Whose story is this anyway? : an excerpt from the novel manuscript Never going back and the critical paper "whose story is this anyway? : exploring point of view in the novel"

The thesis is made up of the creative project and a critical paper. The creative project is the opening section of the manuscript, Never Going Back, a contemporary novel which rotates through the minds of three friends. In the summer of 1999, the friends reunite in Nelson BC, Canada for the birth of a child. The occasion forces them to explore a tragedy in their past and its implications for their present and future lives.

The critical is an exploration of point of view in the novel through an examination of my own writing process as well as techniques used in two published novels, Music and Silence by Rose Tremain and Saints of Big Harbour by Lynn Coady. My particular emphasis is on how writers successfully employ multiple points of view and variable focalization.