Increasingly romance books are written in first person perspective while previously the genre was dominated by third-person. Will this influence more mainstream books to shift to first person? Do you intentionally read books specifically from a first person perspective?
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thedybbuk on
I do not see this expanding beyond romance. This seems to stem very much from generations that grew up reading romantic fanfiction, where they got to pretend they are the main character finding romance. The draw of that is much weaker outside of the romance genre. There have always been some authors writing in first person, but I do not see that taking over other types of fiction.
C_Werner on
I went through a stage where I hated first-person perspective books. Now that I’m older I accept it more, but it does seem to work better for books that are more interpersonal rather than plot driven. There are some books that I think are absolutely held back by being written in first person, and some that I think are better for it.
twoflowertourist on
So for horny reasons, got it
Tarotdragoon on
I hope not, I despise first person fiction.
penpalhopeful on
Mounting evidence has lead me to the dire realization that people only read fucking romance books.
Saintbaba on
I will say i stumbled on a Reddit post a little while back who was asking for help because she had never read *anything* besides first-person perspective and she found third-person so unusual, unpleasant, and distracting that she could not make any headway in the book she was trying to read. I believe the books she’d listed as the kinds of things she liked to read were less romance than YA, so maybe this is a thing.
furutam on
“Sometimes when I’m seeking out a new book, I want it to be as dumbed down as possible. These fantasy books often have all of this world-building. Sometimes I’m not in the mood to think. I just want to get lost in a story.”
How depressing. Self-aware anti-intellectualization is still anti-intellectualization.
Mind_Pirate42 on
Personally I need first person narration to be centered on the actual form of the story or it annoys the fuck out of me. Like how am I reading it? Where is this narrative derived from? Journal entry, memoir or testimonial? All good, makes sense. Just in someone’s head with no reason? Fucking hate it.
Cyxxon on
This will work great for any novel that is told from multiple viewpoints. So no, I don’t expect this to really “reshape literary culture” outside of romance and some other niches.
11 Comments
Increasingly romance books are written in first person perspective while previously the genre was dominated by third-person. Will this influence more mainstream books to shift to first person? Do you intentionally read books specifically from a first person perspective?
[deleted]
I do not see this expanding beyond romance. This seems to stem very much from generations that grew up reading romantic fanfiction, where they got to pretend they are the main character finding romance. The draw of that is much weaker outside of the romance genre. There have always been some authors writing in first person, but I do not see that taking over other types of fiction.
I went through a stage where I hated first-person perspective books. Now that I’m older I accept it more, but it does seem to work better for books that are more interpersonal rather than plot driven. There are some books that I think are absolutely held back by being written in first person, and some that I think are better for it.
So for horny reasons, got it
I hope not, I despise first person fiction.
Mounting evidence has lead me to the dire realization that people only read fucking romance books.
I will say i stumbled on a Reddit post a little while back who was asking for help because she had never read *anything* besides first-person perspective and she found third-person so unusual, unpleasant, and distracting that she could not make any headway in the book she was trying to read. I believe the books she’d listed as the kinds of things she liked to read were less romance than YA, so maybe this is a thing.
“Sometimes when I’m seeking out a new book, I want it to be as dumbed down as possible. These fantasy books often have all of this world-building. Sometimes I’m not in the mood to think. I just want to get lost in a story.”
How depressing. Self-aware anti-intellectualization is still anti-intellectualization.
Personally I need first person narration to be centered on the actual form of the story or it annoys the fuck out of me. Like how am I reading it? Where is this narrative derived from? Journal entry, memoir or testimonial? All good, makes sense. Just in someone’s head with no reason? Fucking hate it.
This will work great for any novel that is told from multiple viewpoints. So no, I don’t expect this to really “reshape literary culture” outside of romance and some other niches.