Wednesday, September 21, 2011

A turn for the weird and a change in POV

Sometimes I wish I could just like, pour a thought in there and have everyone understand it. Like the memory wisp things in Harry Potter. That would be cool. But I can't do that, so I'll have to find a place to start.

I'll start with my opinion of first person.

Now this opinion of mine will be very contradictory and people will disagree with me and possibly tell me I'm stupid. But I almost hate first person, which is funny because most of my favorite books are written in first person. I find first person to be a cop out (remember here that my favorite books are written in first person) and I can give you a specific reason as to why I almost hate first person. And this opinion has gotten me the "you shouldn't let a book decide how you feel about something" (or something like that) comments before. But my reason for hating first person is.... the Twilight "Saga" (it's not a saga, dammit.) I read all four of them, went to the midnight release of the fourth book, stole (read: asked for and was given) balloons from Barnes 'n' Nobel when they lied about having a midnight release party just so that Borders, who was having a party, looked cooler, and I've also been to the midnight release of all the movies, just to troll. I read the first book twice, started the second book a second time, got to the part (SPOILER ALERT) where Bella goes towards the guys who may have been her rapists just so she can have a schizophrenic attack and see Edward. I got so damn pissed that I threw the book down and never touched it again.

Thus my hate for first person began. After that, for about six months, I would not read a first person novel. Then I started reading them again, because, as I mentioned, some of my favorite books are in first person. But I'm still a little... skeptical on first person novels. Go figure.

But that's not the point of this post! The point of this post is this:

I have to write a story for my creative writing class. I had NO idea what to write about so I went to tumblr and searched for writing prompts. One that I found was The Unicorn Apocalypse
Source
I scrolled on past that one, because it just sounded silly. But I had come up with an opening sentence or two for it. "A group of unicorns is called a blessing. At least that's what I'd heard." Now, that first part is a fun fact from a game called Camping. I was at my bff's house the other day and we played this with her little cousin and that was one of the fun facts in this nature based game.

But as I said, I kept scrolling, found a few I liked but my mind kept wandering back to this unicorn apocalypse, coming up with ideas and sentences and... Well... I've decided that this is the prompt I'm using for my story.

Now... Did you notice something odd in that opening?

Did you see that little 'I' in there?

Why yes, I, the person who does not like first person and finds it a cheap shot, am writing a story in first person.

I haven't written a story in first person since... Since... Um... I have no clue, actually. I think I was a little kid when I did it though, though all the stories I recall and have come across from my younger days were all in third person. Lord knows.

In short, I wanted to share this weird prompt I'm using and how I have somehow come to write a story in first person.

Also, my dog is acting weird as hell and has been for the last thirty minutes. Maybe there's an earthquake building. Or he's just weird.

What do you think of the different POVs? What's your favorite? Do you dislike one of the POVs, like I've taken to?


Laters!

3 comments:

  1. I really don't like first person, either, because it takes away so much suspense (particularly in past tense. It's like... welp. Now we know the speaker gets out alive), and it's invaded so many books! Plus you're just kind of stuck with that character for the whole book. And what if that character is anything like Bella "I'm more emo than Harry Potter" Swan? :P

    Third person is definitely a favorite of mine, though I like second person, too. That one's fun.

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  2. Oh gosh, your post had me rolling! At first I was all "Grrr" about your opinion of 1st person, then when you got to Twilight I went, "Quite understandable, dear lady. Do go on."

    I was indignant at first because my Moongate series is written in 1st. My favorite POV is 3rd person, but I've read many books in which 1st person is written very well. I started writing The Moongate in 3rd person and it wasn't taking off. Then, just to see, I switched to 1st and it practically wrote itself. Something about that story demanded to be written in my MC's voice.

    My current WIP is a different story, and 3rd person comes to it naturally.

    This writing prompt (unicorn apocalypse sounds awesome, BTW) sounds like a great exercise in getting past your hatred of 1st person. I don't think it's the POV that's good or bad, but the writing itself.

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  3. Ha! I actually like 1st and 3rd person close. What I don't like (can't write and usually can't read) is an omniscent POV. If the POV is too distant, or snarky, it better be done EXTREMELY well, or else the writer loses me. So, obvs, I like to be in my character's heads. Maybe that's what's happened to you here...the unicorns got in your head! :)

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