St. Martin's Literary Fiction
asked
Bryn Greenwood:
Did you always envision the novel told from multiple points of view? How did you channel those voices for each chapter? Did you have a favorite perspective to write from, and was there a character it was more difficult to find empathy for at certain points?
Bryn Greenwood
Honestly, I envision nearly every story I write from multiple points of view. That's how I learned to write short fiction, by first telling the protagonist's story and then the antagonist's, and revising the one that was more compelling. In case it's not obvious, my favorite narrator for All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is Kellen. Although some of his decisions are terrible, there's something so soothing to me about the way he talks. (A trait I share with Wavy.)
I think the narrator that's least empathetic to me is Butch. He sees so much of what's wrong in Wavy's life and does absolutely nothing about it. Of course, perhaps I chose him because the book doesn't include the points of view of some even harder to sympathize with characters, like Wavy's parents. If you want to know more about how I handle multiple points of view (and why Aunt Brenda doesn't get to narrate), I've got a blog post about it:
https://bryngreenwood.wordpress.com/2...
I think the narrator that's least empathetic to me is Butch. He sees so much of what's wrong in Wavy's life and does absolutely nothing about it. Of course, perhaps I chose him because the book doesn't include the points of view of some even harder to sympathize with characters, like Wavy's parents. If you want to know more about how I handle multiple points of view (and why Aunt Brenda doesn't get to narrate), I've got a blog post about it:
https://bryngreenwood.wordpress.com/2...
More Answered Questions
Stranded
asked
Bryn Greenwood:
This question contains spoilers…
(view spoiler)[
Loved the book thoroughly ! The character wavy has some unique idiosyncrasies; like silence, good grasp on vocabulary, age inappropriate maturity and a different way of looking at things. How did you create her, Is the character based on any particular inspiration ? Is it possible she might have some autism spectrum traits ?
(hide spoiler)]
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