I love writing in first person. I guess I love reading first person, too, since I like to write it so often. I don’t write solely in first person, but even when I write in third, much of the time I’m in pretty deep third person POV, often only one. To complicate matters, I guess, for readers who crave knowing ahead of time what they’re getting from an author, I do also write in multiple third person POV (haven’t yet tackled multiple first person) — which is NOT head hopping, btw. Head hopping is jumping to multiple points of view without any delineation between them — chapter by chapter, for example, or section by section. Head hopping is jumping from the head of one character into another without any discernable break to let you know to expect it. I try hard not to do *that* at least!
Maybe this post isn’t about first person POV but about POV in general…hmmm…
No, I’ll stick to first person.
Here’s what any reader should know about first person POV. If written correctly, in first person POV, you will NEVER understand or feel what any character feels EXCEPT the main character in whose head you are positioned. NEVER. Even if another character says “I feel sad” — you can only believe them because they said it. You can’t KNOW FOR SURE that character feels sad, because your first person POV character cannot know what anyone else feels for sure. Just like you or I can’t know, for sure, what anyone feels or thinks about anything (even if they tell us, because people can lie, and even if we THINK they feel sad, we just never really know, right?)
Human emotion is a complex range that really can’t be put into words. FEELING can’t be completely relayed with words. My sad is not your sad. You know?
So when reading a first person POV book, what we need to remember is that we are viewing the world through one person’s eyes. One person’s feelings. And that what that person thinks/feels/understands about another character might not be what that character his/herself feels/thinks/understands. So that the hero who thinks he’s the shit might not really think so — but because we’re only in the heroine’s head, and SHE thinks he’s all that and a bag of chips, we SEE HIM as all that, plus a side of hashed browns and a chocolate shake.
See where I’m going with this?
When reading first person POV it’s really helpful to remind ourselves that just because the character in whose head we are living thinks someone is acting or thinking or feeling in a certain way, that doesn’t mean that’s the truth. It means that we are viewing that other character through a skewed perspective, colored by whatever the POV character is thinking and feeling. It means we can only view that world as that character sees it, and since nobody can ever really know what another person is thinking or feeling, neither can that character, or us. Just because our POV character thinks someone is happy, that doesn’t mean they are. Just because our POV character thinks someone is an asshole, that doesn’t mean THEY think they are!
That doesn’t mean that you can’t understand other characters through the perspective of your POV character. You can. We all learn about other people based on how they act. People don’t lie all the time. We learn about others by what they say and how they act, and we can often create an understanding of that person based on that — but it’s still our perception. It might be vastly different from the truth or how that other person sees themselves.
So, as an author who writes in first person, the challenge to me is to make the reader get so deep in the head of the main character you feel as though you understand that person. That you understand the people in her/his life through his/her eyes, so you understand their relationships and choices…but we can never forget that just because the POV person is viewing someone a certain way, that doesn’t mean that OTHER person does. Or that if our POV character sees someone behaving in a certain way that the appearance of what is going on is actually what is happening underneath.
Many people don’t like first person POV because they want to be inside the heads of the other characters, too, to get more than one perspective. And I like that too. But I also really like writing and reading about one person’s perspective, understanding their world, their lives and how they react to the characters and events in their story.
We just have to remember that if you’re in one person’s head, that’s going to color everything else, and it’s not necessarily going to be accurate. It’s going to be perception and opinion. And that, my doves, is what makes first person POV (for me) such a complex and rewarding point of view to write/read in.
M
August 10th, 2010 at 2:02 pm · Link
When you’re writing books in the first person you can really feel every situation which the telling person is going through and that I think makes alot of the story. I like it very much. The third person way too bec it’s like you said, you see how the other characters are thinking/ticks. But writing/reading the story in first person is like you are the one who’s telling the story, who’s living it. You’re getting IN the story.
And this is what I really love at most of your Spice books. Just great!
August 12th, 2010 at 4:16 am · Link
THANK YOU FOR THIS POST! i’ve been wrestling with the whole POV idea with this book. But… I think I’m going to stick with … narrative? Still learning the lingo – basically, “she was” instead of “I was”.
BUT I like your POV on the POV, so I might stick with my original idea of creating additional content from the characters’ perspectives about certain events.
August 12th, 2010 at 11:37 am · Link
Sabine — thank you!
Mia — I’m not expert enough to toss around terminology like I know what I’m talking about, but yeah, I think you’re talking about a narrative voice, third person POV.
But you can do what I’ve heard called “deep” third person POV, which is much like being in first in that you’re deep inside the head of your POV character, (only, so nobody else) but it’s still SHE WAS instead of I WAS. I do deep third frequently, or maybe it’s limited third, where you’re in third POV but only for one character throughout the whole book.
For me, the big thing about POV is that no matter who’s head you’re in, you should stay there or be consistent in what they know, feel, etc.
There’s omniscient POV which is a godlike perspective showing what everything thinks or feels, the bird flying over the dog who bites the kid who runs to his mother who takes him to the doctor, etc.
I haven’t tackled that yet!
August 13th, 2010 at 10:26 am · Link
I wrote about this on my blog last week. I’m glad to see another author writing on first person. Thank you for your insights and your advice. I’ll definitely be applying them — whenever I get back in the writing groove.
August 15th, 2010 at 12:17 pm · Link
@Leia Rice: Get back in tharrrrr!
August 15th, 2010 at 12:14 pm · Link
well, you’re successful at it. i find myself terribly invested with your characters… flaws, missteps, warts and all.
you’re a fantastically smart and gifted writer, and i’m really pleased every time you come out with another book.
thank you.
August 15th, 2010 at 12:16 pm · Link
@Jen Black: Thank YOU!
August 20th, 2010 at 4:27 am · Link
I coming to this post after being away on a trip.. I just wanted to say I LOVE 1st person POV it was the thing that set your books apart for me. I could get into the characters heads easily, I don’t necessarily have the desire to understand what the other person is thinking, after all I don’t in real life so why should I in everyhting I read. I also like your 3rd person which I agree does feel like your 1st person for the very reasons you state. I love the way you write.
August 22nd, 2010 at 11:47 am · Link
@adrienne — thanks!