I Am A Biased Reader
I do not like present tense.
There. I said it.
I’d also admit to disliking second person, but since hardly anyone tries to write in second person, it’s like saying you dislike drowning. It kind of goes without saying.
Back to present tense.
My bias is that I generally prefer close third person past tense point of view.
When I come across first person present tense, the writing REALLY has to wow me to keep me reading. Something about it keeps jarring me out of the story … and to my dismay, the number of recent books I’m finding which utilize present tense (almost always first person present tense) is growing.
I’ve even hit a book that has first person present tense … and multiple points of view.
/face, apply palm
Some Examples
Apologies in advance for the examples that I haven’t taken time to hone into GREAT examples.
Third person distant, past tense:
Tami threw the book against the wall, where it crowned a stack of similarly abused books in a growing monument to her delicate reader’s palate.
Third person close, past tense:
Tami threw the book against the wall, frustration blossoming into dark satisfaction when its spine thocked into the wall before crowning her untidy pile of hardcover betrayers.
Third person close, present tense:
Tami throws the book against the wall, eyes glinting with satisfaction as the spine snaps and it falls to crown the untidy pile of hardcover betrayers.
First person close (not going to bother with second person or first person distant), present tense:
I throw the book against the wall, frustration blossoming into dark satisfaction when its spine thocks into the wall before falling to crown my untidy pile of hardcover betrayers.
So What’s Wrong With That?
Nothing, unless you’re like me and aren’t overly fond of first person to begin with.
To read “I” did this and “I” thought that can be very jarring when those emotions are not in line with the REAL “I”. That is to say, myself.
Diary-style books rarely work for me (and yet I love Terrier) and the first person point of view typically jars me out of reading multiple times no matter how well it’s done. I’m not imagining a character acting out what I’m reading, I’m imagining that I am doing these things.
I’m getting better about first person, but the present tense almost never works for me.
It’s supposed to lend a sense of immediacy and remove the sense of “these things already happened, and thus things will turn out okay” from the reader.
All it does for ME is force me to constantly stumble over sentences, like stones hidden in tall grass.
The Book
An example : I’m currently reading The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (she’s most commonly known for the Shiver trilogy).
I love the premise for The Scorpio Races (man-eating ocean horses raced every year on a tiny island). I am enjoying the author’s voice, and I am REVELING in an author who seems to genuinely love horses.
But I am finding it less engrossing because of the multiple points of view, each in first person, and each in present tense. Each chapter is crowned by the PoV character’s name … but I didn’t know that at first, and shifted from a boy to a girl without any real understanding of what had just happened.
I’m going to keep going because man-eating ocean horses – HELLO – but there’s a giant part of me that wishes this book was written in third person past.
Other Points of View
That being said, Steve Hall made several comments that he wished I’d written Love’s Champion (the Dragon short story for the next Saucy Chronicle short story collection) in first person.
So I know it’s all very subjective.
Anyone else have a reader bias? Even if you know it’s not popular … some preference (or dislike) when it comes to storytelling that can make or break a book for you?
33 Comments
I don’t mind first person, although it is not my preference. Changing point of view with first person? That would be difficult.
I thought present tense would bother me, but after a few pages of the Hunger Games I didn’t notice anymore.
Still, I’m most comfortable with third-person close, past tense. This is the tense I use for all of my writing so far. (actually the readers of my stuff may beg to differ, saying that my tenses slip and slide all over the place! ahh, more work to be done…)
I will say that really good authors CAN pull off an immersive present tense — it’s just a lot more difficult.
I’m trying to remember if the Dresden files were first person past or present. I’m leaning toward past though.
If it IS present tense though, fie to you, Ms. Priest!
I think that I’m most comfortable writing in the first person.
Even though the points you brought up about how the character might be feeling something the reader isn’t/can’t feel is a good one, at the same time…
I dunno. I love being told stories. And most of the stories that I’m told in my day to day life are told to me in the first person past so I kind of cling to that tense form a bit hehe.
