Point of View: Who’s your narrator?
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First person narratives have been popping up quite a bit lately, and at first, I couldn’t stand it. I hate being limited to one character’s POV—especially if that character happens to be a whiny little brat (I won’t give examples, but you know what I mean). I like fluttering from one character’s head to the next, getting to know all of them better than they know themselves. Yep, I like my books in good ole third person POV.
How you narrate your story can have a big impact on your novel. Experts say that the your ability to write from different points of view, makes you a better writer. Keeping that in mind, I thought I’d break from my tried and true third person narrative voice, and try my hand at first person. I had the perfect opportunity, after all, with the Murder Scene Blogfest.
So I wrote my thousand word murder scene from first person POV—the killer’s POV—and wow. It was much harder than I thought it would be, and I’m not just talking about remembering to keep things in the proper tense. Writing from the killer’s mind is so much different in first than in third.
(Third Person POV) “He had to kill her; he didn’t have a choice. Raising the antique telephone high above his head, he slammed it down, over and over, sending the metal crashing into her skull until her face was a bloody, broken mess.”Third Person doesn’t need all the detail about how the killer’s arm hurt—you could always add it in, but it doesn’t need it. But in First Person, the writer needs to capture how the narrator is feeling. It’s a much more intense feeling when you’re writing. I had a tough time bringing myself from he had to kill her to I had to kill her. It was strange on my psyche, something that left me feeling icky inside. I don’t have a problem writing grisly scenes from Third Person POV, but in First Person…it left me feeling like I was the bad guy. Maybe it’s just that I’m not used to writing First Person, then again, maybe this is something that all writers have struggled with.
(First Person POV) “I had to kill her; I didn’t have a choice. Picking up the antique telephone from beside her bed, I hardened my stomach for what I was about to do. I landed the first blow and it sent waves of pain vibrating up my arm, but I didn’t stop. Again and again I sent the phone crashing into her skull, pummeling the life out of her, destroying all remnants of her beautiful face.”
What about you? What point of view do you use when writing and how do you feel after you’ve written something dark? How do you deal with the up and down emotions that come with being a writer?
I usually write in the 1st person, something that comes very naturally to me, but for my current novel, I'm writing in the 3rd person and I'm finding it kind of hard. I hate that it's not as personal, that I'm not really in the characters' heads...
As for writing something dark in the 1st person and how I feel afterwards... If I made something bad happen to the character, I feel bad and guilty and I end up thinking about it at night. If I made the character do something bad, oddly enough, I don't feel bad. The character killed someone or stole, not me.
-Kayleigh
PS: I quite like this blog, but I'd love it if you blogged more often. (Maybe you blog often enough and I just check this blog too often for new blog posts...)
PPS: Excuse any repetition; I've had a considerable amount of coca cola tonight.
It can be a hard choice deciding POV, but I think different stories call for different POV's. I had an ms set in 3rd POV and realized long after it was finished that it had to be in 1st POV to be most effective. what a chore to alter it because it doesn't just alter the pronouns. You also have to alter the way something is viewed. For example, you might describe the facial expressions of your protag in 3rd, but it's far less likely to do so in 1st.
That said, I generally write in 1st person--but that might have to do more with my genre than anything else. YA is typically 1st person.
But great post!
A lot of people have been talking about POV recently. It can be a controversial subject, I guess. To use 3rd omniscient or not to use 3rd omniscient...
Personally, I like all POV's (except 2nd *shudder*). 1st really helps the reader know the MC, but 3rd can be more artistic IMHO.
My favorite is 1st when it alternates characters in different chapters. It's like a happy medium.
Kayleigh- Oh, I love coca cola! One of my favorites!
3rd is definitely not as "personal" as first is, but you can get to expand on the other characters more than you would with 1st. I hope you're current novel is going well. How far along is it?
My group blogs on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so you can also read something on here. We alternate our posts, that that we each only blog one day a week and we always get one week off. This is my third week here, so I won't be blogging here again until April 26th. Of course, that just gives me more time to blog on my personal blog ;)
Talk soon <3
Carol- I completely agree; some books have to be written in a specific POV, and sometimes, changing the POV can actually change the story. Oh yeah--and genre can definitely have a lot to do with it. YA has LOTS of 1st person POV but I think it does the genre good.
KM- They all have their pros & cons, just like most things. But I think I'm best at 3rd. Again though, it does depend on the story (and genre).
-Courtney
Yeah, I've found that with 3rd person I can have all these different storylines and I get to explore more characters, so I'm definitely enjoying that. The big problem is that there's too much dialogue and not enough emotions, thoughts and descriptions.
Well, before last night I finally (FINALLY) completed chapter 7. And with what I've written of chapter 8, I've got 13 810 words. (I'm hoping for 15 000 by the end of this week.)
What about you? You haven't blogged about your WIP in a while...
My urban fantasy series is in 1st person, because let's face it, they all are.
I quite like 3rd but locked in on one character, letting me do slightly pointless asides while limiting the reader's information enough to be fun.
3rd and jumping around, I find I have to be careful with.
i don't mind reading either first or third, but i write almost exclusively in third.
Wow, the exact same thing happened to me: I started a chapter in January and finished it in April. And I just read your blog post about the 500wd/day challenge. Anyway, its twenty to three in the morning and I once again had waaay to much coca cola, so I should go, but I will say this: okay, honestly, I forgot what I wanted to say... Damn it, I should NOT have had that liter of coca cola. What was I gonna say? Something writing-related... Well I'm thinking of doing the 250wd/day challenge, but I don't think that's what I was gonna say. I think it was related to YOUR writing and your novels. The fact that I need to pee probably doesn't help. Maybe it was something like "I can't wait to read your novels" or "Good luck and congrats on writing again" but I can't remember... Those things are true, but I wanted to say something else...
Okay, it's now quarter to three, so bye.
Kayleigh- HA! You are too funny! I could drink Dr. Pepper all day everyday and I LOVE a good caffeine rush =)
Hope you have fun with the challenge. I know I will (if it doesn't drive me crazy first.
Get some sleep-- I forget how big a time difference there is between Texas and France! Talk soon!