More Me Me Me - Writing in First Person

Jenny's comment yesterday has pointed out one of the big advantages of using first person - the unreliable narrator. As human beings we live a lot of our lives on trust which is why con men can be so successful. We just don't expect people to make up stuff about themselves. If I told you I have two children, or was brought up in London you'd believe me. Even people who put more of a shine on things that is usual - Jeffrey Archer springs to mind - stick fairly closely to the truth. So when a first person narrator tells you X, you don't automatically assume it's a lie. The unreliable narrator may be deliberately unreliable, or they may have been deceiving themselves as well as the reader. Part of the joy of reading the unreliable narrator is the slow dawning that all is not as it seems. Jenny mentioned Robert Browning's My Last Duchess; my example would be Zoe Heller's Notes on a Scandal.

Other first person advantages. I mentioned yesterday that if the reader doesn't like the character then the writer is stuffed, but the opposite is also true: if the reader likes the character then the writer has it easy. It's very easy to identify with a first person narrator if you like them, probably one of the reasons so many teenage/young adult books have a first person narrator. You've got a hot line into someone's brain, and they're thinking just the same stuff you do! Reader identification is a big plus.

Voice is another advantage. I can remember reading the first page of Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson. It was before I started writing myself and didn't know about technical words like voice, but I could hear the first person narrator's voice zing off the page and knew I was reading something different and exciting. Your character may not be likeable, but if they have a great voice, people will read on.

A first person narrator is telling you, the reader, a story. This has the disadvantage that you know that they must have survived to tell the tale (otherwise they wouldn't be telling you) so if the denouement hinges on whether they survived going off the cliff or not, you've got problems. But because they're telling the tale it means they can explain stuff to the reader. I love the Mary Stewart trilogy about Merlin - The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills and The Last Enchantment - which are all first person. Merlin tells us things that would be hard to convey quickly using other methods - the background to the Saxon invasions, the complicated kingdoms of Wales for example.

I've got a How To book which says that the other big advantage of first person is humour. I've had a quick look at three writers who I find funny - Terry Pratchett, Tom Sharpe and Stephen Fry - and they're all writing in third. I think humour is tied into voice: some people can say anything and it's hilarious. I mean, just thinking about the titles of Louise Rennison's books and I'm smiling - Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging, Knocked Out by my Nunga-Nungas, Startled by his Furry Shorts - but it's the voice that's funny.

So there we go, some advantages, some disadvantages. I think I might try writing something in first later on this year and see what happens, but I'll also remember the big big disadvantage that I forgot yesterday: people generally prefer reading third person. It's a very general rule and there are lots of exceptions, but...perhaps I'll stick to third.

Who lives near Birmingham? On 23rd June 6.30 - 8.30 Lucy Diamond, Milly Johnson, Veronica Henry and me will be talking about writing at Birmingham Library. Come and meet us!

Me, Me, Me - Writing in First Person

In class on Friday a by-product of the fiendish exercise I'd set was the number of people who ended up writing in a point of view they didn't normally use. I never write in the first person because when I started writing I didn't want to write about myself and writing in first person blurred the lines and I found it hard to maintain the distance between the character and myself. And having had success with third person, I've just stuck with it. (At some point I must experiment with first person, but not when I've got a novel to finish writing.)

First person has some real advantages - and disadvantages. The big advantage is immediacy. As a reader you really feel you know this character, you know how they think, how they feel, their ups and downs. The big disadvantage is immediacy. If the reader doesn't like the character or finds them irritating, annoying, ditsy, too stupid to live, whatever, then you're stuffed.

A character like Sherlock Holmes would be intolerable in the first person, always condescending to ordinary mortals for not being as brilliant as himself. No wonder the stories are written from the first person view point of Dr Watson, who is amazed at how clever Holmes is. The reader is placed somewhere between them for intelligence, brighter than Watson, but not keeping up with Holmes.

Character aside, you'd also have problems with plot with a first person Holmes - or Poirot, or Miss Marple. Think of the number of times these characters work out who the killer is, but hold the information back from their companions (and the readers) before revealing all at the incredible denouement. Often is the answer, if not every time. If we were in their heads we'd have access to that information. If the writer hides the information, they risk the wrath of the reader - which is what happened when Christie published The Murder of Roger Ackroyd and Poirot's Last Case.

The final major disadvantage of first person is that of reported action which, regular readers of my blog will know, sucks. The first person character has to be present at all the major events of the story. This can lead to awkward manoeuvring to get them there or set up the dreaded reported action scene. The other solution is to start with a statement such as:

"I wasn't there, but Freddie filled me in with such detail I could imagine every minute of it. He'd been fooling around with his old jalopy when Marigold turned up.

'Hey Freddie - take me for a ride?'

'Sure,' Freddie said, revving up the engine, eyes on Marigold's legs as she slipped into the passenger seat. etc"

Hmm. Only to be used if you absolutely have to...

Advantages of first person tomorrow, when I've had more time to think of them.

Who lives near Birmingham? On 23rd June 6.30 - 8.30 Lucy Diamond, Milly Johnson, Veronica Henry and me will be talking about writing at Birmingham Library. Come and meet us!