Breaking the Rules

Cassiopeia · Oct 5, 2006

PeeDee said:
One of my favorite examples of well done first-person narrative is The Icarus Hunt by Timothy Zahn (a man whom I owe a great deal anyway). He hides a major detail about the main character from you all the way through the novel until the very end, when it shows up as a twist.

The beauty of it is, it doesn't feel like a cop-out or a deus ex at all. The way it works, you realize that the main character didn't mention it because it was something assumed that he wouldn't talk about. It was great. I loved it.

My favorite first person narrative are the Amber books by Roger Zelazny. You can do a lot worse than strive to be like Zelazny. That man was incredible.

I thinkkkkkkkkkkkk I have some reading to do in my spare time.

PeeDee · Oct 5, 2006

I can build you a book list, if you like.

Cassiopeia · Oct 5, 2006

PeeDee said:
I can build you a book list, if you like.

THAT would be awesome. Just keep in mind...I am taking 16 credit hours and I am a single mom. and I run a forum and a .com site.

PeeDee · Oct 5, 2006

Casiopeia said:
THAT would be awesome. Just keep in mind...I am taking 16 credit hours and I am a single mom. and I run a forum and a .com site.

Keeping this in mind, I recommend you just read all ten books of The Chronicles of Amber and then go from there...

You can buy them in a lovely omnibus, although I do recommend buying them individually and reading them like that...but that may just be me. My eyes don't do so well with omnibus-sized text, sometimes.

Cassiopeia · Oct 5, 2006

PeeDee said:
Keeping this in mind, I recommend you just read all ten books of The Chronicles of Amber and then go from there... You can buy them in a lovely omnibus, although I do recommend buying them individually and reading them like that...but that may just be me. My eyes don't do so well with omnibus-sized text, sometimes.

I don't mean to be stupid...but then I am what I am..what the heck is omnibus-size text? The name of those books are familiar...what genre are they?

PeeDee · Oct 5, 2006

Just that when they make an omnibus of ten books or whatnot, they tend to make the text smaller to make it all fit without having to use tissue-thin pages. The problem is, glasses or no, I can't always read that comfortably. THat's all.

They're sci-fi/fantasy. I guess. Mostly, they're just Zelazny. He's not easily defined.

This edition has a great cover. I wish I owned it.

Cassiopeia · Oct 5, 2006

Thank you PeeDee...I just might stop doing what I am doing and go to Barnes and Noble tonight to get a few of them or first thing in the morning. I HATE tiny print so I won't buy them in a set.

jbal · Oct 5, 2006

janetbellinger said:
I am reading a new novel by Two time Booker award winning Peter Carey, called "Theft." It is in first person POV and begins with "I don't think..." which you'd think would automatically break the "hook me in twenty wor ds or less," rule. .

Since I've really enjoyed that thread, I've been playing "hook me in twenty words or less..." with books I'm considering buying. I gave up. It very seldom happens. Gives me an edge if I can do it of course...

Prawn · Oct 6, 2006

Gillhoughly said:
All my fav genre books by Hammett, Chandler, Dick Francis, Adam Hall, Conan Doyle, Stoker, Poe, and heck, Mickey Spillane, were in first person.

Then you must like Walter Mosley. He writes some great first person action/mystery.

JimmyB27 · Oct 6, 2006

Casiopeia said:
THAT would be awesome. Just keep in mind...I am taking 16 credit hours and I am a single mom. and I run a forum and a .com site.

Try 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks. Quite a short book, but definitely not for the faint hearted.

PeeDee · Oct 6, 2006

JimmyB27 said:
Try 'The Wasp Factory' by Iain Banks. Quite a short book, but definitely not for the faint hearted.

Damn good book, though.

Liam Jackson · Oct 6, 2006

I've heard it said time and again that first person is the easiest to write, but it's the most difficult to write well. I've written shorts in first person but the thought of writing a 400 page novel in first gives me the hives.

Maybe it's a hardwiring thing, and maybe it's an acquired taste and style. Time to dig up some Chandler novels and take another look.

maestrowork · Oct 6, 2006

1st person is very difficult to do well, and yet there are so many wonderful novels in 1st person -- many of my favorites were written in first. It would be a shame if someone comes out and says, "You should NEVER write in first!" How else would Harper Lee have written To Kill a Mockingbird?

Breaking the Rules

Cassiopeia

Otherwise Occupied

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Cassiopeia

Otherwise Occupied

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Cassiopeia

Otherwise Occupied

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Cassiopeia

Otherwise Occupied

jbal

Prawn

Writing is finite,revising infinite

JimmyB27

Hoopy frood

PeeDee

Where's my tea, please...?

Liam Jackson

Heathen Horde Elder

maestrowork

Fear the Death Ray