Suggested Reading for a Concept

I have no idea where and by whom, but I imagine it has been done before (what hasn't, dammit?!).

I would imagine a new chapter for each switch of voice, a scene break at minimum. You could probably get a rhythm going where the reader would expect, and maybe look forward to, the change.

I'll be interested to see what others have to say.

It's been a loooonnnnggggg time, but doesn't Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury use a similar device?

I can't recall anything in strictly 1st person that I've read recently, but Holly Lisle's Talyn has the female MC in 1st and the male in 3rd. I liked the style though some did not.

It might give a bit of that perspective you need.

The Time Traveler's Wife. If you haven't read this already, you should regardless of the reason.

Try "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. She does the switch between MCs very well.

JoNightshade said:

The Time Traveler's Wife. If you haven't read this already, you should regardless of the reason.

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Ahh, you beat me to it. But I had to go find my copy so I could spell her name right.

K-Mark said:

I am toying with the idea of writing a story where there are two main characters. One Male, One Female. I would like to write it in first person for each character.

For example, the female will tell you part of the story, then the next chapter the man will take over. It will go like this until they meet, cross over, etc.

My question is, has this ever been done before? I'd like to see its execution before I start the rough draft. How would you distinguish each character talking (besides voice)? Different fonts? Scene breaks? Etc?

Just in the creation stage, but any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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I haven't looked for any books out there that do this, but I'm sure there must be. I'm doing it for my current WIP, which has three different 1st person voices (two boys and a girl).

Each character gets their own chapter, or section of a chapter, and I usually indicate who is speaking in the chapter title (just with their initials), to prevent confusion. I'm hoping readers will be able to recognise the voices without this, but better safe than sorry.

Naturally each character has a different type of personality, so I basically just shade the narrative according to the way they view the world. For example, one has a quirkier sense of humour, another is more intellectual (and therefore uses more extensive vocab in narrative). Also, metaphors, similes and imagery in general will be different according to whose voice I'm speaking in. For example, if one is quite a physical person, you could use an occasional metaphor or comparison that draws on this, helping to ground the reader in their head, so to speak.

I also vary sentence structure according to personalities (this pretty much ties in with the use of vocab). Again, the one with the quicker and more witty personality will reflect this in the narrative through shorter, snappier sentences. Rhetorical questions are also quite good for this type of character.

Doing this sort of thing is pretty much like acting. You just have to make the actions and voices of the characters distinct enough, and be able to cleanly switch from one voice to another as each new chapter begins. After all, people don't all think/speak/act the same, and the work should reflect that.

justpat said:

Try "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. She does the switch between MCs very well.

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Ah, yes! It's been ages since I read that, I'd completely forgotten. Very good book though.

_Gryphon's Eyrie_ by Andre Norton and A.C. Crispin is told in alternating chapters from the POV of the male and female main characters. This kind of structure isn't uncommon in romance novels, I would recommend asking on a romance recommendation board.

justpat said:

Try "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger. She does the switch between MCs very well.

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I'll third that one. What a great book.

There Should Have Been Castles. It's been a long time since I read it, but it was very good. I can't remember the author's name because it was long. (I want to say German.) You should be able to find it on Amazon.

Bram Stokers Dracula was told by numerous different characters, in diary/journal form. It made for a very interesting perspective from each character.

Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible is told by a variety of 1st person narrators, mostly women (a mother and her daughters). Each chapter is titled with the name of the new character. The voice in each chapter is very distinctive as well, if the chapter title doesn't give things away.

K-Mark said:

I am toying with the idea of writing a story where there are two main characters. One Male, One Female. I would like to write it in first person for each character.

For example, the female will tell you part of the story, then the next chapter the man will take over. It will go like this until they meet, cross over, etc.

My question is, has this ever been done before? I'd like to see its execution before I start the rough draft. How would you distinguish each character talking (besides voice)? Different fonts? Scene breaks? Etc?

Just in the creation stage, but any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

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If you so a good job at catching the voice of both characters, you don't need to do anything else to keep the characters' talking apart. Chapter and scene breaks are enough.

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, a young adult book published last year, uses this technique. Nick's 1st person POV chapters were written by one author (David Levithan), and Norah's 1st person chapters were written by another (Rachel Cohn). The narrative styles are different, but the tone is consistent. It's a short book and a good one to check out for a quick study of how 2 POVs are used effectively.

Mr. E was correct that Faulkner's The Sound and The Fury (my favorite novel!) uses multiple narrators, as well. There are three first-person narrators and one third-person narrator.

I wrote a novel (it's oh-so-very unpublished) using the alternating-POV technique several years ago. It's not a first draft I'll be revisiting to edit, but I did have lots of fun writing it. I used chapter headings to denote who was speaking, but after a while even that seemed redundant. After the first two chapters (one narrated by the woman and one by the man), I thought the voices were distinct enough and the structure predictable enough that I could have scrapped the name labels and not confused anyone.

Nick Hornby's A Long Way Down switches POV between four protagonists throughout the story.

p.s. on how: chapter and/or scene breaks. Keep away from fonts.

AllieB said:

Barbara Kingsolver's The Poisonwood Bible is told by a variety of 1st person narrators, mostly women (a mother and her daughters). Each chapter is titled with the name of the new character. The voice in each chapter is very distinctive as well, if the chapter title doesn't give things away.

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I recommend this one too, in fact I was thinking of it as I was reading the thread and the title completely escaped me. I read an interview with Kingsolver that she wrote the book entirely from each of the characters point of view and then cut the chapters together switchcing off points of views to make it into one book. The result was pretty impressive.

edited for my pathetic spelling!

"Come Together" is written like that, although it has two authors (Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees) who wrote a character each, if I'm not mistaken. (They've done more books together since)