I am … becoming less futzy about the first person. I still find it less confusing, particularly when the pov character is vastly different from me.
Simply being another gender isn’t quite enough … but another gender constantly thinking about body parts I don’t have, or being racist, or even just not being a dog person (to find a smaller example) often jars me out of the story. That same story, told with “he thought” instead of “I thought” often raises no eyebrows.
I’m another hater of first person.
Normally it’s a game-stopper for me. If I see first person before I’ve bought something, I put the book down. First person always makes me feel like I’m being lectured — and that makes me very contrary.
Book: I feel THIS!
Me: No I don’t.
Book: I do THIS!
Me: I’m not doing anything like that. Shaddup.
I made it through The Hunger Games trilogy and I did like it. The PoV distinctly diminished my enjoyment of the book, however. I think it could have been an 8/10; as it was, I couldn’t give it more than a 5/10. If I hadn’t seen the movie first I never would have picked the book up.
To me, first person feels like a gimmick, an attempt to artificially increase the reader’s immersion in the story. “This is all happening to ME”. It’s like those movies you see all the time now, where the film pretends to be “found footage” or someone filming on their cell phone. Again, that gimmick annoys the hell out of me. I know it’s supposed to immerse me, but it jars my suspension of disbelief. The film-maker wants me to think, “Oooh, this could really be happening!” What I end up thinking is, “What moron would be filming Godzilla with their phone instead of running? C’mon Godzy, eat the twit before they have kids!”
Now, having sputtered, I have to admit that in theory there’s nothing wrong with first person. All writing is a gimmick in a sense, and a writer’s goal IS to immerse their reader. If crappy filming or first person PoV does that for someone, it’s good.
But it’s definitely not for me.
Ugh. I hate the jiggle cam. hatehatehate. Even when it’s not “personal camcorder” style, like in the second Bourne movie.
HATEHATEHATE
When the Hunger Games movie started out with the jiggle cam, I almost puked. Luckily it stopped or I would not have liked the movie.
I find this all very fascinating, to be honest.
You and Tami both seem to read first person POV’s as…like….
“I’m supposed to BE this character,” which leads to a complete disconnect when the character thinks/does something that you, as the reader, would NOT think or do.
I read first person perspective more as…like, someone telling me a story of what happened?
So to me, I find it no different from third person close perspective in all effective ways, just that because it’s first person, there’s more access to the character’s feelings.
Now to me…to get the same feeling that you guys are apparently having, it’d have to be second person narrative.
Second person feels a lot more like someone lecturing me/telling me what to feel and what to do:
“You walk down the corridor, split up from your friends even though you’ve seen enough scary movies to know this is a bad idea. The psycho killer jumps out from a closet at you and you just run and scream instead of utilizing those kickboxing classes and beating his face into the wall.”
Just for example.
(And for the record, I’d probably run and scream >.>)
*nod* That makes sense. I think it’s the “I ran to the door” which is the sort of thing I WOULD think about myself, “and opened it to find a box full of disgusting puppies” which is something I’d be unlikely to think.
Because it’s all happening in my head, it’s more difficult to distinguish.
Second person needs to be put in a rocket ship and shot into the sun.
But…but….my pinfic…can it stay wif us? =(
I actually read that as first person narrated, where the “you” was the narrator talking in general about people.
This is getting really interesting. If I’d read that as “you, reader, this is about you” I wouldn’t have liked it — in the sense of “you go to the door and see a disgusting box of puppies”
It was a little mix of both.
It works as a ‘you’ referring to general population because of its short length.
But like…if I’d kept going on it? Or if I’d used a segment like that as an introduction to each chapter or story break, you can see how the use of second person would have turned out and flavored the story in the end.
