I wouldn't be caught dead in first-person by Faye Snowden

Which narrator do you prefer to write? To read? First or third? Which is more powerful? More trustworthy? Interesting? Easier to write? More fun to write? 

This week’s question reminds me of a burrito supreme with rice, beans, carnitas, sour cream, guacamole and fajita vegetables wrapped in a supersized flour tortilla and smothered in red sauce. There is no way you can eat all that in one sitting, so I’m going to slim it down some.

Which narrator do I prefer to write?

When I first decided to write a novel, I did what any self-respecting Capricorn project manager would do. I bought books on how to write a novel. One of my favorites was The Weekend Novelist by Robert J. Ray. Soon others joined my bookshelf including The Weekend Novelist Writes a Mystery by the same author, and later How to Write a Damn Good Novel by James N. Frey. My first novel, which shall rename nameless because of reasons, was borne from the advice in these books. Due to my unabashed addiction to books on writing craft, these first purchases soon had friends including Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird, and more recently Writing Tools: 55 Essential Strategies for Every Writer by Roy Peter Clark (a new favorite).

Somewhere in the thousands of pages of advice I learned that one of the first things required in crafting a novel is to determine the point of view of your narrator. That broke my brain. For a moment I thought about going back to poetry because casting about for the exact and original and unexpected phrase to describe an ordinary sunset would be easier than trying to determine the POV. 

In those beginning days, part of me wanted to try first person, and I did for a while. But at the time I was already dealing with imposter syndrome. I was terrified that I would reveal a vulnerability that I wasn’t ready to share with the world, and someone would ask me in a sly voice, “When you say I in your book, you really mean you, don’t you?” Maybe it’s because the first ever short story I published was written in the first-person using experiences from my own life. After reading the story, a co-worker said to me, “Life must have been tough for you. Looks like you are doing okay now.”  Can you imagine? That’s like running into your boss in your neighborhood supermarket sans make-up wearing dirty sweat pants, and a t-shirt that says, “I’m a goddam delight.” Since then, I shun first person POV the same way I do 2-hour policy update meetings at work. (For the record, I own no such t-shirt. Trust me.)

Which is most powerful to write?

I do like first person because it helps you find the voices of your characters and their view of the world you’ve created for them. I like to think of voice in literature as clues to the narrator’s personality. You know something about them by the way they talk, the words they use, how long or short their sentences are, the rhythm of their speech.

Here are two examples of voice from short stories I have written.

From One Bullet. One Vote.

Willie Mae sat at the head of the Sunday dinner table wrapped in skirts and shawls even in the boiling heat of the dining room. So old and so cold even in summer, Willie Mae thought, as if a body’s getting ready for the grave.

 From Althea

For the past few weeks, he’d been a regular at a cocktail bar on Durant near the university. He liked the fancy bartender in his black vest and bow tie, enjoyed the way he kept calling him “sir.” The bartender had introduced himself several times—Lester or Sylvester or some shit—but Quint couldn’t remember. He just knew that the guy was easy to talk to and kept his opinions to himself.

 How would you describe these two characters from these passages, or the kind of world they inhabit?

If a scene or text is stilted, I’ll switch to the first person until I have a good rhythm going and the words appear alive. Then I rewrite the entire thing in close or omniscient third depending on the piece. Thank goodness for other choices!

Which POV is best for the story you want to tell?

I’ve learned over the years that the POV decision is partly based on what feels right to you as a writer. It’s instinctual. But it’s also a craft decision, a technical tool that you can use to impact your readers. The best advice I’ve seen on this subject, including how to make the POV decision, comes from Professor Jennifer Cognard-Black in her course Great American Short Stories: A Guide for Writers and Readers. With numerous examples and practical exercises on everything from why the short story matters to imagery, she also defines and discusses POV and how to use it as a tool. For example, she urges writers to consider, “…both who is telling the story and why the story may be best told from that perspective.”  I learned through her course the other issue I had with the first person POV was the challenge to dramatize the story, to show not tell. Cognard-Black says this is a common pitfall of the first-person narrative, while the third-person POV is easier to dramatize because it is “…always an active perspective...” I’m not going to say anything more about the course, because if you are interested in writing, especially short fiction, you should check it out.

I still haven’t gotten around to writing in first-person but I no longer find it daunting. Maybe one day I’ll start the story in first person and forget to rewrite it in third. We shall see. Until then, Bon Appétit.

P.S. Think about the POV of half this blog post, especially the second half, and guess why it alludes to my almost-conquered phobia of writing in first-person. If you come close to the answer, I will send you a free e-book of “A Killing Breath.” Just post your answer in the comments.