Narrative voice is a character with personality. Writing in first person can make this easier, and in third person, this means occupying point of view to the greatest extent possible. James M Caine did this very well with his first person narrator in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. Connie Mae Fowler establishes that voice in the first paragraph in RIVER OF HIDDEN DREAMS with her third person narration, very much the mind and thoughts of her protagonist on the page.
A lot of Southern writers get this well, because of the storytelling tradition in the region, emulating tales told on the front porch. It's not always easy to maintain this, but the effort of writing in character pays off.
Narrative voice is a character with personality. Writing in first person can make this easier, and in third person, this means occupying point of view to the greatest extent possible. James M Caine did this very well with his first person narrator in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE. Connie Mae Fowler establishes that voice in the first paragraph in RIVER OF HIDDEN DREAMS with her third person narration, very much the mind and thoughts of her protagonist on the page.
A lot of Southern writers get this well, because of the storytelling tradition in the region, emulating tales told on the front porch. It's not always easy to maintain this, but the effort of writing in character pays off.
Thanks for the thoughts and the specifics, Tim!