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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin writes entertaining fiction about identity, mental health and social justice. She has published three novels and a short story collection with Inspired Quill. Her debut, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the Polari First Book Prize. Her new novel, Matilda Windsor Is Coming Home, is rooted in her work as a clinical psychologist in a long-stay psychiatric hospital.

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The “stolen head” novel and a fictional dilemma

30/5/2014

23 Comments

 
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One of the literary agents who declined my request for representation did so on the basis that she didn’t like the first-person present-tense narration with which my novel opens. While I respected her capacity for clarity about her personal preferences, it did make me wonder about the plethora of good literature she was denying herself, not so much from wannabe novelists like me, but heavyweights like Nick Hornby and Margaret Atwood.

I was reminded of this when I came across the concept of the “stolen head” novel in a review by Toby Litt in last Saturday’s Guardian, defined as

a novel voiced on behalf of a person (for example, Holden Caulfield of The Catcher in the Rye) who the reader knows wouldn’t have the patience or self-discipline to write the structured, perfectly punctuated prose with which they are credited. The real writer has stolen the life experiences, the sensual perceptions, the vocabulary, of someone beneath or beyond the day-to-day deskishness of writing. Stolen head books are great for giving us very young, very angry or very damaged-first person narrators.

I was intrigued by the implication that this was such an unusual way to go about writing fiction, it required a special name. Isn’t this merely an aspect of narrative voice that applies to all fiction? Yet it also got me thinking about the irritation I feel in a novel when the author goes to great lengths to articulate how the first-person narrator managed the mechanics of writing the account of their lives. To me, it’s surplus to requirements to be shown an elderly resident of a longstay psychiatric hospital hiding her secret journal under the floorboards (Sebastian Barry’s The Secret Scripture) or a severely disabled and illiterate young man being supplied with a tape recorder by a journalist who has befriended him (Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People). I know it’s the author occupying their character’s head and I wish they’d just leave their creation to get on with their story.

But some readers must want this degree of artifice or the writers wouldn’t do it. And so I return to my ongoing theme of the differences between us in the manner and extent to which we are prepared to suspend disbelief, which was sparked by my attempts to respond to both flash fiction and flash memoir challenges. I’m letting the latter go for the time being, but persisting with the 99-word prompt which, this week, is to write a story about a decision between two clashing priorities.

Since I started with my novel, that’s where I’m going to finish this post with a story that attempts to encapsulate the central dilemma. And yes, although the novel does use other tenses, this is in first-person present:

“I can’t go six months without seeing you,” says Simon. “Come out to Cairo. You can show me round.”

I don’t want to go six days without seeing him, but I can’t do what he asks. I’ve pleaded work commitments, fear of flying and pandering to my cat, but these are excuses, not reasons, and I’m running out of ways to say no. I’d love to be the woman he thinks I am, fearless and feisty, and untrammelled by the past.

It would tear me apart to go back there. I’ll lose the man I love if I don’t.

If you’re tempted to join in, you’ve got till sometime on Tuesday, depending on your time zone, to pop over to Carrot Ranch Communications and check out the rules. And, if you’d like to know more about my novel, you can download the first chapter of Sugar and Snails.

Meanwhile, do please share your reflections on this post. Are you averse to any particular types of voice? What do you think of the concept of the “stolen head” novel? What devices have you come across authors using to justify their character telling their story?
Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
23 Comments
Lisa Reiter link
30/5/2014 11:04:38 am

Gosh! A great post Anne, raising something I didn't know some critics felt so strongly about. Everything I have read to this point suggests first person, present tense narration is great for pace and immediacy which I certainly love, as they put me in the mind of the story narrator. Being in the here and now, is how I tend to enjoy books most. My imagination takes off when it's present tense - It's happening now or to me!
I'm writing much of my memoir in the present tense - feedback so far from one editor is all positive but I'll be double-checking after this.
Meanwhile, I suspect it is just a matter of preference - you carry on - I can't imagine the above #Flash would have half the impact in the third person or past tense!

Reply
Charli Mills link
30/5/2014 05:41:30 pm

This is the first I've heard of the stolen head concept. Does that mean readers assume that the writer is the first-person narrative unless it's obvious that the narrator is impossibly the writer? I'm going to go read the full article and ponder this...

As to first-person narrative, I agree with Lisa in regards to the pace and presence it sets. In fact, a memoirist who recently won an award for her book, "Turn Here, Sweet Corn," told me that she was advised to use first-person narrative. It does make the story unfold as the reader reads.

As you say, the agent must have a personal preference, even if it seems an odd one. The best agent will be one that "gets" you so good to pass by on the ones who don't. You want an advocate and a champion in your corner.

