Ever wonder whether you should add a dual narrator to your work in progress? Well, this is the conundrum I’m facing:
While in a peer workshop for my Advanced Fiction Writing college course, one of my classmates suggested I add Skylar’s point of view to The Alchemist’s Ghost. I had tossed the idea around in my head before I started writing the novel about having Skylar be the narrator, but I decided to use Andrew’s perspective instead, considering everything that happens to him in the book. But as I’ve written the first several chapters, Skylar keeps popping up in my mind, just standing there, brooding, staring at me. It’s as if she’s waiting for me to give her the pen so she can write her thoughts down for everyone to see.
Early on in my writing journey with The Alchemist’s Ghost, one of my professors had said that Skylar’s voice matched my personal author voice too much. She said I needed to discover and show Skylar’s unique character voice in her dialogue. So, I wrote a short scene from Skylar’s POV. It was some of the easiest, and arguably the best, writing I’ve done so far in the novel, and it pained me to know that no one would ever see this amazing couple hundred word-glimpse into Skylar’s mind. Now, I’m wondering not only if I should include that scene in the novel, but if I should add many more from Skylar’s perspective.
Here’s an excerpt from that scene:
I wake with a gasp, my heart trying to escape my chest. The slick, too warm, heavy feeling of blood gloves my hands. The image of Andrew’s shocked face, his hands pressing on the gaping wound in his chest, remains whenever I blink. My eyes dart around my room, searching the dark corners as I reach for my dagger on the rickety nightstand. No one’s there, but my skin prickles at the lingering feeling of being watched. Not again.
I’m going to ask my critique group what their thoughts are about making the novel dual perspective, but what do you think? Let me know in the comments below!
Allison Burton 