I recently read two books, both of
them featuring two main characters and both switching between each person's
perspective. I wanted to read Gone Girl and One Day because they'd both been
recommended to me as entertaining books. I also hoped to learn how my book, The
Election, compares and how I could improve my future writing.
One Day has on my bookshelf for a
couple of years. I was forced to watch the film before reading the book, and it
was marginally entertaining romantic drama. I assumed the book was for women
but actually when I read the first few pages what appealed to me was the way
David Nicholls had characterised Dexter and Emma and captured their experiences
from the 1980s the 2000s. It was a wonderful book from beginning to end and I
followed the language of characters with great interest. I was also fascinated
to see how David Nicholls writes tragedy into light-hearted drama. Dexter comes
across as a spoilt rich kid at the start and the reader really grows with him
in his journey over 20 years. Emma is completely different from Dexter but she
needs him and he needs her. There is that ever-present tension between the two
of them when they are together and I found myself willing them to get together.
What did I learn from One Day? The
importance of creating distinct characters with separate points of view and
ways of thinking. At times, I feel my characters don’t always distinguish
enough from one another. Perhaps I need to work harder to develop my own voice
and put myself in the bodies of the characters that I am writing.
Gone Girl was a thrilling read. I
remember seeing posters everywhere on the London tube a couple of years ago.
Nothing really gave away the story and nothing really prompted me to read the
book, but after heavy marketing and of course an all-star movie, I was really
intrigued to find out what it was about. I was also keen not to watch the movie
first as I did with One Day, as I didn't want it spoiling my experience of reading
the story. Just as with One Day this book flicks between the two main characters’
perceptions. Gone Girl seems to distinguish the characters even more starkly
than in One Day where the characters tends to flick between perspectives even
within the same paragraph.
Nick Dunne is neither hero nor villain
but simply a man who has made mistakes and neglected his wife. Amy is the more
complicated character, who at first appears to be something that soon changes later
in the novel. It's hard to write much without giving the plot away but it was
fascinating to see the interplay between two characters. There's an element of
tension throughout which keeps people guessing until the end of the book. I
really admired Gillian Flynn’s way with words as she, for example, described
Nick smashing a glass and experiencing the sound and the smell of the whiskey
with the words "I experienced rage in all five senses". These kind of
sentences made me think that I still have an awfully long way to go as a writer
but maybe it’s the plight of every author to doubt themselves.
I hope that the more I read of this
kind of fiction, the more I will absorb the best techniques of successful and
talented writers. Anyone who enjoyed Gone Girl or One Day would find my book,
The Election, of interest. I would also be keen for other people's
recommendations of similar books.
