PRONOUN SHIFTS
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Are pronoun shifts really that bad? I've been struggling with the aesthetics and the implied fracturing of a character's thoughts in regards to narrative shifts. Is this very common? Will people misunderstand the conscious disconnection that my character's exhibit when a passage becomes a bit "too revealing" for them? I think it's a great way to deal with writing about mental illness and the disconnect that some people practice in regards to "the person" and the illness.
but apparently that's wrong lmao
c'mon, there's 10 or so meme threads and none of you professors can answer me lmao
>>8038586
Simply by creating an unreliable narrator may better convey a descent into insanity. I think the pronoun shift may turn into too easily of a crutch. The art comes into creating the unreliable narrator's world both being reasonable and disjunct, therefor making the gullible reader fall prey. Look at Lolita for a pervert's empathizable narrator through wit, look at Poe for madness (The Eye, I believe it was called), American Psycho, Fight Club, etc.
Unless the pronoun shift is absolutely necessary, it may be just too cheesey.
>c'mon, there's 10 or so meme threads and none of you professors can answer me lmao
That's only the case because /mu/ and /pol/ is leaking in here. Many of the quality posters are frequenting much less often. Hopefully this board will return back to usual business. Perhaps after the summer plebs leave?
I don't recall seeing pronoun shifts except in free-flowing narration where they go smooth and unnoticed, prose-wise, unless hard looked at
>>8038945
I'm not a quality poster and I'm frequenting much less often so I think you're projecting something here
>>8038945
Thanks for the reply
I heard Ellis conveyed this quite well in AP.. but I never gave it a real read. I'll have to buy a copy.
I'm just trying to hint that the narrator ( first person going into second) is grappling with an entity within that he characterizes as not "himself" (the I) but as a personified abstraction...
>be depressed and alone
>personify these dark thoughts as a separate entity that the narrator bemoans i.e a "you"
But yeah, I'll try to think of some ways around it rather than solely relying on a pronoun shift.
>>8038516
I've found that when people are complaining about pronoun shifts being distracting and confusing, the problem is usually that you're autistic.
Your idea's creativity leads me to believe that you have the capability to come up with something better.
>Are pronoun shifts really that bad?
For a narrator yes they sound dreadful, but for a character, if it's not too subtle, if maybe the character slips up every now and then, I wouldn't hesitate with it, but I would remain conservative with its usage.
>Will people misunderstand
To be quite frank, I think it's a dumb idea, and I think there's better ways to illustrate what you're attempting to illustrate.
>I think it's a great way to deal with writing about mental illness and the disconnect that some people practice in regards to "the person" and the illness.
If you executed this idea in the greatest and most artistic way that your talent could permit, it would STILL only be a superfluous, lousy, cheap detail that could either diminish or poison what merit there might be in your piece of writing; however, your idea's creativity leads me to believe that you have the capability to come up with something better.
