Hello!
I have a situation.
Actually, I have many situations compiled into a single situation which is My Life, but among these is one situation on which I would like some advice from fellow connoisseurs of Fiction.
Here it is, and this is it.
My Protagonist is having a problem with me, i.e. the omniscient, all-knowing Narrator, getting inside her head. I need to get inside her head, because that is where part of the story takes place. One of my characters lives inside her head. Without her head, the rest of the story becomes less interesting. I need to get inside her head. And, as the omniscient, all-knowing Narrator, I ought to be able to get inside her head.
I was thinking about this the other day, and I said to myself, "Self, maybe you don't have to be the omniscient, all-knowing Narrator. Maybe the story would be better told from Gillian's point of view." [My Protagonist's name is Gillian]. Then I thought, "Hey, that's a pretty good idea, Self. Have a banana." So, I tried writing a little in the first person. Just as the view of a wake is best when seen from inside the coffin, I found that for the most part, this bit of story I'm trying to upchuck is about fifty-seven times more palatable when told from my Protagonist's point of view. Her voice is clearer, more idiotic, and more passionate, and she feels like more of a person than a plot-device. I made a mental note of this, and I thought to myself, "Self, write the story in the first person. This is a first person story, and first is the person in which the story shall be written. Write the story in first person, Self. Write the story in first person."
[Side-note: By now, you may understand what an obnoxious being my soul is and I hope you can appreciate the fact that I have to live with it every damn day]
However,
I wrote more of the story in the first person, and I encountered another situation, a little more difficult to solve. I need at least part of the story to be told from my Protagonist's point of view. However, there are parts of the story some of which my Protagonist knows very little and others of which my Protagonist knows nothing. This is deliberate. I want my Protagonist to go through life doing this and that and not realize that the consequences of her actions are being twisted by Something [God] so that even those consequences which result in death and destruction have an overall positive effect on the story as a whole. This is something I want the reader to recognize, but not the Protagonist. The Protagonist has to remain mystified, because like all human beings, she's an utterly confused, lost, restless, and dissatisfied soul [i.e. as in St. Augustine's quote "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee"] but that does not mean nobody's looking out for her.
And I don't want to be preachy about it. The original point of the story was to try to amuse people with the contents of my absurd brain, but I need to put some Seriousness in it as well because it's there and I can't help it.
I forget what I was talking about.
Oh, there it is.
The point is, I need my Protagonist to narrate her part of the story, but there are parts I need her not to know about. This eliminates the possibilities of
(a) having her narrate the story from Purgatory where she can now see her life as a complete picture
and
(b) having her narrate the story after compiling information from all the participants in it.
I suppose I could still do (a). But I don't really want to. Should I? I don't know. That's partly what I wanted to ask.
My current solution is to tell parts of it in first person and parts of it in third person. I think I can do this. I know what parts need to be in first person and which parts need to be in third person, and I think I can separate the two so that the reader does not get confused or throw up his hands as if to call upon God to explain to him what gives writers so great a desire to mystify the readers of this little vast world, so cold in its abandonment, yet so sweet in its endeavor to find joy in pain.
I forget what I was talking about.
There it is.
I think I can have the story told alternately in first and third person without the reader getting confused. My question is, to what extent does the concept make you want to weep and tear out your hair before throwing yourself to the lions to escape the cruel whims of amateur authors? Does it sound like it could be palatable, if executed correctly? In the words of Aragorn and Thorin, what say you?
Please comment, if you have an opinion. If you don't have an opinion, comment anyway so I can say Hi. If you don't want to comment, don't comment [unless you have an opinion].
Thank you!
Beth out.
