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

[nia_kantorka]

I love to read 1st person pov and even more shunned 2nd person pov as well. Both suck you directly into a person's head and that's often a way better reading experience than more tame 3rd person pov. I really love it as well when the person who speaks in the story addresses the reader every once in a while. Such a great way to shake somebody up. ;p

I try to not dissect each story I read in its parts, but I always remember how much a sorry made me feel.
When I write myself I let the character decide. I've even changed a person's voice from 3rd to 1st person pov to make them more pitiable, and the other way round to make them seem more detached (they weren't, but that should lure the reader in a false feeling of safety). :)

Long story short. I love to read all the narrative styles because they can serve this or that purpose. And more often than not an author needs all the help they can get.

To answer your question: no stinkers at all. LOL

[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.

[sdkshelly.livejournal.com]

I'm totally one of those people who tends to avoid 1st person fic. But for me, it's just in fanfic. I have no particular preferences when it comes to orig fiction. And it's mostly just with characters that I'm close to--either ones that I write a lot or have strong feelings about, etc. And it isn't about 1st person per se--not particularly liking that style. It's more about voice-agreement. If the character is one I have strong preferences about (like Harry or Draco) and the author's 1st person's voice for that character doesn't agree with my own preferences, it's jarring for me. I'm not saying that my preferences are right or canon or whathaveyou and the author's are wrong--not by ANY means. It's just a quirk. It's just much easier to handwave things in 3rd person rather than 1st. I'm sure I miss out on some excellent fic because I'm weird.

Also, I'll add on, in smutty scenes, it's easier to get squicked in first person, for me. And squicked might be too strong a word, but there can be little things in sex scenes that I don't particularly enjoy -- nothing huge -- and usually I can just skim or handwave those little bits, but it's so much harder to do that in first person because there's less distance between the reader and the POV character.

I don't know if this is making sense! I hope so! But yeah, it's nothing to do with 1st person being generally horrible for me! LOL! It's more that I'm picky about things and it's a lot easier to ignore little things that I don't like in 3rd person rather than 1st. I guess that's the main thing. But as a writer, I have written in both 1st and 2nd POV because that's the way the story came out and wanted to be written. And I certainly wouldn't want people to stop writing how they want to write just because I'm so picky and weird!

[carpemermaid.livejournal.com]

Most of the original fiction I read is in first person, and I do really enjoy the immersiveness of it and I have read several amazing h/d first person POV or first person alternating POV stories that I've really really enjoyed!! I don't shy away from it but I don't actively seek it out in h/d either, which I think for me personally is because the books aren't in first person?? Maybe?

I find it a little easier to get into something written in third person, it takes me a bit to find my reading rhythm when I come across an h/d fic that's in first person, I have to like get myself in the right headspace for it in fic, I don't know. It definitely takes a strong writer like yourself to be able to pull it off well I think! :)

[kerrilee75.livejournal.com]

I will just say ditto to literally everything from sdkshelly because I couldn't have said it better. Now, agreement aside, I don't automatically skip first person POV stories, but I do find myself back-buttoning out of them sometimes if the voice is just too off for me.

[anemonen.livejournal.com]

I don't think I have any very strong preferences, but I sometimes take a bit longer to get into a 1st person PoV. Maybe because it's so intimate, so it takes me a bit longer to identify with the character? I don't know. But I do enjoy a well written 1pov when I get into it. And you do that PoV very well, so no reason to feel like you should stop imo :)

[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!

[firethesound]

I'm always a little baffled by the 1st person POV hate. I think that 3rd person POV is a lot more forgiving of mistakes and inexperience, and maybe that gives 1st (and 2nd!) POV a bad rap? I've read some 1st person POV stuff that's flat-out horrible. I've also read some 1st person POV stuff that's incredible and awesome and amazing. Seems a bit silly to me to miss out on the latter just because the former exists.

I don't know. I don't tend to write it myself, because I'm actually not great at maintaining that close a connection with the character over the course of a story, and I totally suck at writing action in 1st person POV. I like having a bit of distance between myself and what I'm writing, so I stick to 3rd person POV, though I might experiment with it someday. I did a 2nd person POV thing just on a lark, and had a lot of fun with it. I'm perfectly happy to read it, though, both in fic and original works. Also, your 1st person POV Draco is amazing and wonderful and you should keep writing that forever and ever. ::nodnod::

[tamlane.livejournal.com]

I like 1st person in original fiction. Noir and pulp and all those gritty detective tales from yesteryear that I love so much are usually in 1st person, and it makes me intimately connected with the narrator. Like they're letting me in on a secret.

I LOVE original erotica in 1st person POV. It feels more like... well, like a Letter to Hustlertrue confession. XD

But I usually don't like it in fanfic, maybe because I already have preconceived notions of what the characters' voices would sound like. The exception would be a rare or next gen character that we don't know very well from canon.

[oakstone730.livejournal.com]

I am a bit leery of books and fanfiction written in the first person. It does put me more *in the head* of the character, however if I don't like the character or how their personality is coming across. (visions of a mystery written by pretty popular male author where the female lead gazed in the mirror and admired her 36C breasts-but the POV was the least of that's book's problems). Bad ones aside, there are some especially hot *cough* Unguarded *cough* 1st pov because yes they suck you in and make you feel every stroke of the blade.

For the YA novel I'm writing I originally wrote it 3rd omniscient and then have gone back and re-written it in 1st because I realized it needed to be that intimate. Still not the POV I'm comfortable writing and I'm not convinced I've done a good job of it.

