First person

At some point in the recent past, I realized that I was reading more novels told in first person. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this, and I’m not sure if this reflects a trend in the modern speculative* novel, it struck me as worth noting.

(* I use this as an umbrella term for several different genres, ie horror, fantasy, and sci-fi)

First, let me start off with the numbers, according to the books on my shelf. Appropriately, I counted 13 novels that I have read “recently.” Of those 13, 8 of them are written in first person. Without digging into 13 copyright pages, I’m reasonably certain that those 8 novels written in first person were written in the last ten years. Of the 5 novels that were written in third person, only 1 of them were written by a writer who has started their career in the last ten years. So maybe it is indicative of a trend.

I said that there’s nothing inherently wrong with first person. However, I will say that I believe that the first person perspective can be restrictive for a story told over the course of novel.

One of the things that I’ve always enjoyed about novels is the opportunity to experience the story from several different perspectives for a fuller understanding of the events of the story. This can be an excellent vehicle for the tension of a horror novel, when the reader knows something that the character(s) doesn’t(don’t), so we hold our breath for the reveal.

As I’ve been talking about this idea/feeling for the last few months, I’ve been looking at my own writing. I’ve written three novels, one of which has been published, Clean Freak. I’ve wracked my brain trying to answer the question: would these stories have worked from the first person? After a lot of deliberation, I have to say that I don’t think so. Or at least, limiting the perspective to my single main character would have drastically changed the story, probably into something unrecognizable. Now, you can make the argument that that’s fine; stories can be told in different ways and that’s what makes them different from each other, even when they follow larger archetypes of Story.

But that also brings me to another point. And while everything written on this site is a matter of personal opinion, I feel that I should state it again before making the following point: I am hard-pressed to name a single character that is interesting enough to sustain a novel-length story by themselves. And I say that about my own characters.

Clarence is probably the most interesting character I’ve ever written, with as understandable and as realistic a portrayal of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder as I was able to write. He is a character that is haunted by the source of his OCD as well as the events of the story (trying to not give too much away, if you haven’t read it and want to). All of that being said, I still don’t think that he is interesting enough to sustain 300+ pages by himself, especially when you juxtapose him against all the other characters in the novel who give him depth and context.

And that’s not to say that I’m a genius or the best writer ever. And I don’t want to give the impression that I’m a curmudgeon when it comes to first person. The book that I have enjoyed the most in recent memory was Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage, which is told in alternating first person perspectives. Reading the story, it is very clear how limiting the perspectives to those of Suzette and Hannah, and then tell the story from those first person perspectives, shapes the story and gives it its life. However, the story would be incomplete without both, which I think makes my point.

So if it’s a trend, I have to wonder if it’s a favorable one. Although, the books keep getting published because, obviously, someone is reading them. So maybe it is just a matter of opinion, and maybe I am just a curmudgeon.