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On writing.
Apr. 30th, 2009 12:02 pmI don't like stories told from first person PoV, period. Off the top of my head I can name three that I remember liking (Bridget Jones' Diary, Night Watch, I, Jedi). BJD is self-explanatory, it's a journal, it works. NW and I, Jedi though I liked, because the former was really good (it's sort of supernatural police novel, with a battle between light and dark in the background), the concept, the mood. The Star Wars novel was SW that that was enough at the time. XD
The reason I don't like reading stories from a first person point of view, is that they feel wrong. There is a certain degree of emoting I expect from a novel and this point of view removes me from the emotion. The dialogue is one thing, of course - the dialogue is there to communicate one character with another, but the narrative is something completely different. The narrative I expect to communicate with me, on a level that is not just verbal, but mostly emotional, and being told how "I am" feeling fails to convey the emotion.
Case in point: I don't feel happy. I experience a wide array of emotion and sensation that range from sensory to cerebral. An accurate description of "happy" would be along the lines of [shiny water][dancing][wind blowing in my hair][fragrant, moving air][weightless]. Give or take, depending on the cause of happiness and the weather and the music on my iPod and so on. Having it reduced to "I felt like I was flying on the wind" cheapens the sensation and takes away its power. Now, if it was in the third person limited, then there is no problem. I accept the limitation, I take the guideline and go with it, supplying the rest of the wholesome picture myself. But with the "I" in the picture I feel removed. I feel blocked, as if the author was leaving me no space to supply my own happiness or dread, or what have you.
This post is sponsored by Twilight.
Fireflies and Silk update:
The reason I don't like reading stories from a first person point of view, is that they feel wrong. There is a certain degree of emoting I expect from a novel and this point of view removes me from the emotion. The dialogue is one thing, of course - the dialogue is there to communicate one character with another, but the narrative is something completely different. The narrative I expect to communicate with me, on a level that is not just verbal, but mostly emotional, and being told how "I am" feeling fails to convey the emotion.
Case in point: I don't feel happy. I experience a wide array of emotion and sensation that range from sensory to cerebral. An accurate description of "happy" would be along the lines of [shiny water][dancing][wind blowing in my hair][fragrant, moving air][weightless]. Give or take, depending on the cause of happiness and the weather and the music on my iPod and so on. Having it reduced to "I felt like I was flying on the wind" cheapens the sensation and takes away its power. Now, if it was in the third person limited, then there is no problem. I accept the limitation, I take the guideline and go with it, supplying the rest of the wholesome picture myself. But with the "I" in the picture I feel removed. I feel blocked, as if the author was leaving me no space to supply my own happiness or dread, or what have you.
This post is sponsored by Twilight.
Fireflies and Silk update:
10,672 / 50,000 - 21% done! |
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