From First to Third to First Again?

I'm co-writing a novel with my best friend Amy: she's the genius and I'm the talent. Sometimes we switch roles but mainly, we stick to those: she has an ariel view of each scene and the ability to zoom in details as needed, in addition to a vocabulary built for description. I, on the other hand, pay extraordinary attention to language and whereas I lack the ability to start from ground zero, I can build a mansion on the foundation of a small shed.

This is how we work: we brainstorm together via phone, text, and email. When we decide on the bones of a scene, she turns our brainstorming into a beautifully realized five page chapter, which she then sends to me to flesh out into a 15 - 20 page chapter.

When we started the original draft of Covenhaven, we wrote from a first person perspective. It wasn't a conscious decision; the words just came out like that.

Then one day during an editing session, I wondered if the perspective was off and began to obsess over it. I stopped writing and started reading: a store of YA novels, books written by writers on writing, textbooks, trade publications, etc., - all in an attempt to figure out which perspective would best serve my characters and drive our reader forward.

After a few weeks of debate, I decided first person wasn't working and that we needed to re-write everything employing third person. I called Aym and she agreed so I proceeded to make the changes (a long, painstaking task that was by no means enjoyable) and then resumed writing from the third person. That's when life got really busy: soon, it was 'tis the Christmas season, which turned into a winter of sick children, followed by a spring and summer of wedding planning.

Looking back, it seems like the first pages moved from conception to textual reality in a matter of minutes. Once we made the switch in perspective, every page since has crawled out in slow, belabored moves. But somehow, before we put a hold on our project (last spring when our lives and my wedding planning took priority), our manuscript had grown to 180 pages.

Tonight I opened our manuscript for the first time since May 17th. It popped open to what I assume is the last section I worked on (we don't always work in chronological order) and I began to read from there. I read a few paragraphs and then scrolled back to another chapter and read a section there and then back to yet another chapter and another section and well, I think we need to switch back to first person.

Which means rewriting over 180 pages.

Ugh. So, what's La Pointe Of It All? I need to talk to Aym. Although I am not looking forward to spending an incredible amount of time re-writing something for the third time, I think it may be necessary. Our main character has a unique perspective and we should showcase it; first person can do just that.

Ps. Thankfully, it's only 180 pages. John Irving had this same issue only he discovered it after Until I Find You was accepted for publication - and after he had written 800 pages...