Wednesday, January 5, 2011

First Person Works for Me

When I started my Nano project this past November, I was shocked at how easy it was for me to capture the voice of my protagonist. But there my character was, flesh and blood, breathing life on the page. I wondered why can’t it always be like this? And I asked myself why things were coming together so smoothly for this particular story.


To some extent, I think it has to do with the genre I’m writing – YA Contemporary – compared to my other projects in historical romance and speculative fiction. Instead of imagining the future or envisioning the past, I’m drawing on direct experiences and emotions from my own years as an angsty teen (with a fictive spin of course). Because of this, I emphasized with my characters right out of the gate instead of having to get to know them first before I’m able to direct them on the page. Big difference.

I’m also writing the YA novel in first person, where all my other novels have been in third person limited. Maybe that also contributed to the ease of subsuming myself into the world of the main character and finding their voice.

Based on feedback and my own instincts, I know character voice and reader empathy are weak points in my other stories. I’m just not going deep enough. And for a long time, I wasn’t sure what more I could do besides revising and reworking until the words blurred into nothingness. I made progress, yes, but it’s an arduous time-consuming process.

But now I think I know how to tackle this issue: by writing in the first person, even when I know I’ll revert back into 3rd person at some later stage of the project. By stripping away the artifice of she’s and he’s and making it all about me me me, I hope I’ll be able to strengthen my own engagement with my characters and up the emotional intensity and interest for my readers.

I can’t always control what genres I write in – stories just are – but I can control the POV I use when drafting. And that, my friends, is my New Years resolution. What’s yours?

4 comments:

Saumya said...

Yay! Happy that first person is working out for you :) That is the only POV I have used but I am thinking of writing the next book in third person. I'm sure you will fulfill your resolution quite well :) Mine is to finally finish this WIP and have it feel ready.

Julie Dao said...

YA first-person is where it's at! :) I'm writing this right now as well. I feel that it's easier to get into my character's head, and as a reader, I like it better too. It's like having the story told personally to me. Good luck with your project(s)!

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

I love YA in first person. It allows the reader to be in the book. :) Have fun!!!

Motormind said...

So, how has this been working out for you? Do you rewrite the books in third person later? If so, does it take you a lot of work?

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