kingdom come

more mrs. groveses

I'll have to live with these gals for a few days, think of their possible stories, their personality, and then go with the one who suits the story and who I'll like hanging around with for the next eight months.

more thoughts on an outside narrator

I was erroneously thinking that my narrator needed to be someone who always made good choices because that would "white bread and butter" them into not overshadowing the main story. They need to be, well, a tad boring on their own. Elysa pointed out that there were/are a lot of people who made consistently good choices but whose lives were far from boring. Mother Teresa, Elisabeth Elliot (like her better as a missionary than an advice giver for moms), Hudson Taylor, Ruth Bell Graham. I find it interesting (other than Ruth) that all of them went to foreign countries and expended themselves on behalf of others. Not that Ruth didn't expend herself. She did.

Anyway. So who does Mrs. Groves need to be:

1. I've already decided she's the coal company owner's housekeeper.
2. Why is she there? She's obviously intelligent enough to narrate this book? Why a housekeeper?
3. She's got to be originally from the East Coast so that my own writing voice makes her voice authentic.
4. She must love the coal company owner, but not in a romantic way. That would just clutter her up and complicate matters in a way I absolutely do not wish to explore. Why the attachment? What brought her to Kentucky with him? (I have my thoughts on this but if anything exciting comes to mind, feel free to share! It may be a better idea than my own.)
5. There must be a reason why she has left her hometown back East and has no compunction to return.
6. No children. Although, perhaps, an older child who's living as safe and boring a life as she would be okay.
7. I must be able to keep her in the background, and yet develop her fully. That's going to be a real challenge without my usual naval gazing, copious interior monologue M.O.
8. The climax must involve her and she must experience her own denouement which will affect her life forever. The narrator must go on, and we must have a clear picture of what her life will be from then on out. Even if the painting of that picture is succinct.

Hmm. Those are my thoughts for now.

thoughts on the outside narrator

Some of my favorite novels employ an outside narrator. This is an old device, utilizing a strong "storytelling" angle and one I've always wanted to employ. Now is finally the time. W. Somerset Maugham, my favorite author, utilized this brilliantly, particularly in The Moon and Sixpence. Recently I've been reading Nancy Mitford, a British novelist I'd never before heard of. The book is being lent to me by my next door neighbor, a literary stonemason who, every so often, I chat books and writing with. As is the case, the creative ether that as a Christian, I attribute to God, sent this book my way at exactly the right time.

The seeming central qualities of a narrator I'm seeing so far:

1. Emotionally involved to some extent, but not in any way that changes their life decisions through most of the story.
2. The narrator cares deeply about the characters.
3. Leads a normal, more quiet life compared to the main characters of the story. Sort of a pale sheet on which to project the vibrant, technicolor story.
4. The final outcome of the story ends up affecting the narrator in some way.

That's all so far.  Any others? Any recommendations of books I might read with a narrator? Of course, Wuthering Heights comes to mind. I've been thinking of that housemaid a lot lately.