Most of what I have written has been in the (close, after pov issues) third person. I've written about three books like that, so am comfortable with it and just started the fourth.
I've also started another story which is very out of my realm of experience. It is in the first person, narrated by an adult female.
What I wondered is whether the voice of this adult female will stop sounding like me and start sounding like herself? I seem to have got used to the distance of writing in the third person and all the 'I' words seem to be making me write as if the character were me. Is this normal?
It's still very early day for this piece of work, so maybe it's just a matter of writing more and as the word count mounts this character will develop? Sorry, I know this sounds a bit naive.
Has anyone had this problem and if you did, what did you do to get through it?

I suppose this problem emphasises the need to get inside the character to a greater extent (more like an actor has to do) before putting down the words. Easier said than done.

In The Ginger Man J P Donleavy switches between first and close third person, often without warning, i.e. between paragraphs rather than between chapters. It works perfectly well for him but I'm not sure I'd recommend it for most scenarios. However, it does present an idea that might be useful.

How about occasionally switching, just for a few paras and purely temporarily, into close third person? This will force you to think more closely from the character's point of view as opposed to yours, and may also throw light upon where you have not been doing so in the preceding first-person section. You can then re-work the third-person section into first person once the exercise has been carried out.

It's just a thought.

Chris

I think it's very normal - one thing which might help would be to think about how this person isn't like you - you're chatty, she's taciturn, you're hyperbolic, she's downbeat, differences of age, background, nationality, you're feeling gloomy today, she's serene... and focus on how that might affect her voice as a narrator.

It can help, too, to think first about how she speaks aloud - sit her down with a friend and a bottle of wine - and then work out how that translates into her narrative voice.

The other thing you could do is to take a passage from a third-person narrative which you feel is quite strongly not you - where the close PoV of the character colours the voice of the narrative quite strongly - and mechanically switch it into first, just changing pronouns and verb-forms, as it were; essentially, making that character also be the narrator. Not to create a great work of literature but to explore the way that close 3rd is really very like 1st...

I don't know if you know my series on PoV and Narrators, but it might help you to think through the issues:

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2011/10/point-of-view-narrators-1-the-basics.html

This will force you to think more closely from the character's point of view as opposed to yours,

Thanks so much Chris2 for this. I think I need to really tighten up on her and not just keep writing to see what she thinks. It had also not occurred to me I could try in third and then switch to first - brilliant! Thank you so much!

mechanically switch it into first, just changing pronouns and verb-forms, as it were; essentially, making that character also be the narrator. Not to create a great work of literature but to explore the way that close 3rd is really very like 1st...

This looks very interesting. I have no concept of how close third is like first - this seems very advanced!!!

I love the idea of the two narrators though, in your blog post - which was very good by the way. It makes it a bit more clear to me.

I'm going to practice the above exercises and see how I go. What worried me the most was I felt exposed by writing in the first person and I kept checking myself 'you can't write that or that' sort of thing, which I didn't like. Until I tried writing in the first, I had no idea how much I enjoyed being someone else. To be writing as myself (even though I am not, really) seemed very dull.

Thank you so very very much for such great advice once again. All the best.

I have no concept of how close third is like first - this seems very advanced!!!

Well, in the crudest sense it's the same thing. You could tell a story just as well like this:

So it was that two days later, John ran down the road and jumped on the bus. It was a horribly hot day. If only he hadn't decided to wear his best funeral suit! Now he'd be all hot and sweaty before he even got on the train. But the bus was cool and not too full, and he began to feel better.

So it was that two days later, I ran down the road and jumped on the bus. It was a horribly hot day. If only I hadn't decided to wear my best funeral suit! Now I was going to be all hot and sweated before I even got on the train. But the bus was cool and not too full, and I began to feel better.

To be writing as myself (even though I am not, really) seemed very dull.

Well, you don't have to be. You could have a narrator who was a 16th century eunuch acrobat in the Vatican of one of the Borgia popes, telling his story...

Well, you don't have to be. You could have a narrator who was a 16th century eunuch acrobat in the Vatican of one of the Borgia popes, telling his story...

LOL Emma!

Ooh sounds like a very good start to a book though....

Thank you so much for this and yes, I have practiced a couple of paragraphs and take back my comment about it being advanced. You're right, it's not really very different at all!

I am reading a first person adult genre fiction book at the moment and it amazes me how long she takes talking about how she feels and thinks, weaving this in as part of the story. Writing children's fiction I have been indoctrinated into not having too much of feeling and thinking going on, and when I did, to use more exposition and dialogue to portray it. This might also be part of the problem. I feeling like I couldn't just tell the reader what I/She thinks, but of course I can.

Sorry, should re-name thread 'struggle with writing for adults...."

Thank you so much for your help, I do appreciate it.

FV, you're welcome.