Don't tell me not to kill my narrator!

I've been told numerous times that "killing the narrator" is a no-no in first-person writing.

And, as with all things I've been told numerous times, I tend to ignore said advice.

Here's the argument: if you write in first person and you kill the narrator at the end, well then how did s/he tell the story to begin with? And also, stories from the perspective of a ghost are cliche and boring. Boring! RaaaAAR!

Okay my creative writing teachers never became dinosaurs at the end of their speeches...

I'm not one to have ghosts tell stories. Not usually, anyways.

But this "irresolvable issue" of telling a story where you die at the end is, I've found, entirely resolvable. The issue isn't if you die at the end, it's when you're telling it, hence, tense (excuse the rhyme).

In past tense, of course it doesn't make any damned sense. You're basically saying, "I died." Huh, really...

But in present tense, what's the prob, bob? I see no issue with telling everyone what you're going through AS you die, other than you really aught to be asking for medical help or something. But then again, anyone who narrates their own lives has issues to begin with.

So.

Why not, damn it?

Also, I'd like to hear from some of you who are willing to kill in first-person (you brave souls, you). I want to hear how you conveyed the impending death, perspective of the narrator and all of that. Pretty please.

Gillhoughly said:

It's in present tense.

You'll have a difficult time getting an agent or the interest of an editor for that piece--unless you're really, REALLY good.

Beta readers will let you know about the last one.

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Let's apply this to, say, a short, short story (let's keep it less than 2,500 words).

Let's say I've done this already .

Is present tense still all that horrible in the short stuff?

selkn.asrai said:

In all honesty, I'm wary of present tense narrative; it jars me. I suppose it's because when I walk down the leaf-littered street, I don't think, "I walk down the leaf-littered street." And most stories are told in the past tense, so I suppose its a comfortable habit.

Killing the first-person narrator? I can understand its potential as a hard sell. A reader could feel cheated, in the same vein (but not nearly as offensive) as "But it was only a dream..." I'd be taken aback by some versions. But say it ended with the MC saying, "I'm dying." Mayhaps more of a reluctant question or sad admission than the melodramatic, overly unrealistic, "I die." (Polonius much?) Depending on my attachment to the MC, the former could be acceptable to me.

Somewhat off topic:




Red, what's his story like? That premise intrigues me.

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I understand the reader could feel cheated by a death, this is also a strong consideration when writing these pieces.

By the way, Robert Olen Butler published a collection of short stories about the last thoughts of a severed head, all present tense, no beginning or end to the sentence (no hard punctuation) begins and ends in the middle of a thought. It's a great book. Severed, I think it's called.

But back to what I was saying, I guess I'll describe my short story and you tell me what you think:

An Iranian man is standing atop the Azadi Tower and is waiting to jump to his death. His mother basically cut ties with him when she found out he was gay, his lover was imprisoned, and he has no other family, so he belongs to no one. He tells within the first few paragraphs what his intentions are, so if people don't like it they can stop reading early on. Throughout the story, he relates things he sees below to his childhood, a red balloon reminds him of the balloons he got with his mother as a child and how its freedom as if flies into the sun is the freedom he wants from Allah, who he relates to a father figure.

But he can't just have a father, he has to have a mother so when an aunt (or, I forget, it's been a while since I wrote it) notices who he is, she sends for his mother.

The goal, or plot, is for the character to get his mother to say he is her son three times before he dies. The last time she says it is as he has already jumped and lays dying atop the shattered windshield of a police car. It gives him the peace to finally leave the oppression of his life and enter into Allah's arms.

I submitted this story to a college literary magazine, but I think the subject matter may have been too much for them.

I'll submit something less in-your-face this year to test my theory and see if it gets in.

P.S. I don't get the opposition to present tense? After a few paragraphs it's the same as any other. Written well, I've never had trouble reading present tense if the story is interesting. Shrug.