Writing 1st person POV

[birdsofshore]

I love to write in 1st person. I think I am a little bit hooked on it, tbh. I have been writing 1st person Draco for ages, but last year I wrote a lot of alternating 1st person, and really enjoyed that, too, and then this year I felt compelled to write 1st person Harry. With debatable results, BUT, I still very much enjoyed writing it, and wouldn't rule out doing it again.

My dracotops_harry fic was quite a long 1st person Draco POV, and I noticed a real trend in the comments to talk about the fact that people had liked it despite it being 1st person. This came up again and again, as if it was a complete rarity to enjoy a 1st person fic. Someone also left a bookmark which really made me laugh:

Usually first-persons are stinkers, but this wasn't.

WOW THANKS :D

Anyway, I mentioned to Mr Birds that apparently people felt mistrustful of 1st person, and he was surprised as well. We googled for a list of novels that were written in 1st person, and what do you know, a ton of my favourite books are 1st person. Catcher in the Rye, Jane Eyre, Lolita, Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, To Kill a Mockingbird, Breakfast at Tiffany's, A Clockwork Orange, The Perks of Being a Wallflower are all 1st person narratives. As a reader I find it a stunningly immersive experience, and if the narrator is unreliable or twisted or damaged then I enjoy it even more.

As a fanfic writer, obviously I'm not aiming for anything approaching those novels, but I find writing 1st person an easy way to make a connection, first with the character I'm writing, and then with the reader. I find writing other POVs distances me and the reader from the story that I'm telling. Maybe it's become a lazy habit and I should attempt to get that immediacy by other means, using 3rd person? I don't know. But I feel conflicted - I want to go on writing 1st person whenever it seems appropriate, but readers are telling me that they actively avoid 1st person fics.

Do people mistrust / dislike 1st person in original fic, or just in fanfic? Do you agree that 1st person fics are usually "stinkers"? If so, why? Do you enjoy reading 1st person? In fic? In original novels? Do you write it? Do you avoid it? I have all of the questions and none of the answers!

Comments

[torino10154]

I have no strong feelings about it, honestly, though I think I prefer 3rd person limited so it feels more like what we're used to in HP.

(Does anyone ever write omniscient? I can hardly think of one. It's always someone's POV, even when it switches POVs, isn't it?)

I have seen people say that with both 1st and 2nd person, sometimes they find it harder to relate because you're required to identify with the character more? IDK That may not make sense but when you say "I" or "you" it's more immediate, personal which can be a good thing but depending on what you're selling, perhaps not if the character is a harder to identify with one.

I actually think for the most part it's just not the "standard" preference and probably a lot of people who say they don't like it, hardly ever read it and really don't know. :D Well, either that or they did read a few stinkers and haven't given it a try since.

[anemonen.livejournal.com]

I've read a couple of omniscinent 3 person pov in 1d fandom, and that really needs to be well done to work for me. I find it rather distracting if not, tbh. But it can work well I think. Sometimes. Think I prefer the limited version!

[birdsofshore]

I don't even know if I've ever read any. I don't really know what it IS!

[birdsofshore]

Other people have said that before, about 3rd person fitting in with the series better. But I don't write that much like JKR, I don't think, so I never really think about trying to 'fit' with canon in that way.

I don't really get what omniscient is? I tried to understand once, and couldn't get it. It just felt like the POV changing all the time and that felt strange. But I don't even know what I am talking about.

It seems like people definitely have a preference... but having said that, people who say they dislike it, still gave my fic a try, so it's obviously not set in stone for everyone!

[torino10154]

The thing with omniscient is... you can't have Draco wondering why Harry is doing this and whether he likes that. Things can be revealed to the reader, of course, but IMO there's no emotional connection at all (the opposite of 1st and 2nd person). The reader just sees Harry's reaction to Draco, but you aren't getting in anyone's head. There are a lot less ~feels hence being a terrible medium for fanfic. LOL

Hmm, I am trying to remember if either "Spinner's End" in HBP or the first chapter of DH are 3rd person omniscient. They might be. I don't think either is Snape's POV.

[birdsofshore]

I don't know why I find it so hard to understand omniscient. I'm going to go and google and see if I can educate myself. I've just reread HBP myself and I don't know what POV those chapters are, but like you, I'm pretty sure they're not Snape's.