First-person narrative allows readers to become the characters as it encourages readers to directly experience the thoughts and emotions of the chain characters. This is why first-person present tense is such a popular point of view in YA fiction. It offers a sense of immediacy because it seems to present an authentic voice for the characters.
While I’m not entirely sold on the tenses used in YA fiction, I do have to say the books I’ve read this year were overwhelmingly written in the first-person perspective, with a few dual-point-of-view books thrown in. I started keeping track of these trends at the beginning of this year. So far I noted that the tenses have been pretty evenly split between the past and present tenses, whereas third-person narrative took the clear minority compared to first-person narrative.
Knowing that first-person narrative is more or less the de facto perspective in YA fiction, I started wondering how readers truly relate to these books. Does reading books with the I as the subject really help readers relate better to the books they read?
Personally, I can see why that apparently is the case. Reading books set in the first-person perspective basically encourages me to look at the world through the eyes of particular characters. When I’m completely engrossed in a book, I see myself in the stories. I’d say it’s a bit like acting because I become those characters, even though I still am me, and not them. The only difference between reading and acting is that when I read, I barely need to move. It’s all in my mind.
Yet there are occasions where reading books written in a first-person narrative feels more like those characters are talking to me. Those instances are more like those times when my friends tell me about things that happened to them. I can empathise and imagine the things that they went through but these things don’t become real to me.
What then causes that divide between being a character and listening to a character? I suppose age plays a large role. If a character is below 16, I almost always hear the character speaking in my mind. When characters are older and more mature, I’m more inclined to take on their thoughts as my own when I read. It also matters if I’m familiar enough with the subject matter. If a book is about space travel, I’m less likely to imagine myself as the character. If a book is about sports, I find it easy to see the scenes I’m reading about flashing right before my own eyes.
I think that reader perception of first-person narrative is very much dependent on circumstances. Teenagers reading YA fiction are in high school themselves, so imagining stories through YA protagonists isn’t difficult. High schools are their immediate realities. Adults on the other hand, already made it through high school, are in college, or graduated, and are most likely working. Their circumstances are different, so their relationship with characters in YA fiction also shifts. At least that’s what my experiences, coupled with the reasons that tend to be cited as to why first-person narratives are so popular in YA fiction, would have me believe.
How do you relate to stories written in first-person narrative? Do you feel that you become the characters in stories or do you feel like somebody is sharing their experiences with you? And are you a teenager or an adult reading YA fiction?
Discussion posts are some of my favourite posts to read. New ideas get shared that way, or old ideas are revisited and given a new spin. And of course, I get to be my opinionated self as I hoist my views upon others, while pretending to be objective. Or maybe not. I do welcome alternate views and I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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First person is my favourite point of view.
I have this weird thing where I am half imagining myself as a character and half simply seeing their world and their experiences through their eyes (if that makes sense).
I like first person perspective the most because it is the more personal of the POVs. I like how the characters’ emotions are so evident, and how every little detail is given attention to. I like being fully immersed in the story they are telling.
However, I am more likely to feel as if I am being told a story if the first person is in present tense. It’s like they are giving me an account of everything that happened in the time frame they are telling me about.
I am an adult (even though I was a teen last year haha :P) reading YA and I can still relate because my teen years are still so recent. It’ll be interesting to see how that changes as I grow older and my circumstances change, as well!
Yes, that makes sense. I don’t manage to do that for every book but when I do immerse myself like that, it’s half the fun of a reading a book. Total escape from reality, and complete immersion into the life of another :D
Present tense to me for first-person narrative to me feels like an instruction of what I should be doing in the moment. Haha. But most of the time I don’t really pay attention to the tense if I’m too focussed on the story.
I really like this post! I think it’s cool that you started keeping track of the different narrative styles in the books you read. I couldn’t say for sure if I read more first-person or third-person books. Now I’m curious! I definitely find myself being able to relate to characters in both circumstances…for me, I think, it usually depends a lot more on how well the author can write using that particular narrative vs. the narrative style itself.
And I agree with you on how sometimes the first person can sometimes sound a lot more like the character is talking TO you specifically, although I wouldn’t say that I ever fully immerse myself into the character enough to think of them as myself — it’s usually just like they either sound like they’re telling a story, or not. And I think I usually prefer it if they’re not, but like I said, depending on the author’s writing ability I could probably like and relate to anything if it was done well!
Great post :D
Thank you, Miranda :) I started doing that because I kept reading articles about how first-person narratives are the hallmark of YA books. So untrue. There are plenty of third-person narratives; just that first-person narratives are heavily favoured. And I agree, the choice of narrative doesn’t matter as much as the execution of it.
I’m an adult. I prefer third person, but I don’t think it’s a strong preference in YA. I do remember once picking up a (non-YA) mystery written in first person. I couldn’t make it through the first chapter solely because it was so jarring to read a mystery not written in third person. I don’t ever really become the character. I always read it as a story being told to me, no matter whether it’s written in first or third person.
I think every perspective has its merits but yeah, I can see why it might’ve been so jarring for you to read a mystery novel set in first person. I imagine the narrators thoughts could’ve hampered the plot and slowed down the pace, which probably isn’t the most desirable in mystery. And as long as you enjoy the stories you read, I don’t think it really matters if you get into the characters’ heads or not :)