Narration

My first editor suggested that I consider eliminating the dual narrators approach to the construction of my stories. I told him “No!” Telling a story from two perspectives simultaneously provides a unique opportunity for a writer. The reader continually considers the perspectives of both principal characters as the story unfolds. There’s good chance that a reader will connect with one of those perspectives.

William Faulkner’s “As I Lay Dying” is a classic masterpiece of American literature. He used this technique, telling the story of the hardships faced by a poor, rural family travelling to bury a recently deceased relative. When you read this novel, you get the sensation that you’re following several different stories at once.

Dual narration is challenging to write. I sometimes have to stop and ask myself, “Now, who’s telling the story right now?” If it’s the Sub, there will be a different and unique way of looking at what’s happening than of it’s the Dom narrating. The real fun is to have each describe a scene, or a part of scene, to let the reader decide his or her preference.

Each of the books in the “Servitude Series” begins with the principal narrator starting the story. I’ve had fun alternating those principal narrators between the Dom and the Sub. So, is the story a seduction into a submissive relationship with a Dom or a persuasive seduction by a Dom to pull in a potential Sub?

Occasionally, I give a minor character an active voice in a story, because he or she observes the principal characters from a more objective point of view, kind of like answering the question, “I wonder what an observer of this behavior would see?”