So my novel takes place in an afterlife and focuses on one major character, as they try to heal from childhood trauma, learn helpful mental health tools, and newly take in this beautiful universe.
The other major characters are also developing ethically and emotionally, and we need to see inside their minds and watch them learn.
Meanwhile the past was literally a different life, and there's not a lot of past talked about in the narration— more thought about or talked about by the characters.
So with that, I've decided that the best way to write my novel is first-person present tense with the main character; and then with the occasional times where I need to focus on other characters when the main isn't around, third-person present tense.
This is not a common choice, but I think it is the best choice for my particular novel. I think it's the best choice for my novel's sense of immediacy, for getting inside characters' heads, and for experiencing many new things from the main character's viewpoint.
Also also, I intend to make my main character Chris/Solemn completely-ambiguous when it comes to gender; so that really works with the first-person perspective.
Tell me your opinions or tangents!
So much of that was like “is this me?!” Lol. Especially 2. And the other stuff was like “you need to be doing this!”
This is about to be all over the place.
Firstly I’m saving this whole list.
I write every day because if I don’t I feel awful. But I need to discipline myself into just writing my story out and then doing the prose. Sometimes I can do the right order, and sometimes I can’t. I hate my brain sometimes!
Over here I’ve got ADHD and OCD going on. So I keep fixating on particular things. And it’s so hard for me to make the whole outline.
It’s like it hurts to move on until the writing is perfect. Which it never is.
I have scenes that I have to write in totality because the scene is there in my brain. I have chapters completed far down the line because the scene is stuck in my brain. Will it fit later? No idea. Ugh.
I think I will do as you do and write out the damn outline. It’s hard for me to move on without constant editing. It’s so exhausting.
Sorry! That was one big old ramble. 😭
It's okay to skim-write scenes that you don't know so well. Sometimes I go back to them to realize that they were just going to be replaced with something much better! That they felt empty because they were. <3