A small, probably unfair, book rant… When I start a fantasy book and discover it’s written in first person, I groan a little. It takes a unique story or very good author to pull it off. (Thinking of Robin Hobb.) Even great books would be a little better in third person, with multiple perspectives. 📚
@manton This is super interesting! I think we're going to do an episode on this for our podcast. We have some additional folks making this point (and other counter points as well) that we might leverage.
@sarcassem Cool, hope it makes for a good discussion. To be honest I feel a little bit bad posting it… I try to get something positive out of everything I read, but the character perspective irks me sometimes.
@manton Nah, don't feel bad. I think it's absolutely valid. As a reader, we have to engage with the content we enjoy. If something the author is doing, no matter how intentional, pulls us out of that world even for a moment, it's a challenge.
@manton Yes, there are good reasons so few great novels are written in 1st person. Jane Austen developed free indirect discourse, giving the 3rd person narrator access to characters’ internal reflections. This brilliant innovation gave 3rd person narration incredible power & versatility
@manton I find with most authors, especially with an audiobook, that for first person narrative I will get two to three hours in, and then have to restart, before it really clicks for me.