It’s April again and that means it’s time for the A to Z challenge and this year, my theme for the A to Z Challenge is characters and narrators.
F is for First-Person Narrators
First person narrators used to annoy me…and sometimes they still do. I suppose a successful first-person narrator depends on a few things – the genre, story, and writer’s style.
My favorite genre – the romance genre – generally doesn’t lend itself easily to first-person narrators, it’s all about the sex scene – it usually gets awkward when a first-person narrator is getting it on (although I’ve read a few erotica stories that have somehow made it work, maybe erotica just loves to break the rules).
Strangely enough, the first-person pieces that I’ve enjoyed reading are either deeply emotional or silly. My personal favorites are the Stephanie Plum series (because they first few are hilarious) and the”Poisonwood Bible”(we hear first person perspective from multiple characters and it’s awesome).
ProlixMe 
I don’t mind first person narrators as a general rule – but I do think they work best in somewhat silly stories or humorous stories.
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Yeah, when it’s a silly story, then it’s almost like a friend telling you over dinner about their recent adventures and that’s why it works so well. 🙂
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I never thought about why it works – but that makes perfect sense!
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This is so funny, because I wrote my first romance novel in first person and the only first person books I ever liked were the Stephanie Plums. I never enjoyed reading first-person romances! Also, I think the sex scenes I wrote were awkward, but that might have been my main character’s fault. She was awkward. 🙂 Nice to meet you and looking forward to more A to Z posts!
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lol. I think when we re-read a lot of our self written sex scenes, we can’t help but think of them as awkward. But an awkward heroine makes it so much more amusing. 🙂 thanks for stopping by. 🙂
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A lot of YA books are in first person. I like books in both. Stephanie Plum books were some of my favs.
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Ruh Roh! I attempt every don’t and wander past all the do’s unaware. But, how would we know what sucks if somebody didn’t demonstrate it clearly. I’ll look at it as doing a public service and secretly look for a new hobby. I wonder if there are a lot of rules for stone skipping? 🙂
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Hey, don’t stop doing something just because I say so. Rules are made to be broken. 😉
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I will pursue rock skipping like there is no tomorrow 🙂 Actually it’s very helpful to read different educated opinions to help shape one’s approach to developing good writing technique. Breaking rules and yanking trip wires is another hobby of mine. 🙂
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Hehehehe. Mine too. Most “how to” books on writing usually annoy me more than the help me…with the exception of King’s “On Writing.” You should check it out, if you haven’t.
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I actually don’t mind first-person narration…as long as its properly executed. As someone who’s attempted it, the allure is that it seems easier to write and you can put yourself inside your character’s, like a writer’s version of Method Acting. The problem? You still have to write effectively while not making it a caricature of the narrator. Oh the problems. My three favorite examples: Catcher in the Rye, Cat’s Eye (Maragaret Atwood), and American Psycho (Bret Easton Ellis).
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I haven’t read any of those (sad, I know). But you’re right, you’d think it would be easy to write in the first person, but it’s not. You still have to write well and be in your character’s mindset. so tricky!
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I don’t particularly care for them. 🙂
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Yeah, they’re really difficult to master, despite the fact that it would seem to be the most natural way to tell a story (especially a personal one)
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