Shivon Sudesh is a college student, reading BA English Language and Literature at King’s College, London. She started writing her first novel, Wolves Within, while still in school and it was published by Mereo Book in August 2014.
While not at college, Shivon spends her time reading countless books and pretending to work on her next novel, ‘Doves in Flight’. She enjoys listening to music and hanging out with the fictional characters that occupy her brain.
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Hey, everyone! I’m very excited to be here on Book Sniffers Anonymous – thank you Kristin for letting me write a guest post on your blog!
I’ve finally decided – after flipping through several crackpot ideas, each worse than the last – to talk about the pros and cons of writing a novel in the first or third person. The reason I chose this particular topic is that I spent around a month wrestling with this very dilemma before finally starting work on ‘Wolves Within’ (NB: this is an excellent mode of procrastination!)
I adore books written in the first person. I feel so much closer to the main character, like there’s nothing between me (the reader) and them, no distractions to get in the way of getting to know them. Conversely, with books written in the third person I used to find it harder to really understand and “get into the skin” of the MC – it’s like there’s an invisible wall constructed between me and them. Writing ‘Wolves Within’ in the third person has done a lot to change that, though, and now I can appreciate the unique advantages of a third person narrative.
Which brings me to why I ultimately chose to write ‘WW’ in the third person, despite my reservations. The truth is… I didn’t! If you look at my very, very early notes (I don’t recommend it – they make no sense to anyone, including myself) Sathi is speaking in the first person. So why the change? First person narration is wonderful, it brings you very close to the main character… but it’s limiting. You can only narrate through your chosen character. You can’t have another main character – like Zakiy in ‘WW’ – providing a different perspective. You can’t have random characters interjecting their bit. You can’t have completely unexplained scenes that don’t make any sense at the time, but will make sense later. Third person narration gives you so much flexibility – and for this trilogy, flexibility in narration is essential for me. I can’t imagine writing this in first person now – so I’m quite happy with my choice, despite the lengthy time it took me to make it!
One thing I find quite challenging with writing in the third person, though, is the use of pronouns. With first person it’s very clear: you use ‘I’ with ‘he/she/they’ – simple! But with third person you use ‘she’ and ‘he’ for the narrator, so if both the protagonist and the person they’re talking to are the same gender, you end up having to use the characters’ names about twenty times in just one paragraph… grrr!
What do you, as either a reader or an author, think about the use of first/third person narration? Are you like me, or does it not matter to you?
Wolves Within
By: Shivon Sudesh
Publisher: Mereo Book
Published: Sept. 30, 2014
Genre: YA MysteryWhat really happened to Sathi’s mother – the mother she never knew?
Throughout her eighteen years, Sathi has carried the burden of her grief and guilt over the death of her own mother while giving birth to her. But then she starts investigating – and unearths hidden documents that suggest her mother did not die in childbirth after all. This shocking discovery sends Sathi back to India, the land of her forefathers, on a trail which opens up a world of intrigue she had no idea existed. What secrets are her family keeping from her? What is she to make of the charming but infuriating Zakiy, who is not quite the simple young man he claims to be? And what really happened to her beloved Amma?
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