I've read some amazing stories in 1st pov, and equally back-buttoned any number of them.

[subtlefire.livejournal.com]

I couldn't give you examples, but I feel like this "First person SUX!!!" thing came out of nowhere? Maybe. Don't listen to me.

I hate second person POV, though. Like, really hate it. That's an actively avoided POV for me. Other than that, bring on all the people. I have zero problem with first person POV, please don't stop writing it just people other people are weird. ;)

[birdsofshore]

I like 2nd person as well! But I must admit I can be wary of reading that one. I have come across a few stinkers, now I come to think of it. But the writers here at LJ who use 2nd person all do it beautifully. I wrote it once myself and lost my nerve and changed to 1st. I'm still not sure it was the right move!

And more often than not an author needs all the help they can get.

Yes!

and I really love it as well when the person who speaks in the story addresses the reader every once in a while.

Yes! I like writing that! But my betas usually red line it, so I don't think I am doing it right.

[gracerene]

I basically am exactly in the same boat as SDK.

I'm really only picky about first person in fanfic, and I think it's mostly because it makes it harder to ignore things that don't gel with how I generally see/feel characters. First person means there is less distance, which sometimes means it's harder for me to get into a fic. I don't hate it by any means, but it's something that I am picky about, which means sometimes it's just easier to avoid.

On the other hand, I think that's why I don't have any issues with your first person POV fics. Not only because you're a good writer, but because we enjoy a lot of the same kinks and dynamics, so it doesn't feel foreign to be immersed in your characters' heads.

[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!

[birdsofshore]

It really makes a lot of sense and I can identify with everything you're saying. I see why it wouldn't be the case with original fic. I hadn't thought about sex scenes like that, either. I find I tend to get more 'this was hot' comments when I write 1st person, but it stands to reason that if you increase the intensity of the smut, you're also going to increase the squick value of anything the reader doesn't like. It's a real gamble and I can understand why you don't read 1st person in that situation. I don't think you're picky or weird!

[birdsofshore]

I find it a little easier to get into something written in third person, it takes me a bit to find my reading rhythm when I come across an h/d fic that's in first person

I think I agree with you there. It can throw you at the beginning of a fic when there's a distinctive narrative voice and you're not sure if you like it or not!

It was interesting to me to realise how many of my favourite novels are in 1st person, and I wondered whether I have been influenced by those much loved books in my own writing, or whether it's just a preference for me that I prefer to feel really IN THERE, whether I'm reading or writing.

Thanks for your vote of confidence that I might be able to pull it off! I hope you're right.

[birdsofshore]

This is a real eye opener for me. I never knew 1st person could be so offputting. When I first got a couple of comments about it, I sort of dismissed it, but there seemed to be quite a few in the end. It's very interesting (and slightly anxiety-provoking) to hear that a lot of my flist have difficulties reading it.

[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.

[alisanne.livejournal.com]

Yeah, not sure where the 1st and 2nd person hate came from. Prolly from badly written fic, I imagine, which you can get in any POV, LOL, so I don't usually consider the POV to be an exclusionary criteria when looking for fic to read.

Now, if it's someone who I know is accomplished, I'll plunge right into a 1st or 2nd POV fic with no qualms. lumosed_quill e.g. is SUPERB at 2nd person POV. If it's an unknown writer and they warn for it, well, I'll take it under advisement? *shrugs*

I have had people tell me they only read it in short fics or drabbles, so maybe a longer story in 1st or 2nd is an issue?

To be honest, I'm more worried about my other fic squicks to be concerned about the POV. Let's just say if I notice it and it throws me out of the fic then I backclick and it's no harm, no foul. :)

[birdsofshore]

Yes, I can definitely agree with that - it can be so intimate it almost takes you a few paragraphs to slide into that person's head and feel comfortable there. Like, for the first few hundred words you're very conscious of that voice and the writer's decision to tell the story that way.

Thanks so much! I don't want to stop, but I don't want to make people look at my stories and backbutton away either!

[birdsofshore]

I'm actually not great at maintaining that close a connection with the character over the course of a story

Errrr, I don't know how you got that idea. Seriously.

I totally suck at writing action in 1st person POV

Hah, I don't have that problem because I never do write action ;)

I wrote something in 2nd person once and then changed it to 1st. I always wonder if it would have been better if I'd kept my nerve! What did you write that was 2nd? Have I read it?

You know what, I don't think I'm that likely to stop writing 1st person Draco even if everyone on my flist said it sucked. I'd still write it just for myself *snort*

[birdsofshore]

Yes, I can completely see all of your points. If we have a clear idea of a character's voice, someone else's attempt is likely to jar.

I really do enjoy writing next gen (well, Albus and Scorpius) because I feel like I can do what the fuck I like with them. I often hear their voices more clearly when I am writing, partly because they are more or less concocted out of my head. Mind you, fanon Draco is more or less out of my head, too, so I don't have difficulty writing him either ;)

[birdsofshore]

Ugh at the lecherous breast narration! What a POV fail!

Really glad you found Unguarded hot <33

nd I'm very interested to hear that you rewrote in 1st person. I'd love to read your OF.

[birdsofshore]

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

[kerrilee75.livejournal.com]

Well, I've never back-buttoned out of yours bc you kill at it! But it can come off as an amateurish tool in the wrong hands. I'm glad you will keep writing that way, though!