An I for An I

One of the challenges I've faced while editing and rewriting my manuscript is making sure I don't lose my point of view. I'm writing in first person, which means the story is being told through the narrator.

That means that I only know what the narrator sees and hears and feels. I can't get into other character's heads (or multiple third person points of view). I can only surmise, through the narrator's thoughts and feelings, what others making be thinking and feeling. And don't we do that in real life?

This is the first time I've written in first person. It can be restrictive (for the above reason) but again it allows me to go more deeply into the narrator -- who is the main person in the story.

I get to express sadness and happiness, and everything in between in the protagonist. I'm able to share with more with the reader on a personal level.

The key for me -- a third-person kind of writer -- is to make sure I stay within the rules of first person. 

And since the manuscript is for the young-adult genre, I have to make sure that the narrator thinks and feels like a teenager. Now that's the biggest challenge!

Until the next time...