Favorite Book Friday! The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud

I was going to choose another book until I started writing my novel. My novel. Yeah, I said it. 

I was wondering whether I should write in first person or third person, and I kept going back and forth on the pros and cons of it. I really wanted to get into the head space of my main character, not an "over the shoulder" observer stance, but at the same time, I was thinking how I also wanted to switch perspectives to my other main character. Both of these characters are going through the plot together but they reach different conclusions and different endings. I feel like it is important to the plot how they interact with each other and understand how and why they come to different conclusions. 

So how do I go about this? While I was thinking about all this, I remembered a book series I read when I was younger, The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonathan Stroud. I loved the main character Bartimaeus. He was witty, sarcastic, and just fun to read about his antics and how he thought. This was written in first person. But there is another main character, Nathaniel. So how did the author answer this question? Well, first, as soon as he switched perspectives, he marked the chapters as "Bartimaues" or "Nathaniel." In addition to that, he changed from first person to third person limited when it came to Nathaniel's chapters. It was an interesting way to tackle the problem that I have and until I went back and read the first few chapters did I realize or even notice that he set up the book like that. It may sound odd or jarring when I explain it, but when I'm reading it, it flows quite nicely. It's obvious that the author wanted us, the readers, to be in Bartimaeus's head space and see from his perspective, but since first person can be limiting, he switches to third person limited for Nathaniel. This also lets us know who the real main character is. Who we are really rooting for. And it's definitely Bartimaeus.

I also read the first chapter very closely. The first chapter is really important. You have to hook the readers and set the stage for the whole book. It's a tall order to fill. 

It's kind of funny that I almost didn't read this book when I first picked it up because I hate huge paragraphs of description. And what is at the beginning of this book? Two big paragraphs of pure description. But it was obviously leading up to something so I slogged through it and it paid off. After those two paragraphs, it then went to, "Hey, it was his first time. I wanted to scare him." Okay, now you have my interest! After those first two paragraphs, the rest of the first chapter was so engaging and interesting, and I instantly loved the character of Bartimaeus. And then I went on to read this book and the rest of the trilogy. 

So to keep in mind for my story, I need to think about two things: first, the hook - how to keep readers reading, and second, the main character - how do I have the readers connect with character? Good things to think about.