There was an interesting post up on RTB the other day. Jennifer Estep discussing first & third POV and why so few all out love first person stories.

Me, I just like to get inside everybody’s head.  Maybe it’s because I’m nosy.  Even if it doesn’t involve me and even if I don’t really care about the subject, the person, the argument, I want to know what people are talking about, thinking about, arguing about.

Very nosy.

But with first person, I can only get inside the main character’s head.  Well, unless she’s some kind of psychic and she knows what the others are thinking and feeling and still, I doubt it’s the same.

Yet there are some good first person books.  I loved Anita Blake 1-10.  I love Stephanie Plum.  I’ve got a couple of Shomi books that I really want to read, but I’m waiting to get past the initial knee jerk reaction… man, it’s first person…  It’s not that I dislike it.  I just can’t get into it as easily.

I can get into first person, though.  My fave series…ever…the Stardoc books by SL Viehl are first person.   She’s not just good at first person, she’s brilliant.  Nobody, not even the early books of Anita, can pull me in the way SL Viehl can, and once upon a time, I was a serious LKH junkie.

So it can definitely be done, and when it’s done well, it’s sheer perfection.

I’ve got an idea or two that would work well…sort of … in first person, but I dunno if I’m ready for that particular challenge yet.

Comments or thoughts on first person?