Every writer will have to face this dilemma at some stage. No, not the violent dispatch of spouses or family (I’ll cover that next week, for those that are interested) but that heart-wrenching process of getting rid of those much-loved quirks and foibles of one’s writing. It might be a delightful but gratuitous chunk of prose, a pointless character to which you have developed a personal attachment or even a subplot that serves no purpose.
People, I feel your pain. As a writer who revels in using ten words where one will do, has endless pointless characters (many of whom don’t even have names) and scatters superfluous story arcs with gay abandon, I am perhaps more guilty of harbouring ‘darlings’ than the average writer. But my publisher is tolerant of such indulgences as literary excess is rather my style, albeit with tongue firmly in cheek.
But when I received this response after submitting my latest PorterGirl novel, I sensed that the days were numbered for the biggest darling of them all…
Sinister Dexter is in your voice and I don’t want to change it too much. I think the story is great and again it is character driven, you do tie your hands somewhat, writing in the first person and in the present tense…
Readers of the books and the original blog will know that I am partial to writing in First Person Present Tense which is, I know, considered to be a bit gimmicky in literary circles. When I first started writing the blog, an-almost-real-life account of my experiences as the first female Deputy Head Porter at one of the UK’s oldest and most prestigious Universities, the device worked very well. It gave an intimate and immediate account of an unusual and unique journey into the esoteric world of the academic elite and allowed me to share the inner thoughts and observations of Deputy Head Porter to great effect. For the first book, even, it still proved effective and I received positive feedback from readers who said they felt like they were with our heroine every step of the way. First Person Present Tense has become the signature style for PorterGirl and is a huge part of the quirky style and feel of the thing.
But I can’t deny, it can be a bit of a bugger at times. Firstly, most people hate FPPT. There is a danger of wandering into the realms of stream-of-consciousness type ponderings on the page. It can make character development tricky for anyone not directly engaging with the protagonist at regular intervals. It’s not that I have anything against other tenses – Who Shot Tony Blair? and my Poirot parodies are all written in Third Person Past Tense and, I can tell you, it’s a damn sight less fiddly.
The end of Sinister Dexter is set up to introduce an additional character point of view for the book that will follow. I even have a cunning ruse to extricate myself from the shackles of FPPT and move to Past Tense, should I choose to do so. With the trilogy of novels now in place, it would seem an opportune moment to take the series forward and move on from what is perhaps the most striking and recognisable aspect of the PorterGirl style.
But… is the killing of this – perhaps the biggest of darlings – a slaughter too far?
Lucy Brazier 
I love first person, but you do have a point about the stream-of-consciousness trap. It depends how important it is for your reader to really identify with that narrating character. Third person with a close single point of view is almost as good, and allows you an out should you need to bring in another p.o.v. I haven’t written whole works in present tense, although I’ve used it for especially intense scenes (in first person, of course). Bottom line — if switching styles doesn’t produce the effect you want, don’t do it!
Very good advice, thank you! I will do a test run and see how it reads. If it doesn’t work out, I can always switch back. Thank you so much, this is really helpful 🙂
I’m guessing you can guess my opinion! 😉 I thought the FPPT worked well for the blog structure, but I always think it’s annoying in a novel, even when it’s well done, and in fact I regularly decide not to read a novel purely because it’s in FPPT. I’ve even abandoned favourite authors over the issue. I must admit it’s not because of character development or anything like that. (I don’t mind FP actually, for a thriller type read) it’s because the PT aspect is not how people tell stories. (I know some people recount stories verbally in PT, but not often – and writing isn’t speech…) And it gets ludicrous if not carefully handled – I remember a book where the guy was drowning at one point and telling me about in present tense, and all I could think was “Did you take a waterproof pen and writing pad down there with you then?” Kinda killed the tension…
Rant over! You should know better than to get me started on my pet peeve… 😉
I do love your rants FF and I was especially hoping you might treat us to one here! I am not disappointed 🙂 But seriously, it does hamper lots of storytelling devices quite severely and jaunty internal thoughts and observations can only take one so far. I’m thinking of keeping FP but switching to Past Tense. Still plenty of opportunity for random musings and personal thoughts, but it opens up other avenues of storytelling not previously available to me. It’s nice that my readers are so defensive over my style, but I think by keeping the FP I will retain much of what makes it appealing. Thank you, as ever, for your wise words! 🙂