1st person perspective a question.

[anthorn]

I've been having trouble with writing my book so i'm gonna try and write it in first person. Now the way i'm planning this is to have the first half of it in 1st person, and the last part in third. Would that be accepatable? Are there any other books that do this?

I Have written in a prologue which has all the main characters are together and are trapped in a forest. Now the idea of the first person, is for it to be told back into a recording device (At this point they blieve they're going to die) Prologue is written in third. And from Chapter one up to when they get up to that scene in the prologue will be told in 1st person.
Now the problem is that i have 4 other main characters stories that i want to tell-because its all wrapped up in how they all meet. Now would the reader accept small interludes where the other characters from the main narrator tell their sides of the story?

[chopper]

ken macleod - cosmonaut keep. alternates 1st & 3rd person viewpoints with every chapter. as they're looking on very different aspects of the story it does seem to work.

[anthorn]

But for my story is basically one character recalling events. She was'nt there with the other three characters in the events that brought them together.
Its told in a flash back way.

[The Pelagic Argosy]

I think the idea of telling half the story in a flash-back style is risky. The action would lose immediacy. Is there a compelling reason why the story can't be told in a straight-forward, chronological way?

[anthorn]

I dont know. I thought it would be neat.

But i thought it would be a goodway of starting it. Having one character recording the events down as she remembered them. Incase if they are killed or captured their version of events are destroyed and left untold.

[The Pelagic Argosy]

Originally Posted by anthorn

I dont know. I thought it would be neat.

But i thought it would be a goodway of starting it. Having one character recording the events down as she remembered them. Incase if they are killed or captured their version of events are destroyed and left untold.

Is she recording this stuff as it happens (sorta like the Blair Witch Project) or is it all being recorded after the fact?

If it's after the fact, the reader will know that at least one character survives. So at least this bit of suspense will be lost.

[anthorn]

She's recording it afterwards. BUT i dont intend any characters to die. She's recording it after the events. In a lull between them being chased by an army. She believes they are going to die and that is why she records it. So others know what really happened rather than the councils propaganda

[Mad Tam McC]

An idea - You could have different people telling their stories in the recording device they could keep taking it off each other. You could even have them correcting each other as different people's memories remember different things.

As to your question is it acceptable?

Yes if it works!

[anthorn]

What like passing it around one from the other to see how they came to be there.....

Thats interesting because i've got the two main characters. Nikita(Narrator.) Anthorn who live in Mana City. Sorrel a harlot living in the south. Faircaira living a little bit souther. and Faelii and Garrison who is an alcoholic. Faelii is the instergater in the rescuing of Faircaira, she ropes Garrison into doing it. and Sorrel is caught up in becoming the armies conqubine. and Anthorn and Nikita are conscripted Into the army or else they die.

[Mad Tam McC]

If you're really good, you could have it record the bits where someone says "Give me that" or "My turn" or it records a random arguement when someone forgets to switch it off.

Though I'd imagine that it could make the switch from 1st to 3rd person difficult.

Is the present at 'record' time or 'playback' time? The above probably works best if it's 'playback' and from what you've said previously I think it's 'record'. Anyway it's just an idea.

[anthorn]

Its present at record. But i want it to also be like it is happening lright now. Like the book Name of the Wind. And when it gets up to the scene in the prologue. I tell it from third person perspective. But allow people to still hear the thoughts of the characters

[Mad Tam McC]

I think you should try it, and once you're satisfied, you could post a section in the critiques.

Since it's present at 'record' you could have it happening over several days and events in the present happeneing, so that several stories are happening at once.