In my latest novel, Analyzing the Prescotts, every single character is broken, even the therapist who is at the center of the story and attempts to treat the family members. As I worked through the process of identifying how I wanted to tell the story of a therapist who treats a family broken by the father’s coming out as transgender, I turned to the authors who’d delved into intense stories by using point of view.
The book I returned to time and again is one of my all-time favorites: Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver. In that novel, Kingsolver tackles the daunting technique of using first person point of view for each of the family members. The story of a Baptist preacher who brings his family to the Congo in Africa to spread the gospel comes alive through the narratives Kingsolver expertly builds. By using the mother and children as point of view characters, we are led into the family’s difficult assimilation into a culture completely foreign to them. Through their eyes, we learn about the politics of the Congo, the religious aspects that brought them there, and the father who relentlessly drives his own agenda forward.
I truly admire Kingsolver’s talent, so when I was faced with how to deliver the story of the Prescott family members and their gender identity issues, I wanted to use individual points of view as she did in the Poisonwood Bible. Since each of my characters is broken and unsure of their place in the family structure, it felt like they needed a voice so they could show how they felt. In order to create fully-fleshed-out human beings with very human faults who are grieving the family’s tidal shift, I felt it would be better to dig right into their thoughts and feelings.
When you write from the first-person point of view, you have a unique perspective. You not only show how the person feels but also what they think about others. With the Prescotts, I was able to depict characters like Gray, the mom, who’s transphobic in the worst way. Hopefully, readers should be able to see that she’s the antagonist and the reason why the Prescotts splinter.. Her children – Janis, Cherylynn, and Marcus – struggle to understand what’s happening with their parents and how to handle the changes in their own lives. By showing them in the therapy office with Dr. Cotton Barnes, we have insight into the tough decisions they must make and the ways they deal with the issues at hand. Janis, the oldest, is put into the position of taking care of her younger siblings as Gray disappears into the background. Cherylynn, the middle child, tries to maintain her normal activities and her relationship with her father. Marcus, the youngest, sees his world turned upside down as the kids at school bully him relentlessly.
The two adults in the story who should be helping these children heal (their parents) are both preoccupied with their own relationship thus Cotton takes on the responsibility of worrying about them, and she becomes obsessed with each family member’s safety. That obsession shows cracks in her own identity veneer.
As a writer, I sometimes feel that I also need to understand the human psyche as much as a therapist does, but at least I don’t need to treat the people I create. I’ll leave that up to the real-life therapists. Right now, all I need to do is to give my readers a window into understanding the people who populate my books, and hopefully to care about the characters who are broken. Sharing them through first-person point of view narrative in Analyzing the Prescotts felt like the right way to do that.
