We've talked about writing from different points of view here multiple times. Hasn't every writing blog? Some bluster about never ever doing the "head-hopping" routine: a sure sign of poor writing. Multiple examples (Vince Flynn among them) could be given as contrary-to-that-"rule" examples. Others insist a separation of some sort is a must to telegraph to readers that, hey, there's more than one person speaking/thinking here. (Duh?) But anyway, I'd like to talk about first person POV for just a few minutes.
There is enormous liberty in writing from the first person POV. Perhaps that's why so many authors choose it for their writing endeavors. When I was much younger and on into adult reading, I hated this POV. I can't tell you why, but I did. I think it was because I didn't want to hear the story from one person's perspective. I liked the idea of "observing" all the characters and circumstances of the plot from an objective viewpoint. But, truly, if I continued to detest first person in today's novel writing, there wouldn't be much of a selection to read. It seems most everybody writes in first person anymore.
I tried my hand at it in Breath of Life, but it wasn't exclusively written in first person. I'm giving it another whirl in my police procedural, and again it isn't entirely written in first person but predominantly. And that brings me to my point. There is enormous liberty in writing from the first person POV. The simplicity of being able to tell the story in what basically becomes dialogue allows for grammatical freedom, depending upon the sophistication of your storyteller. Slang, attitude, the emphasis on voice, all make for major contributors to just who the character is relating the events to the reader. It's like being involved in someone else's conversation. Some attest to the intimacy of reading first person, but that totally depends on who's telling the tale. If the character wants to keep the reader at arm's length, he/she can invoke different methods to remain an acquaintance, a stranger, or only a potential friend.
Do you write in first person? Do you like to read novels written in first person? What's your favorite POV? If you're like me, you enjoy all kinds of POVs, even head-hopping if done well. Break the rules: just do it well.
Lord, you made us all. Help us to be the ones you want us to be in all things. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.