Guest Post: To Believe Or Not To Believe? The Challenge of First Person Narratives, by Brandy Purdy

Guest post by Brandy Purdy, author of The Confession of Piers Gaveston and The Boleyn Wife, to be released in February 2010 by Kensington Books.

Dear Reader, when you pick up a historical novel written in the first person, recounting the life story of a famous figure from the past from their perspective, do you believe the tale they spin? Not, in my opinion, if the author has done their job correctly. A first person novel is like P.T. Barnum's autobiography, you shouldn't just take it with a grain of salt, you should have the entire shaker at your elbow.

We all want to be liked and show ourselves in the most favorable and sympathetic light. In any first person account the person telling the story is centerstage—the star demanding their right to twinkle and shine. And their view of the world and other people may be jaundiced.

For instance, when the two parties in a failed relationship tell their story, more often than not, they will both be the victim, the wronged one, and if they do, perchance, accept blame, it will most likely be sugarcoated. I've sometimes found this is a point readers miss.

In my novel THE CONFESSION OF PIERS GAVESTON I am often criticized for depicting King Edward II as lacking in character, of making him appear shallow, one-dimensional, or caricaturish. This was done by intention, the story is being told by Piers Gaveston as he looks back upon his life and a relationship that he finds, in the end, has brought him nothing but sorrow. It's a bitter view as recounted by a disenchanted and disillusioned man trying to justify his life and whitewash his mistakes and flaws as the end draws nigh. My narrator is an unreliable man, and it is for the reader to decide how much of his story is true or false, black or white, or shades of gray.

As a lifelong lover of historical fiction, I have always felt the hallmark of a good first person novel is that it makes the reader wonder how much is true and how much is biased. To believe or not to believe the storyteller? That is the question.

You can contact Brandy Purdy through her website at www.brandypurdy.com.