Into the Fire

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First Person

 

We've talked about writing from different points of view here multiple times. Hasn't every writing blog? Some bluster about never ever doing the "head-hopping" routine: a sure sign of poor writing. Multiple examples (Vince Flynn among them) could be given as contrary-to-that-"rule" examples. Others insist a separation of some sort is a must to telegraph to readers that, hey, there's more than one person speaking/thinking here. (Duh?) But anyway, I'd like to talk about first person POV for just a few minutes.

There is enormous liberty in writing from the first person POV. Perhaps that's why so many authors choose it for their writing endeavors. When I was much younger and on into adult reading, I hated this POV. I can't tell you why, but I did. I think it was because I didn't want to hear the story from one person's perspective. I liked the idea of "observing" all the characters and circumstances of the plot from an objective viewpoint. But, truly, if I continued to detest first person in today's novel writing, there wouldn't be much of a selection to read. It seems most everybody writes in first person anymore.

I tried my hand at it in Breath of Life, but it wasn't exclusively written in first person. I'm giving it another whirl in my police procedural, and again it isn't entirely written in first person but predominantly. And that brings me to my point. There is enormous liberty in writing from the first person POV. The simplicity of being able to tell the story in what basically becomes dialogue allows for grammatical freedom, depending upon the sophistication of your storyteller. Slang, attitude, the emphasis on voice, all make for major contributors to just who the character is relating the events to the reader. It's like being involved in someone else's conversation. Some attest to the intimacy of reading first person, but that totally depends on who's telling the tale. If the character wants to keep the reader at arm's length, he/she can invoke different methods to remain an acquaintance, a stranger, or only a potential friend.

Do you write in first person? Do you like to read novels written in first person? What's your favorite POV? If you're like me, you enjoy all kinds of POVs, even head-hopping if done well. Break the rules: just do it well.

Lord, you made us all. Help us to be the ones you want us to be in all things. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

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4 responses to “First Person”

  1. BK Jackson Avatar
    BK Jackson

    At this stage of my life, I still haven’t learned an appreciation of 1st person. I have a read a few first person books, but give me 3rd any day.
    Since I’ve only read a few 1st person books, I don’t know about the broader sample–if they typically use more than 1 person’s POV, but that is my greatest dislike of first person. First person is like having a palette of colors and only using black. Frankly I don’t know why the fixation of using first person w/only 1 POV character.
    At any rate, 3rd person, when done well is very close and personal as well. And I like the broader scope you can achieve with 3rd.
    I wonder what books like The Hunger Games would have been like written in 3rd. I’ve only read the first in the series and it was very good (we’d all love to have that book’s success). But I found myself wishing for a break from Katniss occasionally to delve into some of the other characters more. But clearly the writer had a compelling lead and chose the best approach for her story–and it has paid off.
    Not saying I would never write in first person because there may be a story I need to tell in that way. But at the moment, it’s not on my radar.

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  2. Brenda Anderson Avatar
    Brenda Anderson

    I don’t usually care for first person either, but oftentimes that’s because it’s not well written. Too often writers begin every other sentence begins with “I”, or the protagonist comes off whiny and conceited.
    So, give me third person with varying POVs. For me, seeing inside multiple character’s thoughts adds depth to a novel. If it’s written in deep POV, I’ll enjoy the book even more.
    That said, Nicole, in BREATH OF LIFE, I loved your first person perspective–that’s where you shine. I look forward to reading your police procedural.
    Now, when it comes to head hopping, that annoys me. I’m reading Flynn’s KILL SHOT right now and I wince every time he inserts a new POV into a scene. But, before I started writing, head-hopping didn’t bother me.

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  3. Nicole Avatar
    Nicole

    You ladies have epitomized my past and present complaints with first person. I also realized another reason I didn’t/don’t like it is because sometimes I can’t suspend belief for why the person is “telling” the story. I mean how many men (other than writers of course) would write down their thoughts? Oh well. I wrote them anyway just to see if I could. (Thank you, Bren, for the sweet words of affirmation.)
    And, Bren, you hit on another point: “before I started writing, head-hopping didn’t bother me.” And there you have it. A reader’s perspective can be so different from a writer’s. Sometimes we don’t give them enough credit and sometimes we give them too much. C’est la vie.

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  4. Blog ProblemsDisappear Avatar
    Blog ProblemsDisappear

    This is fantastic I didn’t know about all this until I stumbled upon this article of yours over here. And I have a question for you. Do you happen to know how to defend your own articles from being used without your awareness about it?

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