Wednesday, September 6, 2017

For today's insecurity I confess that I have a bad romance for first person perspective.

Today is the first Wednesday of September, so it is officially Insecure Writer's Support Group day. As usual, I'm going to tackle the question which is:
Have you ever surprised yourself with your writing? For example, by trying a new genre you didn't think you'd be comfortable in??
The answer is "Yes," and I surprised myself when I wrote a story in first person. I didn't think I'd like it, and (at the time) I actually really got into it. But then with time, I fell out of love with first person. Is it okay to have a "bad romance" with first person? There are days when I'm so on board with it, and then there are days when I really can't stand it. I'm not sure what's my deal I suppose.

And it's that way when I'm reading too. For example, I loved first person in the Iron Druid series, and then I fell out of love with it and stopped reading the books. At some point, I'll probably go back to them, but by then I might be in love with first person again. Ugh. I totally don't make any sense. Thanks for stopping by.

10 comments:

  1. With some books I totally love wordy description and minor tangents; and then I'll suddenly not like it at all and wish the story would just move along. Who can say what a reader will "romance" or when the love affair will suddenly lose its charm.

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  2. Guess I'm a one love kind of guy when it comes to point of view. Never had an attraction to first person.

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  3. I like writing in first person sometimes.

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  4. I think it depends on the story. I've written in 1st person too and enjoyed it.

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  5. I also enjoy first person narratives, but when it comes to writing I find it too restrictive.

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  6. I like first person, but I only ever seem to use it when I'm working on a NaNoWriMo project. I'm not sure why, but that's how it is. It really does depend on the story.

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  7. I have a complicated relationship with first person but, generally, I wish authors would stay away from it.

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  8. I think it's good for an author to widen out and try different things, even if they don't use it. I like first person, but I find it better in past tense. However, first person/present tense is popular in some genres like new adult romance.

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  9. First person is my favorite. When I was a kid, I'd only read books in first person. It took a lot to get me into books in third. Eventually I got over that hurdle, but I still prefer first. Going back and forth is cool, though. We all have our reading moods.

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  10. For me, first person comes naturally -- somehow the voice of the character comes through more easily than in third person. In fact my two Charity MacCay novels (which after an embarrassingly long time I finally got into print and Kindle this week) are in first person (but past tense, not present). What I like is that for me the first person narrator can sometimes takes over the story and tell it herself, which makes my job easier. Then again, maybe this is a sign of budding schizophrenia?

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