Title:
This Beautiful World
Author:
Elisabeth Jackson
Genre:
Romantic Suspense / Mystery
As children,
RaeAnne and her sidekick King were held captive after they discovered the body
of a boy their age in a crate of apples in their small town’s peculiar orchard.
Now RaeAnne is grown and the mother of a troubled young daughter. After her
mother is killed in an accident, she travels home to her father with her
daughter. But RaeAnne finds that she is not welcomed by everyone, and
frightening incidents start to happen involving her and her family. As RaeAnne
unravels the mysteries of her childhood, including what happened to her older
brother, who vanished on the same night RaeAnne and King found terror in the
orchard, she reunites with King. The boy she knew has grown up to be very
handsome and guarded. But can the two ever be more than old friends who share a
terrifying secret?
Author Bio
Guest Post
Using
a First Person Narrator
When
a writer and mentor I admire once told me he thought a first person narrator I
had crafted was, as he put it, “kind of strange,” for a while I thought I’d
never write in the first person again. I have a much thicker skin these days
and a poodle-hound adopted dog who keeps my perspective grounded by reminding
me there are far more important things in life, like throwing tennis balls she
can chase. But I continued to wonder if it would be harder to get a reader to
like a first person narrator than a third person narrative.
One
of the benefits of using a first person narrator in my debut was that I was
able to handle emotionally difficult topics and scenes in a sensitive, active way,
and the reader is (hopefully) able to connect with RaeAnne partly through the trauma
she and King experience as kids.
An
advantage of a first person narrator is that if a writer manages to craft a one-of-a-kind
narrator, then the character’s voice can draw the reader in and hold them
throughout the story. If done well, readers can really connect with a first
person narrator.
On
the other hand, a disadvantage is that if a reader doesn’t connect with your
narrator, then they might have a hard time connecting with the whole story. Opinions
vary, and what someone else loathes, somebody else might just adore.
Another
thing I have always been cautious about when writing a story is incorporating
the past and the present into the narrative. I will openly admit that I’ve written
pieces where this did not work, and it took some effort and revisions to make
it go smoothly for This Beautiful World.
But it can be done.
Who
are some of your favorite fictional narrators?