One thing I DO love is reading a discussion between Tami and Perry, it’s very enlightening! (Jenny too in this case – I enjoyed her comment as well)
I honestly never even thought about it before, but I’m the Perry camp that when I read first person I feel like someone is telling me a story, not like it’s supposed to be me.
Which is super interesting (and I’m glad Jenny piped up, otherwise I’d feel like a crazy person) because I never ever feel like it’s someone telling me a story — and that would totally make it acceptable to me.
Like Jacqueline Carey’s books?
I think if I felt the same way you did about first person narratives, there would have been no way that I would have fallen in love with them.
Cause I doubt I’d ever be able to imagine myself enjoying being whipped or performing…other…..”acts” upon other men without experiencing some sort of severe disconnect XD.
But because I automatically read them more as, “okay, she’s telling me a story about what happened to HER, not what’s happening to me,” it became one of my favorite series.
I have to admit, I’d never considered first person as “someone telling me a story.” The thought just never even crossed my mind!
The next time I hit a first person story I’m going to try to force myself to think of it that way. I’m curious if it will change my reaction!
It is interesting to see two different ways of interpreting the point of view, and in most cases, one method never even considered the other. Or even realized it existed.
I agree with Jenny, “the thought [of interpreting it different] just never even crossed my mind!”
I wonder if it’s a perception one can practice?
(Now I have to work! Stop being so darned interesting!)
Tami’s post has opened up a completely unintended can of XL worms, methinks… ^^
To that, I say this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRzhflMkGLg&feature=player_detailpage#t=21s
O.
M.
F.
G.
MASSIVE flashback moment triggered.
Brb, I’m 10 years old for the rest of today.
/cackle
I owned the Wee Sing Silly Songs songbook. I know SO many ridiculous songs by heart. <3
Okay, first off: When I’m away and generally sans Internet (as I was for an uncomfortably long period the past 23 days), you are supposed to email me your blog posts. :p (Catching up is hard!)
Second: First person, past tense: No problem. First person present tense: I can’t do that. I don’t like to read it, and I could NEVER write that way. So just to be clear: I mean first person past for Love’s Champion. :)
(All other things being equal, though, I am with Tami: I much, much, MUCH prefer third person, past tense. And don’t EVEN start with third person PRESENT! OMG NOOOOOOOOO!)
Egads, never in a million years did I think you meant present tense. *laugh*
*laugh* Why would I spam your email when I know you don’t have internet to check it?!
Well, I did have a bit of time, here and there . . . and tavenmoore.com is a PRIORITY, dammit! <3
(Do you have a subscribe-via-email button? . . . checking . . . )
I do! Up in the top right corner. =]
YES. I’m okay with first person. I do prefer 3rd, but as long as it’s good writing, no problem there.
Present tense? GET IT OFF ME!!
This is the reason why I avoided The Hunger Games for so long. I kept seeing it in bookstores and wanting to read it, and people would recommend it to me, but every time I opened it and read that fist page I would put it back down.
Eventually I did get into it, and was bothered less by the tense, but every time I picked it up after taking a break I had to struggle to get back into the story for a page or two.
If the writing had been worse, or the story less immersive, I never would have made it through the whole book.
I listened to the Hunger Games audio book, which was less jarring, but also more difficult as I couldn’t skim past the bits I normally skim. I’m glad I listened to it, but it in no way made me want to read the follow-ups.
I can’t do audiobooks. I did really like the movie though, almost more so than the book. Part of the reason that’s true is because of how uncomfortable present tense is for me to read.
(I read the 2nd book, but not the third, and I will never read it. That has almost nothing to do with the tense, though)
I read some synopses to make sure I made the correct decision. =]
Me too. And asked for advice from a very, very good friend with similar reading tastes to mine. She intimated that reading it would probably end with me throwing the book against a wall. So I will abstain :)
*laugh* “Think of the books, dear Faith!”
*grin*
I can’t help myself:
While I was not a big fan of the second or third books, they did not prompt me to throw them against the wall. What is it that would drive you to libercide?