Rotating PoV?

[Peter Graham]

I've been plugging away at a three-part SF storyline, all written in first person, in which the principle narrative character in the 3rd part ends up playing host to the characters from the 1st and 2nd parts, if that makes sense (viral personality transfer). Thereafter there is a struggle for dominance, for control of the physical body all three now inhabit, but I can't think of a realistic way of representing the background bitching each 'foreground' character would have to put up with.

I think you can keep this relatively simple. Firstly, trust your readers to be able to follow what is going on - or at least to work it out in fairly short order. Look at the character of Stewie in "Family Guy". He speaks lucidly but only the dog and non-family members can understand him. His immediate family only hear baby babble. This is occasionally hinted at, but the interaction between the characters makes it very clear what is going on.

Secondly, use the fact that the hosted characters are already known to the reader from Books 1 and 2. The reader will be familiar with their verbal tics and use of idiom, so should be able to follow the plot without any difficulties - as soon as the host character is taken over, the character's voice and use of language will change to something which is (or should be) already familiar to the reader. As the reader presumably knows that there is a viral body takeover, they will be able to pick up the change straight away. Use a few attribution tags at the very start just to make it clear for the numpties.

If the characters don't have distinct voices, I'd agree that flagging up the internalised voice through the use of italics would be the best bet. Or, have a line or two of description when the parasite characters come to the fore to tell us how they feel about operating an unfamiliar body.

You might want to check out "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde." I've never read it myself, I am ashamed to admit, but I suspect old RLS will have a few nifty ways of dealing with this issue.

Regards

Peter