Which person am I?
In the year 2000, I wrote my first book for children (before that it was all young adults). I was advised that children’s writing should be in third person, so I did that (despite the fact that I’m much, much better at first person). That book is now a trilogy – in fact the second book was originally written in first person, then I changed it to third person.
The second book has been giving me trouble for a while. It has some brilliant bits, but just doesn’t seem to work overall. I looked at the first chapter over the weekend (after realising I needed to write several more ‘training’ scenes into the fart book) and hated it.
So I’ve decided to rewrite the second book – in first person (which I now know children are perfectly fine with). This will not only end up a better book (because first person is something I’ve always done well), but it’ll make it a lot fresher for me to work with. I don’t think anything big will change – I’ll be looking at the original as I go along – but hopefully this will fix it. Of course this also means I’ll most likely have to change the (perfectly adequate) first and third books too.
Best not to think about that.
Felicity Banks 
Ben (Crispin) said,
June 29, 2009 at 5:08 am
Book two – is that The Monster Apprentice?
After a lot of thought (and reading two different drafts), I eventually decided that the problem with that one is that it contains two different elements – a weird, poetic one about coming-of-age rituals, and an actual plot about pirates.
Both of those work fairly well on their own terms (but are insufficient to carry the book by themselves), but don’t seem to meld at all well.
Perhaps if the poetic-ness could be made somehow crucial to the plot (indirectly – say she sees or is told something that later becomes important) and the plot be designed so that the challenges that she faces become as important and as symbolic of her coming-of-age as the rituals, then they could be made to meld better.
Just a thought.
soesposito said,
July 1, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I, too, write better in first person. In fact, I wrote my last book in first person and then had to go back and change it all to third because of some editorial comments that it made the reader too aware of the writing. I still like it better in first.
The novel I’m working on now, I’m using first person for the villian’s pov, third for the rest of the story. I think it works, but who knows. Good luck with the rewrites!