Many years ago, I wrote a psychological-thriller screenplay that got some requests, briefly got me a manager, but ultimately never really went anywhere. So I decided to turn it into a novel.
My 1st attempt was entirely in the 3rd person and I fell victim to screenwriter-turned-novelist syndrome - overwriting description! I also tried to get into everyone's heads, even within the same chapter, which wasn't working well. So, on to a page one rewrite, now in the 1st person, told in the POVs of my 3 main characters.
To do this, I've made some rules for myself:
1) Each chapter will only be told from a single character's POV.
2) Never repeat action just to tell it from the another POV (though I can refer back to it briefly for perspective)
3) never break a single scene into 2 chapters just to switch perspectives. (though I do sometimes break up approaching the building from inside the room - more so as I close in on the climax. Generally, I try to make chapters hours, days, or miles apart from one another.)
4) At least two of the character's are always present tense. This is happening to them now! The 3rd char is a bit of a wip, but has some foreknowledge, as if he's telling someone (police/lawyer) the story afterward.
5) Chapter titles are the character names, followed by a countdown. (at the moment, it's a backwards counting chapter number, down to zero for the climax, then back to one for the epilogue to represent an open future.
Are you converting from 3rd to 1st person? If so, what, if any, rules did you create for yourself?
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Well, you certainly seem to have made it work for you, Daisy!
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same to you, Meg Stone - best of luck getting your (life) story out there!
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I'm such a traditionalist I just use third person omniscient for everything, but maybe I will stumble on a rationale for trying a first-person piece at some point.
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Daisy White for real, and I read some writers who've done both,
for my own world view when I am in the "director's chair" of screenwriting, I think I need the remove of visualizing and choreographing story as an outsider, that way I feel like I am viewing the thing on-screen.
I think I am sort of addicted to a reliable journalistic angle since some of my story material gets pretty outlandish, but I will try to keep my mind open for the right concept to experiment with this!