POV & Genre
I was surprised to read a post on Diana Peterfreund’s blog where she says she has run into arguments about first person POV being a lesser POV, only to be used by those writers with less talent than third person POV authors. Oh, and using multiple narrators is also apparently lazy and amateurish. And one more–it’s apparently a device recently developed by chick lit authors. To which I say, HUH?
Seriously?
As Diana points out, my beloved Poe wrote in first person. Last I checked, he was alive in the 1800s. And also, he was a genius.
I’ve also recently been noticing a trend where any novel including vampires, zombies and werewolves are automatically viewed (by some) as craptastic works of untalented writers looking to cash in on a popular genre. Now, I know the market is getting saturated with these, but how can someone lump all of them in together? Some are truly fantastic.
Why so condescending?
I understand that some readers don’t particularly take to first person POV or tales of the zombie apocalypse, and that’s fine. Some readers don’t like traditional fantasy or YA or literary or thrillers. But the argument that any style or genre of writing is “less” than another is troublesome to me. Separate personal taste by quality. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s bad. I’m not trying to come out harsh here, but it’s something I feel pretty strongly about.
I personally have not read a single space opera. I tried once, but didn’t get into it. Does that mean I think space operas are terrible works of fiction that should be banned from the shelves and those writers of the genre should be ashamed of themselves for writing something that appears to be a popular subgenre? Um, no. I just didn’t get into it. Of course, I’m a huge fan of BSG so this might not be a good comparison…
Of course, I just finished reading Scott Westerfeld’s The Last Days which happens to be a first person, multiple narrator, vampire apocalypse YA. So, you know, I might be biased.
Writing Quiz| The Adverb » »
Comments
I’ve always considered writing in the first person to be a good deal more difficult than writing in the third, so anyone calling it a “lesser POV” kind of blows my mind. Mind, blown. I’ve tried first person and couldn’t hack it. I’m much more comfortable with third, but thinking one is superior to the other is just silly.
Also, I’ve accepted the fact that a lot of people tend to look down their noses at “genre fiction.” That’s fine, I guess. If you don’t like something, you don’t have to read it. But, to give people a hard time because they write “genre” or like to read “genre” isn’t really doing anyone any good, is it? Personally, I like to read a good mystery, thriller, horror, or fantasy book. And, since I like to read them, that’s also what I like to write.
Okay, here endeth the rant. Sorry, this happens to be one of my pet peeves. Nice to know there are other people out there who think the way I do.
Oh, and by the way, as much as I love sci-fi movies and TV shows (like BSG), I can’t always get into it in prose form, either.
Um . . . Rebecca, anyone? Jane Eyre?
Huckleberry Finn?
I’ve done both. I think I did better with first person. As a reader, I can see advantages to both. Depends on what you’re trying to accomplish.
I write YA. I have two manuscripts in first person and two in third person. I tend to like reading first person YA but like writing both–they’re different puzzles to solve and play with.
I think there is room in the YA world for all types of books. Fifteen years of teaching english in an alternative school where I tried to match reluctant and struggling readers to books they would connect with taught me that I needed to cast a pretty wide net when I purchased books for the school. So, first person, third person, plot driven, descriptionless–there’s room for all types of books.
Look at Orca Press or Towsend Books Buford Series. I had kids reading those books right along with Harry Potter novels.
And, being a writer, I too have respect for anyone who takes the time and effort and dedication to produce a manuscript that kids are connecting to.
Scott also writes space opera. Risen Empire is the name.
I love me some space opera, actually. I grew up on Heinlein. I hear Linnea Sinclair is really good, too, if you like your space with a dash of romance (and really, who wouldn’t?).
I suppose it’s human nature, really. We dislike, devalue and besmirch what we don’t approve, don’t understand, and, many times, what we ourselves cannot do. We could find a thousand authors who write first person well, find a thousand more who can write third person well, and then proceed to find an additional hundred thousand who write either of them appallingly. And it’s the terrible authors who write with one form who invariably “proves” the argument of those who favor the other.
Some folks are a lot like those star-bellied Sneetches: “With their snoots in the air, they would sniff and they’d snort / We’ll have nothing to do with the plain-bellied sort!”
Yeah, I don’t get all the criticism. To me, POV choice boils down to one thing: what’s best for the book. How will a story best be told? From inside one of the participants’ heads, inside several of their heads, or from the head of someone watching them very closely? It’s all about the story.
Tia mentioned Rebecca and Huck Finn. Perfect examples. Would the mystery and intrigue of Rebecca be nearly so thick if it weren’t told through the unnamed narrator’s eyes? Nope. What if we weren’t stationed directly in Huck’s head in Huck Finn? Boring and inauthentic.
Here’s where I stand. Anyone who would look down on or refuse any tool that would make their story better? HACK.
I mean, I think it’s certainly true that most of the “classics” are written in third person, but a lot are also written in omniscient, which is virtually unaccepted now.
And in YA especially, first person is the preferred norm. I think it’s easier to create a voice in first person, but can be harder in the sense that you can’t stray from what your narrator knows.
And if people stopped writing vampires, zombies, werewolves…I’d cry.
Leave a Comment