First person flows naturally in this flash. It allows us to understand the internal dilemma of the character in reaction to Simon's statement, and feel an attachment (even in 99 words) to her situation. First person works as a direct link to present moment and to the character.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
31/5/2014 02:34:12 am

What a dilemma! I want to know why she can't go back. Such an inducement to further reading!
I haven't previously heard of the concept of 'stolen heads' either. It is an authentic narrative style, even if the author isn't the fictional narrator - wouldn't it then be an autobiography or memoir - and you mean the reader couldn't figure it out?? (rhetorical) While I am not going to jump up and check out my bookshelves now, I know I have read many novels written as a first person narrative and I don't remember taking a dislike to them. I agree with Charlie that you need an agent who 'totally gets' you and advocates for you all the way. It is a good thing that this agent declined your work, knowing that she could not do for your novel what it deserves. The best is yet to come!

Reply
geoff le Pard link
31/5/2014 04:11:55 am

Excellent post Anne. My MA novel (extract on my blog) is first person present. My tutor (Jane Rogers) was ambivalent and took a lot of persuading. My narrator is 19 and it was I felt the best way to create his constant uncertainty that any form of looking back would dampen. Jane made many points pro and con not least that there is something of a prejudice about it in the industry. More telling she said it often makes it difficult to reveal the narrator's character because we only see through his or her eyes and not how others see him or her. T his is exaggerated in the present tense where having the narrator reflecting a lot can dampen the pace. In the end she let me dig my own grave and when I publish the jury will decide if I was right. PS lovely fladh btw

Reply
Norah Colvin link
31/5/2014 07:17:07 am

Hi Anne, popping back again. I have just watched "The Wolf of Wall Street" which was narrated in the first person by the main character, a feature of many movies and television shows (e.g. I'm thinking Columbo). While the movie experience is different from a reading experience I had no difficulty differentiating the voice of the character from the identity of the author, only to find (I must have been hiding in the cabbage patch!) that the story was actually written by the "wolf". So while the "I" of this story was actually the author (but not the actor) it is not always so in movies. I wonder why seeing the character on screen rather than reading about it in a book would make the first person narration more acceptable, to some anyway, as supported by Geoff's comment. Wasn't "Moby Dick" a first person narrative - "Call me Ishmael"?

Reply
Annecdotist
31/5/2014 10:22:57 am

Thank you all for these fabulous contributions. Joining you so late, I feel as if I invited you all to a party and then went out for a walk. On the other hand, it looks as if you managed to find the drinks cabinet and help yourselves, which is fine by me.
I don't think people who don't like first person would advise against it for memoir where the narrator and author are more or less the same. (More or less, or exactly?) And the notion of the "stolen head" must overlap with the concept of the "unreliable narrator" which is definitely in vogue.
I've encountered a lot of the advice and rationales for first versus third person and present versus past but when I write the choice always seems intuitive, which could mean that I've internalised the how-to-do-it or I'm still blind to the error of my ways. But I'd much rather have feedback that my character's motivation isn't coming across strongly enough or whatever and then I can wonder about changing the point of view, than a blanket don't write it this particular way. But, as I said in my post, we do all have different preferences and perhaps an aversion to first/present is no different to my general dislike of the omniscient narrator (although sometimes it's so well handled I don't mind).
Norah, that Wolf movie sounds interesting – it's not one I know, but I don't watch a lot of film – and your reference to Moby Dick has tested the limits of my geographically arranged bookshelves http://annegoodwin.weebly.com/annecdotal/how-do-you-arrange-your-literary-bookshelves, until I remembered I found it such an arduous read, at a not particularly easy time of my life, I think it's one I've let go.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
5/6/2014 11:07:13 pm

I think your intuition is serving you well, Anne!

Reply
Annecdotist
6/6/2014 11:22:31 am

Thank you, Norah, very kind of you to say so.

Sarah link
31/5/2014 10:27:38 am

Oh! The last line. Fantastic! I'm hurting for her and so intrigued. Love this.

And thanks for the the "stolen head" info. I'd never heard the term. It makes perfect sense, though, really. Think of some of those amazing books you've read in first person that you KNOW the character could not possibly have written so clearly due to lack of education or mental state. Interesting. I guess I was so caught up in the stories, I never thought about it. It certainly doesn't bother me. Hmm...

Reply
Annecdotist
31/5/2014 10:54:01 am

Thanks, Sarah, it does make sense, but I also think every novel is "stolen head" in one way or another.

Reply
Sarah link
31/5/2014 02:12:34 pm

Ha! Touché.

