::mslexia workshops::

The Blank Page #8
a writing workshop with Margaret Wilkinson

THEME: FIRST PERSON

INTRODUCTION

ARE YOU addicted to writing in first person? Most new writers – and many established writers – are. First person writing that explores the depth and breadth of our own experience is a great starting place for the prose writer. But it’s also a great sticking place.

As of today, I propose taking a vacation from ourselves and writing from the perspective of another.

Did you realise that you can write in first person, without writing about yourself? This may sound obvious, but to many writers it’s a new and startling idea. Using a first person viewpoint is not a promise to write faithfully about your own life and times. It is just a way of structuring your narrative.

Writing in first person is an excellent way to begin building character. The ‘I’ viewpoint encourages intimacy and so can cushion the transition into character. It is also (usually) the most comfortable and accessible viewpoint for the new writer.

EXERCISES

#1
For this exercise, list two famous people you love and admire – and two whom you despise. These can be either contemporary or historical personalities, or a mixture of both. Now look at the four names on your list, your heroes and horrors, and chose one to write about.

Next comes the tricky part. I am going to ask you to write in first person from the point of view of the mother or father of the hero or horror you’ve chosen. Mozart’s mother. The Yorkshire Ripper’s father. Thinking in first person allows you to get very close.

But before you start, however, I will ask you to create some ‘writing notes’. I love the idea of writing notes as a technique for filling the void. When, in a past life, I studied Environmental Design, we were taught to develop criteria for anything that we planned to design, from a table-fork to a house. These criteria narrowed the range of what could be designed. In this sense a designer never really starts with a blank page.

The tines of a fork, for instance, should never be larger than an open mouth. Starting from these basic criteria, the designer invents, discovers or imagines. It’s a process in which one decision leads to the next. If the tines of a fork are a certain size, then in order for the implement to be attractive and in balance the handle needs to be a certain length.

This writing exercise furnishes similar criteria for the character we are developing. For example, we already know that the person had a famous – or infamous – child.

As the parent of that famous child, respond to the questions I’ve listed below. You can situate your answers before or after the famous offspring became famous, when they were still a child, or even before they were born.

If your mind goes blank, think of what you know about the famous child’s life. These are your criteria, your keys to your new character.

What would Mozart’s mother wear? An ear trumpet? Or ear plugs? An apron smelling of smoked fish? Or oil paint? A fashionable Viennese turban? Let one answer suggest the next. Think of the fork-tines and the handle.

After completing this exercise you might want to research the real life and times of the mother or father you’ve been writing about. But do not let yourself become overwhelmed by facts. Remember you’re writing fiction. You can take liberties.

If this character interests you, you have the basis for ‘faction’ (fact-based fiction) – see New Writing Issue 8). Keeping in character, and in first person, all you have to do is invent a narrative that includes the famous offspring.

But you don’t have to feel tied to the famous child. If you lose the child entirely, you’ll be left with the basis for an interesting character who was created in relation to a well-known child, but whose personality, motivation and actions need not depend on this child.

#2
Heroes and horrors
Answer the following questions in first person. You are the mother or father of your hero or horror. Notice that the questions have nothing to do with your famous child – but your answers might.

Creating criteria
1 How old are you now?
2 What are you wearing?
3 What aren’t you wearing?
4 What physical attributes do you have (did you once have) that attracted others?
5 What physical attributes do you have (did you once have) that repelled others?
6 What personality traits do you have (did you once have) that attracted others?
7 What personality traits do you have (did you once have) that repelled others?
8 What object is associated with you, something you always use or carry?
9 What object would never be associated with you, something you shun?

A day in the life
Remaining in character, answer the following questions:
1 It’s 9 am. What are you doing?
2 It’s noon. What are you doing?
3 It’s 5 pm. What are you doing?
4 It’s midnight. What are you doing?