadn't attempted to write a novel in first person before this; several award-winning short stories proved I could dodge the pitfalls and so I listened to the voice. This Southern woman, with her soft accent, wanted to tell her story, her way. I let her.
Something I recently read urged writers, such as I, to choose a narrator whose voice will work well in this tense. They say to make sure to choose a character with a rich interior life. What does that mean in MM's (Mary Margaret) case? The character-building brought on by her mother's death and her aunt's love? Having to admit she has the skills to run, profitably, a cafe even though she's longed to live somewhere else for years? Feeling God's presence? Loving others--in this case--a needy child and a gorgeous lawman? MM can show readers all of these qualities through her own voice telling her own story.
Many of those experts, and authors, admit that writing in first-person POV is hard work. For example, it's difficult not to begin each sentence with "I". A writer must create sentence structures so readers are not conscious of this "I", this storyteller. She can't overwhelm the story.
The writer through the narrator cannot forget the description. So often, first-person stories are told so deeply into the person and heart, they don't share what they are seeing--the cafe where she works, the apartment where she lives, the people around her, and the events of the story. I hope, through MM, my readers can see the cafe and its kitchen, observe Bess when MM first saw her when she was a child, and the smell of those catered parties. MM must let the readers see what she sees.
I'm reading this book aloud to a group. I hear them laugh or gasp; I look up and see them smile and nod at appropriate places in the sharing. This tells me that MM's voice is genuine, that people can believe the tale she is sharing.
This woman in the story speaks to me, a Southerner, and I hope to ones who have never lived in a place like Harts Corner. I want them to share that wonderful, simple and complex life and to meet the colorful characters found in those towns.
First-person is the only voice that can tell this story.
Contrary to what many experts tell us, writing in Mary Margaret Butler's voice was easy. Her tone flowed, page after page, until some 400 plus double-spaced pages later, she gave me the exciting, surprising ending. I hadn't attempted to write a novel in first person before this; several award-winning short stories proved I could dodge the pitfalls and so I listened to the voice. This Southern woman, with her soft accent, wanted to tell her story, her way. I let her.
Something I recently read urged writers, such as I, to choose a narrator whose voice will work well in this tense. They say to make sure to choose a character with a rich interior life. What does that mean in MM's (Mary Margaret) case? The character-building brought on by her mother's death and her aunt's love? Having to admit she has the skills to run, profitably, a cafe even though she's longed to live somewhere else for years? Feeling God's presence? Loving others--in this case--a needy child and a gorgeous lawman? MM can show readers all of these qualities through her own voice telling her own story.
Many of those experts, and authors, admit that writing in first-person POV is hard work. For example, it's difficult not to begin each sentence with "I". A writer must create sentence structures so readers are not conscious of this "I", this storyteller. She can't overwhelm the story.
The writer through the narrator cannot forget the description. So often, first-person stories are told so deeply into the person and heart, they don't share what they are seeing--the cafe where she works, the apartment where she lives, the people around her, and the events of the story. I hope, through MM, my readers can see the cafe and its kitchen, observe Bess when MM first saw her when she was a child, and the smell of those catered parties. MM must let the readers see what she sees.
I'm reading this book aloud to a group. I hear them laugh or gasp; I look up and see them smile and nod at appropriate places in the sharing. This tells me that MM's voice is genuine, that people can believe the tale she is sharing.
This woman in the story speaks to me, a Southerner, and I hope to ones who have never lived in a place like Harts Corner. I want them to share that wonderful, simple and complex life and to meet the colorful characters found in those towns.
First-person is the only voice that can tell this story.
posted by Barb | 7:12 PM
2 Comments:
This sounds like a wonderful story.
Paty, thanks so much for reading my blog. This is one of those books that will probably never get published but was a delight to write...the one we writers often find in the bottom of the file cabinet. LOL
Barb
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