Yesterday was a big day for the first five pages of my story. I met with my mentor and also had a workshop. Everything seemed positive, and I feel good continuing work on this project. I was particularly encouraged when my professor said the words were flying off the page. She mentioned a couple of spots where the sentences interrupted the flow and said I would catch them later if I read the draft out loud. I figure I’ll catch those spots when I read my draft to family for the first time. Overall I felt encouraged!
The main question in both meetings seemed to be the number of perspectives I wrote from considering this will be a novel-length work. My professor was satisfied with my initial response for what is gained by showing multiple perspectives, but I will have to be careful not to add too many. My mentor said that the more perspectives a story has, the more experimental it is. We all felt like we’ve read books that do this before, but we couldn’t think of any.
My friend today reminded me of one series I read that might fit this style. The Christian Fiction genre seems to switch perspectives much more frequently than general Fiction would, so this style feels natural to me and seems experimental to those who are wider read than I am. For example, I believe Dee Henderson’s books change perspectives within chapters, and she has many narrators. I recall thoroughly enjoying her books when I read them. They felt so real and made me want to be a part of the O’Malley clan. The books did not skirt around difficult issues, either.
I will have to look into this.