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    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009
     

    Hey guys. I’m writing a 1st person fantasy novel, and I really want to take a closer look at how authors have used such an intimate viewpoint to their advantage/disadvantage. So, I need a list of good [and bad!] novels written in this. If there’s multiple viewpoint characters, that’s even better. Fantasy is what I’m really looking for, but other genres will work too.

    Thanks guys. I’m sure there’s some really good books out there that can help me a lot, I just need to find them.

    • CommentAuthorSlyShy
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009
     

    The following books are my favorite first person novels:

    The Great Gatsby, Dracula, Sherlock Holmes, The Virgin Suicides, The Heart of Darkness.

    Books done poorly, well, Twilight.

    My general observation (I haven’t thought about this issue very deeply yet, so you may come to a different conclusion) is that in well done first person novels the narrator is not the main character. Consider Sherlock Holmes. The narrator is Watson, who observes the actions of Holmes. Holmes wouldn’t be such a likable character if the story were told from his perspective, I suspect, because it would magnitude the way he is full of himself by having to listen to him constantly. It’s just like Bella’s annoyingness is magnified ten fold by having to listen to her vacant thoughts.

    So my advice, since this is fantasy, is that you can have a member of your party narrate the story, but that party member had better not be the main character. Take the fellowship of the ring: I’d probably pick Pippin to narrate. Hope this helps. :-)

    •  
      CommentAuthorArtimaeus
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009 edited
     

    Bartimaeus and Dracula come immediately to mind. To Kill a Mockingbird also.

    Also if you’re into the anime/japanese stuff, I’d suggest The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (it’s a light novel, not a manga). It’s intended to be a light read, so the prose itself isn’t anything to write home about, but the narration and voice are done well and the story itself is quite clever.

    • CommentAuthorSlyShy
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009
     

    Mm, To Kill a Mocking Bird is also a good recommendation.

    I don’t actually know of any fantasy written from the first person. I dimly recall some of Tamora Pierce’s writing might have been done in first person? Pretty sure.

    •  
      CommentAuthorVirgil
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009
     

    Great Gatsby was really good, but I didn’t take to TKAM that much.

    •  
      CommentAuthorArtimaeus
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009
     

    For me it was the opposite. I could barely get through GG

    • CommentAuthorSlyShy
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009
     

    What, not interested in the lives of the spoiled upper class? :P I’m obligated to love Fitzgerald, because he’s from around here.

  1.  

    I’ve mentioned this on other threads, but Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief and I Am The Messenger are great examples of 1st person narration and unique voice.

    (About the whole ‘sidekicks narrating’ thing- in some cases, having the protag be the narrator can be advantageous. For example, in I Am The Messenger, the fact that Ed’s telling you the story only emphasizes what a loser he really is, and so drives the lesson of the book home. )

    •  
      CommentAuthorTakuGifian
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009
     

    In terms of fantasy, there’s one book that I think you really must read. I can’t remember if it is 1st person or not, but I seem to remember it being so. “The Wings of a Falcon” by Cynthia Voigt. I seem to recall it being in first person hut I don’t have a copy and there are no extracts available online anywhere. Anyway, it’s a really excellent read for writers everywhere, especially if you’re writing about overcoming hardship.

    • CommentAuthorWitrin
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009
     
    Obernewtyn by Isobelle Carmody

    The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness (Written in present tense.)

    The Seeing Stone by Kevin Crossley-Holland.


    Terrier is a first-person POV by Tamora Pierce, slightly-unbelievable diary format, though.

    Bartimaeus, Markus Zusak, and To Kill A Mockingbird, I agree with.
    •  
      CommentAuthorDiamonte
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009
     

    Thanks guys. I’ve read the Bartimaeus, TKAM, and The Book Thief, but they’re all worth another re-reading. It’s been several years since I read Bartimaeus. And I will definitely check out the others.

    •  
      CommentAuthorSMARTALIENQT
    • CommentTimeAug 25th 2009 edited
     

    Terrier is a first-person POV by Tamora Pierce, slightly-unbelievable diary format, though.

    You took mine! Darn you!

    Also, Ella Enchanted, Fairest, and Ever by Gail Carson Levine are in 1PPOV, as well as A Great and Terrible Beauty, Rebel Angels, and The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray.

