I have a new work in progress. I decided that my new book would be a Young Adult, because I enjoy writing them so much. Oh. And because my readers enjoy reading them!
I am not going to give out a title just yet, but I will say that this book will be very different in that I have chosen to go with a 1st person POV. The idea that I originally had was to get inside the head of my main character. However, I changed it last night to 3rd person, only to revert back to the 1st person POV this morning.
This is the first time that I have used this POV. I actually prefer 3rd person limited omniscient, because you can tell the story from several different character’s point of view. The drawback to 1st person POV is that the main character must be present to know everything that is going on in the story. So, either a character must tell the main character what happened in their absence, or the main character must be an eye witness.
Another drawback to writing in this particular POV is that you must decide whether or not the narrator (in this case the main character) is a reliable narrator. Because you have one side of the story, you don’t know if they are giving you all of the correct information. You, as the reader, only have what the main character decides to share. This is going to be an interesting experiment for me.
On various author/writing forums, I have come across a lot of criticism from other authors toward another on the use of the 1st person point of view. Their arguments are that the writers using 1st person POV tend to structure their novel and each paragraph starts with “I.”
It’s true that a writer can become so stuck in a rut of writing that every paragraph or sentence begins to start as “I saw,” “I heard,” “I went,” “I”…. Well, you understand. It become repetitive and redundant. So, my suggestion as an author and a teacher for those who are writing in the 1st person POV is this: vary your sentences. Just because you have chose to write in the 1st person POV does not mean that you have to describe everything with “I looked and saw.” You can still add in the wonderful descriptive prose without having the character voice in their. For example, I give you a brief snippet from the new book:
Walking down the hall was like walking a long walk of shame. Students stared at one another, whispering in tight groups as they cast disdaining looks in my direction. I received three days of out of school suspension for that little act of revenge. Before the teacher who caught me had drug me into the Principal’s office, everyone knew about the vandalized car.
As I pulled out of the student parking lot, I glanced over at James’s mustang and smiled. The lettering could be removed with a good buffing, but the fact that he would have to drive it home with the front hood announcing him as a “Cheating Jerk,” somehow seemed worth it. I think I can accept the punishment knowing he will be humiliated on his way home. I giggled. He had to take her home with his car like that, too.
Yeah, I would say it was worth it.
And if you read the above, please be gentle with criticism. It is, after all, a first draft, and first drafts are made to be crappy.
The point I am trying to make is this: 1st person doesn’t limit you. Think of your 1st person narrator as being capable of providing 3rd person narrative. They can tell you what is going on and describe the action without saying, “I.” As my character is walking down the hall, she describes what the other students are doing. We know she is describing it because I’ve already distinguished my narrator at the beginning of the story. What the reader receives is what her eyes see without the presence of a 3rd person narrator.
Okay. Class is dismissed. Now, go practice writing and see if you can limit your use of I in 1st person.
