point-of-view
A Tense Matter of Perspective
When I started writing my very first novel, it was in third person. A couple pages in, it was feeling awkward. I went back and re-did it in first person, and never looked back.
From then on, the decision of whether to go first or third (and if first, present or past tense) has been a combination of gut instinct and thinking about what the story needed. In one, I chose third person because I needed that tiny bit of distance from the main character so she could keep some secrets from the reader in an organic (not just convenient for me) way. In another, I chose present tense because it only made sense to be in the moment rather than looking back.
I’ve even braved the “alternating first person” POV … just for a novelette I wrote on a whim, but I still did it. (One POV I haven’t tried is second person, and I don’t see myself trying anytime soon.)
My latest Shiny New Idea has been less forthcoming about what it wanted to be. Or maybe it’s just less demanding and could work whatever way I chose, as long as I applied the perspective and tense in an effective way. For the scene-and-a-half I’ve written so far, I went with first-person/past. Feels good so far, so hopefully it’ll work.
On a separate but related note, there’s something I don’t get. I’ve seen a lot of people say they hate reading first-person narratives. Maybe it’s just a matter of personal preference, like the way I’m not crazy about peas unless they’re raw.
I used to feel kind of the same way about novels in present tense. The first time I read one, it felt funny and jarred me for a while. But I figured out I just wasn’t used to it. Now that I’ve read several, it doesn’t bother me most of the time. In fact, when I notice the tense and think, “Ugh, this present tense is bugging me,” I suspect it’s a sign that either the writer didn’t handle the tense well, or it was just an inappropriate choice for that story.
But first person in general? Is it possible to not be used to that? (Weren’t all the Babysitters’ Club books in first from the POV of whichever girl had her name in the title? Maybe I’m remembering wrong.) Is there some other reason I acclimated and adapted to whatever it is about this perspective that bothers some readers?
Or is one person’s grilled zucchini another person’s boiled peas? (I may have taken the metaphor too far there.)
Just curious. Any of you first-person haters want to share?
Speak up:
3 commentsDecisions, Decisions!
I’m starting a new novel, and I’m back at the old crossroads.
First or third person?
If first, present or past?
When I started Fingerprints, I actually wrote several pages in third person before it started screaming at me that it wasn’t working. Go back to the beginning, change it all to first person … ah, that’s better. It never occurred to me that present tense was an option. It was my first novel—what did I know?—and I’d hardly read any novels written in present tense up to that point.
Three manuscripts later, I began my Recently Finished New Novel. I’d learned a lot in-between, read a ton of current YA work, and felt like I almost had a coherent idea of what I was doing. The RFNN (uh-huh, that’s what I’m gonna refer to it as) is in third person. There was never any question about it, partly because I needed my MC to withhold quite a bit of information in the early parts of the story. I knew from first person, it would’ve been really obnoxious. Also, I briefly considered telling the story from several POVs, but never from my MC’s POV. I quickly decided I wasn’t that crazy brave, and I think it worked out pretty well. (We’ll see.)
Now, I’m about to embark on a Shiny New Novel (SNN … yeah). For the first time, I went through this active, conscious, stressful thought process. I could see pros and cons for doing it any of the three ways (third person, first past, or first present). For about ten minutes, it felt like choosing what college to go to: This decision will impact the rest of my life!
Well, okay, not quite. Making the “wrong” choice would just mean major rewriting once I decided it was, in fact, wrong. And depending on how long it took for me to make that decision, the rewriting could be a right pain.
Worse things have happened.
In this case, I started thinking about my MC. Her personality, what it would mean to be right up in her head, or have a little distance. Then I thought about the general plot as it’s formed so far (in my head)—what things might happen outside my MC’s presence, how to deliver those things if I’m in first person, etc. Settled on trying first person, then thought about whether the plot warrants the kind of immediacy I always associate with present tense. In combination with certain personality quirks of the MC, I think present might fit.
So my decision is to get in there and start drafting. If I get a page or a chapter (or five) in and realize it’s not flying … back to the drawing board.
That’s how we learn, right?
How do you guys make these types of decisions? How do you know whether the story will be best with one POV character, or two … or more? I’m still a newbie (in some ways), so I want all the learnin’ I can get.