Safia Moore link
2/6/2014 12:38:38 am

An extremely interesting post, Anne. I love your 99-word extract and will pop off to read your opening chapter after this comment. The 'stolen head' phrase is new to me too but makes perfect sense, especially in this instance: "Stolen head books are great for giving us very young, very angry or very damaged-first person narrators". I've just read Kate Atkinson's debut novel "Behind the Scenes at the Museum" and struggled to get past the first chapter because (I think) the 'stolen head' technique didn't work for me - in this case a one-day old foetus is just too darned eloquent and writerly for me to take - indeed, I found the whole concept quite annoying (although really, how does anyone write from the POV of a foetus - crazy!). I prefer writing which gets inside the characters' heads in their own voice, without author intrusion, but of course it's not always easy to pull off when writing. Much easier to spot when reading! I think first-person, present tense works well in many different cases and you shouldn't read too much into one person's view on that (albeit an agent). Keep trying - don't give up - someone out there loves your opening! I agree with you on Barry's 'the Secret Scriptures' btw - far too much exposition, but then he can get away with it as one member of the 'can do no wrong' Irish trio of lit-fiction heavyweights - Barry, Toibin, Banville. I love 'em all though. :-)

Reply
Annecdotist
3/6/2014 05:46:04 am

Thanks, Safia. Funny, I really enjoyed Behind the Scenes at the Museum, but that's partly my point, we differ so much in not just the extent but the manner in which we can suspend disbelief. What seems a great innovation to one person will be bafflingly annoying to another. And sometimes I think it does depend who you are (aspiring novelists versus part of the literary canon) as to what you can get away with.
BTW, You have already read my opening on YWO – it's changed since then but I don't think in a major way.

Reply
Clare O'Dea link
2/6/2014 06:38:26 am

Excellent post Anne. It is familiar territory to me. My novel has gone through all sorts of tortuous changes in this area. I started out in the third person, past tense. Then I changed the whole thing to first person, present tense, all written as one long unrealistic diary entry addressed to the main character's missing brother.
My latest move is to settle for first person, past tense and abandon the diary. So I have unwittingly ended up with a stolen head narrative.
I wish I had given the narrative voice a little more thought at the beginning!
There are some highly accomplished stolen head novels out there, not only featuring a young, inarticulate narrator. The most recent one I read was Engleby by Sebastian Faulks, which is superb. There I think he gets away with the sitting-down-to-write-a-word-perfect-account-of-my-life device.

Reply
Annecdotist
3/6/2014 05:49:42 am

Thank you, Clare. Oh, but isn't that back and forth part of the writing process? You will have understood your novel better by trying it different ways. And I do think good writing and a good story will shine through whatever device the author chooses

Reply
Lisa Reiter link
2/6/2014 02:45:51 pm

Tenses all over the place now - I'm far too conscious of it. Another great discussion - thanks for firing my neurons once again, Anne!

Reply
Annecdotist
3/6/2014 05:50:55 am

Thanks, Lisa, I've loved this discussion too.
I'm sure your tenses will settle down in the end!

Reply
Irene Waters link
4/6/2014 02:26:18 am

I haven't read your first paragraph but I don't understand the agent disliking 1st person narrative. I would have though that this was as common as third person in fiction. Using 1st person the author can make the narrator the protagonist as in Eugenides Middlesex or the narrator can be someone other than the protagonist such as in Fitzgerald's Great Gatsby. I think that the reader is more prepared to suspend belief in fiction than in the non--fiction memoir.
I loved the immediacy of your flash fiction piece.

Reply
Annecdotist
4/6/2014 03:56:06 am

Many thanks for your contribution, Irene. I must stress that it wasn't first person narrative as a whole that this agent disliked, but in combination with the present tense.
Glad you liked my flash. Incidentally, given your position as a memoirist, I've had other feedback on this novel that describes it as "a fictional autobiography". Maybe I'm closer to memoir than I thought, but do agree there is more willingness to suspend disbelief in fiction than memoir.

Reply
Diane link
4/6/2014 11:12:45 am

Wow...lots to think about in this post and comments. Great discussion. Thank you for getting this going, Anne.

Reply
Annecdotist
5/6/2014 04:32:23 am

Thanks, Diane, feel really honoured to host such an interesting discussion.

Reply
Lori Schafer link
4/6/2014 01:20:04 pm

I'd just like to chime in on the way certain authors bend over backwards to explain the artifice of the story. I recently read Robertson Davies' The Cunning Man, and while it was a good book overall, it suffered from exactly this problem. It's essentially a first-person narrative of a doctor's life story, but he somehow felt the need to present it - poorly - as the result of an ongoing interview with a journalist, and then also has to explain all of the extraneous information in other ways. I didn't really think all of that was necessary - I rarely question how or why the main character wrote the book if it's in first person - and sometimes I think it makes for tortured frame stories that don't flow well with the rest of the novel.

Reply
Annecdotist
5/6/2014 04:35:18 am

Thanks, Lori, you've encapsulated my problem beautifully. Totally agree, sometimes the frame is so clunky it's not only an irritating read but renders the whole story and less credible to me.

Reply



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