Miskatonic
Auror
Are we talking about each chapter having a different first person POV based on selecting from a group of characters? Or first person POV changing between characters within the chapter itself?
Are we talking about each chapter having a different first person POV based on selecting from a group of characters? Or first person POV changing between characters within the chapter itself?
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 think the OP means each chapter is a potentially different 1st person POV where it takes a while to figure out whose head your in as the reader.Are we talking about each chapter having a different first person POV based on selecting from a group of characters? Or first person POV changing between characters within the chapter itself?
At risk of thread derailment, I understand that personal preference is what it is, but there are so many good books out there written in 1st Person. I get the desire to avoid confusion in multiple 1st Person, and that can likely be attributed to an author's skill, but to shut oneself off from a POV style seems myopic.I dislike first person in general, I find it very hard to empathise with the MC or feel any reverence for them. Any hint of arrogance or even confidence and I quickly dislike the character. I am too critical of their thoughts and just cannot put myself in their position. I also feel it reads like a diary which means for me it isn't 'happening now' it feels more like it's being told in hindsight which loses tension.
Robin Hobb's latest Farseer trilogy has two first-person narrators, although she only switches views between chapters. Sometimes multiple chapters for one before the other. It works fine, no confusion whatsoever about whose head we are in at the beginning of each new section for a character. Reference points, signals of the change in character are well handled and organic. The trilogy has other problems, mostly in pacing and in Fitz's unending whining, but the dual first-person POV approach is not one of them.
to shut oneself off from a POV style seems myopic.
Here's just a few great novels written in 1st Person POV:
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Gatsby
The Sun Also Rises
Lolita
The Color Purple
Fight Club
All Quiet on the Western Front
Huckleberry Finn
Breakfast at Tiffany's
The Catcher in the Rye
The Name of the Wind
The Handmaid's Tale
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A Clockwork Orange
And Dracula stinks.. slowest book I've ever read (listened to in this case, with an all-star cast and I still played it at 1.25 speed; I had to finish it just for the sake of finishing an iconic book)
Thems fighting words.
Duel accepted. I shall choose our weapons in the spirit of Alfred Hitchcock.
For you, I have chosen a fine, English long sword.
For myself, I have a chosen a hand grenade.
Let the best writer win.
Wehawken, dawn, weapons drawn.
I remain your obedient servant B [dot] All.
Can we go for like noon? I'm not as much of a morning person as Burr. Or would I be Hamilton, since you issued the challenge?... hmm... that doesn't bode well
Not sure what kind of relationship you have with this particular author but I'd make sure to let her know your struggles and issue with the structure of her novel. It would be an important detail for her to know that the way she has structured the perspectives is confusing.The author keeps it to one person's POV per chapter, she just doesn't give the reader any clue who that character is in the opening. It takes a few lines (or, in the case of the last chapter I read, a few paragraphs) before you know who it is, and it is beyond maddening. I have to post a review of it, though, so I have to finish it. Fortunately it's only 111 pages long and I'm on page 60 or so, but dear gods, why in the name of Shakespeare's quill would anyone think this format was a good idea?
*sigh fine. But you're bringing lunch and I'll bring the drinks. Cant fight on an empty stomach.
Lunch it is. Raw anchovies for you, and a cheese-steak for me. Make sure your drinks are at least 70 proof. I won't have any but I think you should.
You reject my slightly poisoned drinks!!! I call for another challenge!
Wouldn't have worked anyway, even if you switched glasses while my back was turned because I spent the last few years building up an immunity to iocane powder. No classic blunders for me.
Not sure what kind of relationship you have with this particular author but I'd make sure to let her know your struggles and issue with the structure of her novel. It would be an important detail for her to know that the way she has structured the perspectives is confusing.
You win this round. Now time to go find the descendant of Mina Harker!
I think the OP means each chapter is a potentially different 1st person POV where it takes a while to figure out whose head your in as the reader.
At risk of thread derailment, I understand that personal preference is what it is, but there are so many good books out there written in 1st Person. I get the desire to avoid confusion in multiple 1st Person, and that can likely be attributed to an author's skill, but to shut oneself off from a POV style seems myopic.
Here's just a few great novels written in 1st Person POV:
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Great Gatsby
The Sun Also Rises
Lolita
The Color Purple
Fight Club
All Quiet on the Western Front
Huckleberry Finn
Breakfast at Tiffany's
The Catcher in the Rye
The Name of the Wind
The Handmaid's Tale
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
A Clockwork Orange