People dislike first-person books.
That’s the conclusion I’ve come to in recent weeks. Seriously, I’ve seen it on message boards and loops far and wide. Letters in Romantic Times. Book reviews. Blogs. And in every other place and form you could think of — lots and lots of people just don’t like first-person books.
Until I joined RWA and started checking out industry blogs and magazines, I had no idea there was a stigma attached to writing in first person. That there was anything inherently wrong with it. But, according to some people, there is. Some folks will not deign to pick up a book written in first person. If they do so by mistake, well, that book goes back to the store ASAP.
As a writer of first-person tales, this attitude makes me worry about my job security. As a reader, it makes me scratch my head and wonder why.
Because, if you think about it, all books are really written in first person.
Think about your favorite romance author. Think about your favorite book by her. Is it written in third or first person?
I say it doesn’t matter – it’s still first person.
Even if the author is telling the story in third person, she’s still the one writing it. The story is still springing from the depths of her imagination, not anybody else’s. The book is still her idea, her perspective, her opinion of how her characters would react in a given set of circumstances.
If that’s not first person, I don’t know what is.
Now, folks claim first person doesn’t give them as much of the hero’s perspective, especially when it comes to the love scenes. Okay, I’ll agree with you there. But with first person, you get an intimacy with the heroine (or hero) you don’t necessarily get in third person.
Are there some books that would be better told in third person? Sure. But there are some stories that would benefit from being written in first person too.
Six of one, half dozen of the other, I say.
I want to start a movement. Let’s forget about first person vs. third person and concentrate on what matters the most – the writing. Let’s support the authors who touch our hearts, who make us laugh and cry, who take us away to another world where true love really does conquer all – no matter what perspective they write in.
Because a good book is a good book, even if aliens from the planet Za-ban are the ones doing the narration in a language consisting of chirps and ear wiggles and baseball-like finger signals. (Any author who could pull something like that off and make it readable, whatever the perspective, would definitely knock my socks off.)
If you don’t like first-person stories, I say give ‘em a try. Pick up somebody new on your next trip to the library or bookstore. You might be pleasantly surprised. The same thing goes for you people who only read first person.
Because, really, isn’t it all about the writing?
What about you? Do you loathe first person? Love it? Inquiring minds want to know …
No related posts.
Two of my favorite authors write in first person: Janet Evanovich and Linda Fairstein. Mysteries are often in first, and that is wonderful for me because I get to solve the crime along with the protagonist.
Romance in first person? If done well, I enjoy it. I, personally, think it works better in women’s fiction where the romance is secondary, but it CAN work in romance. I don’t mind switching from first to third as long as the author is good at it.
I prefer thrillers and romances to be in third because I like to know what’s going on with all the players. But like I said, it’s all in the execution and I’ll never say never.
Chiming in on the late side, but I love writing in first person. I write both male and female first POV for my romance/women’s fic, and my YAs are always in first person from the female POV.
And no, I haven’t sold the romance/women’s fic. Is it because of the dual-first POV? In part. I love getting into the hero’s head and think I do a good job of it, but there’s that stigma attached that even editors can fall prey to– the idea that “a guy wouldn’t sound/think/feel like that.”
Funny– the same sort of dialogue and emotional situations written by a male writer and it’s all about “They’re so sensitive and brave, putting their feelings out there like that.”
In some ways, it’s a form of reverse discrimination. *shrug*
As a reader, I have a couple favorite authors who write in FPPOV, but not many. To me, they often sound too much alike. I picked up three FPPOV books in the bookstore a month or so ago, and read the first few pages of each. I couldn’t tell the books apart. They might have been written by the same person, featuring the same main character. The heroines all had the same satiric tone of voice.
As a writer, my new MARKED urban fantasy series is written in third-person. I was surprised by the number of readers who’ve said they were looking forward to the books, in part, because of that. They want to like UF stories, but can’t get past the FPPOV. Definitely seems to be a hot button for some.
I can go either way but I’m harder on 1st person stories. I like all my stories to be well-written but first person narratives have to be a shade better.
Not fair? Probably. But that’s how it is. Because I get into my books when I’m reading. If I’m reading “I…”, it has to be that much more credible for me. Because if I think I would never, then it’s hard for me to keep going. I guess it’s harder to put distance between myself and the characters when the story is in first person.
I write both, I read both. FPPOV is riskier because more depends on the reader connecting with the main character/narrator. I’ve put down more first person books because I didn’t like the narrator than I have third person books.
So you see a chance, and you post
Over at Romancing the Blog there’s a thread on whether an adventure (which a romance certainly is) works better in first person or in third, and there’s no overwhelming consensus either way, though most participants seem to have a distinct…
[...] 25, 2007 First Person Posted by shilohwalker under Characters , Writing There was an interesting post up on RTBthe other day. Jennifer Estep discussing first & third POV and why so few all out love first person stories. [...]
I actually prefer to both read and write in first person. But, as others have said here, there are difficulties in the telling. If a door is closed and the main character doesn’t have any sort of super powers, the contents of the next room are unknown. If critical information is behind that door, then the author has to find some method to get the information to the main character. Often it’s done badly, or not done at all (where the character somehow miraculously “knows” what’s behind the door in one chapter, when they didn’t the chapter before. That’s a throw-the-book-across-the-room moment for me.)
Too, one of the things I’ve seen done badly in first person is present tense. That’s “I walk to the door and open it and jump as a bucket of water splashes down.” rather than “I walked to the door and opened it. A bucket of water fell down and soaked my clothes.” It’s VERY difficult to pull off present tense with first person. Mostly, it makes me annoyed as a reader because how can you describe events in any detail WHILE they’re happening? It takes that couple of second delay to create the “feel” of the scene–from descriptions and emotions and thought processes. I like following right in the footsteps of the character, watching over their shoulder and having the whole of a scene appear in my head like a movie.
But I do know that most readers prefer third person to get the different points of view. We’ve done a few books now in third and there are some nifty tricks you can do–red herrings and primrose paths–that aren’t possible in first person.
Overall, I have to say that I prefer first person, but I write for the reader. So, if the reader wants third, the reader GETS third.