Today I decided (at approximately 4am) to use dual narrative in my novel. Multi narrator novels are common: The Hours by Michael Cunningham, Crawling at Night by Nani Power to name just two. I love dual narrative texts as two sides of one story emerge as the book progresses, new angles and insights are brought to light, new stories are blended with the main one to create layers of meaning and understanding.
For this project, one character cannot say as much as needs to be said; in fact, he is the sort of person who knows very little until life slaps him around the face and forces him to learn. His name is Jack. He is as familiar to me as a friend of a brother might be; he is quiet, aloof from social norms, he is having an affair with a local woman (again, decided in the wee hours) and is lost.
Graham, on the other hand, is world-weary, cynical, loveless because it's just too painful...and anyway, he can never love again the way he did years ago. For Graham, love is like trauma. He is a university lecturer. He will be living with Jack and his family. He is the uncle.
These characters hardly know each other but their viewpoints will merge and evolve as the story, whatever that will be, unfolds. Their voices come, loud and persistent, whenever I sit down to write. These two men will drive the story forward, will argue their own ideas of faith from their respective experiences.
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