Guy
Inkling
Because if it is, I'm scared (warning - slight rant ahead).
I'm reading and reviewing books for bookvetter in hopes of getting feedback from them on my writing. The book I'm reading now uses multiple first person POV. This is the fourth book I'm reading for them and it's the second book in a row that has that POV, and I freaking hate it. After all the griping I've heard about head hopping with third person omniscient, how can anybody think multiple first person is a good idea? With every chapter opening I have no idea whose head I'm in and it drives me absolutely crazy. It's hard to imagine a better way to jerk your reader out of the story then to put them in a character's head but give them no idea which character it is. I can figure it out after a few lines, but for those opening lines instead of enjoying the story I'm going, "Who the hell is this?" The one I'm reading now opens with a female character's first person POV. Okay, fine. Then the next chapter opens with first person POV and I naturally think it's the same character, but then someone addresses this character as Henry. And I'm thinking, "Henry? Wasn't this a girl?" I flip back a few pages and, yep, no question, it's a girl. A girl named Henry? Henrietta? No, further on it's made clear this is a new character and he's a guy. Okay... I give a sigh and forge on. Next chapter and we're back to female first person POV... but then it's a different female from the first one, thus evoking a high decibel, Gene Wilder-like cry of frustration. And I'm already frustrated because the book is averaging about one grammatical error per page, which is low grade torture for a grammar nazi.
The fact that it's happened with two consecutive books worries me. So is this some horrible trend I was unaware of, or was it just a horrible coincidence?
I'm reading and reviewing books for bookvetter in hopes of getting feedback from them on my writing. The book I'm reading now uses multiple first person POV. This is the fourth book I'm reading for them and it's the second book in a row that has that POV, and I freaking hate it. After all the griping I've heard about head hopping with third person omniscient, how can anybody think multiple first person is a good idea? With every chapter opening I have no idea whose head I'm in and it drives me absolutely crazy. It's hard to imagine a better way to jerk your reader out of the story then to put them in a character's head but give them no idea which character it is. I can figure it out after a few lines, but for those opening lines instead of enjoying the story I'm going, "Who the hell is this?" The one I'm reading now opens with a female character's first person POV. Okay, fine. Then the next chapter opens with first person POV and I naturally think it's the same character, but then someone addresses this character as Henry. And I'm thinking, "Henry? Wasn't this a girl?" I flip back a few pages and, yep, no question, it's a girl. A girl named Henry? Henrietta? No, further on it's made clear this is a new character and he's a guy. Okay... I give a sigh and forge on. Next chapter and we're back to female first person POV... but then it's a different female from the first one, thus evoking a high decibel, Gene Wilder-like cry of frustration. And I'm already frustrated because the book is averaging about one grammatical error per page, which is low grade torture for a grammar nazi.
The fact that it's happened with two consecutive books worries me. So is this some horrible trend I was unaware of, or was it just a horrible coincidence?
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