    Bad examples: The Princess Diaries and Maximum Ride (Maximum Ride is OK POV-wise, but keep in mind it is a guy writing as a girl.)

    • CommentAuthorWitrin
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2009 edited
     
    "You took mine! Darn you!"

    :P

    Also, Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn (Gillian Rubenstein). Male First-person, and female deep third-person.
    • CommentAuthorliadan14
    • CommentTimeAug 26th 2009
     

    The Meaning of Night, by Michael Cox. I loved it as a first person narrative, because the first person was seriously creepy. Main character, too. Juliet Marillier’s Sevenwaters trilogy (plus one extra) is all different first person perspectives, but they tend to be very similar characters with teeny tiny Sue-ish aspirations. And I quite like the books where she does third person.
    I also quite like the Thursday Next books, by Jasper Fforde, somehow the man-writing-a-woman works there (only the plots wear thin around book 4)

  2.  

    I have nothing to add to the list Dia. Knock yourself out. ;)

  3.  

    Bad examples: The Princess Diaries

    What’s bad about them? I haven’t read them yet. I was kind of planning to read them.

  4.  

    I’ve mentioned this on other threads, but Markus Zusak’s The Book Thief and I Am The Messenger are great examples of 1st person narration and unique voice.

    (About the whole ‘sidekicks narrating’ thing- in some cases, having the protag be the narrator can be advantageous. For example, in I Am The Messenger, the fact that Ed’s telling you the story only emphasizes what a loser he really is, and so drives the lesson of the book home.
    X

    You took mine, dammit!

    But yeah. Seconded. Both are brilliant books.

    •  
      CommentAuthorNorthmark
    • CommentTimeAug 27th 2009
     

    I’m a shameless fanboy for the Dresden Files, so maybe I’m biased when I say that the series has good first-person narration.

    The Book Thief is also fantastic, read itttt.

    • CommentAuthorFenix
    • CommentTimeAug 27th 2009
     

    I’ve heard good things about the Farseer Trilogy, I haven’t red it myself, but it’s on my (fairly large)list of fantasy I plan to read sometime.

    • CommentAuthorGolcondio
    • CommentTimeAug 27th 2009
     

    The Farseer Trilogy is an excellent example of good first-person writing. Get to it NOW, Fenix!

  5.  

    Robert Louis Stevenson has some pretty good stuff, like Kidnapped and Treasure Island.

    •  
      CommentAuthorPuppet
    • CommentTimeAug 31st 2009
     

    I forgot.

    One really good first person book I read was Hope Was Here by Joan Bauer, I usually don’t like first person books, but I loved this one.

  6.  

    Great Gatsby was really good, but I didn’t take to TKAM that much.

    TKAM was really good, but I didn’t take to Great Gatsby that much.

    Fixed.

    Unwind is good at using the being in the character’s heads thing to its advantage. It’s not in first-person, but the writing style is very similar to that of a first-person novel because it’s basically the character’s perceptions of what’s happening, and you know all their thoughts. It’s also mutilple viewpoints.

    Life Expectancy is in the first-person, and I think it does a good job, though I haven’t read it in a while.

    The Time Machine is mostly in first-person because the time traveler is telling a the story to a bunch of people, and most of it is in quotes.

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest does the first-person thing very well, and it shows how the narrator doens’t have to be the main character.

    The Catcher in the Rye is in first-person. It gets inside Holden’s head really well, but it’s basically just a really long angsty-rant.

    I’ll let you know if I think of any that are more relevent.

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeSep 1st 2009
     

    One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, however, is a book that can be extremely damaging to your mental health and psychological state of mind. Read at your own risk.

    shudder

  7.  

    ^^I liked it, though I’m kind of desensitized to disturbing stuff from watching lots of movies and reading Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

    What specifically damaged your mind, Swenson?

    •  
      CommentAuthorswenson
    • CommentTimeSep 1st 2009
     

    Oh, I didn’t even read the whole thing… a friend read it and took great delight in sadistically reading me key portions. I’d have to say figuring out what an Oedipus Complex is and the rape were the most disturbing parts, though.

  8.  

    I think if you read the whole thing, it’d be less damaging than just certain portions. I don’t really remember them specifically talking about the stuff you mentioned. Are you talking about when the old man dies at night, and Bromden (the Chief) is describing what the aides did to him?

  9.  

    The City and the City by China Miéville. a great book. its fantasy crime drama!