This month’s topic: What is Your Favorite POV (point of view) to Write? Why?
My favorite POV is a first-person narrative. It works best when writing YA/MG fiction or a RomCom novella.
Why?
Because it builds a rapport with readers by sharing a personal story directly with them. Bringing the reader close like this makes a story—and storyteller—creditable. I find this especially so when writing a historical novel.
Excerpt from Tanayia: Whisper upon the Water, First Peoples Series.
Prologue
1868
The Governor of New Mexico decreed that all Indian children over six be educated in the ways of the white man.
Indian Commissioner, Thomas Morgan, said, “It is cheaper to educate the Indians than to kill them.”
1880, Apacheria, Season of Ripened Berries
Isolated bands of colored clay on white limestone remain where the sagebrush is stripped from Mother Earth by sudden storms and surface waters. Desolate. Bleak. A land made of barren rocks and twisted paths that reach out into silence.
A world of hunger and hardship. This is my world. I am Tanayia. I was born thirteen winters ago. We call ourselves N’dee, The People. The white man calls us Apache.
Chapter One
Only a soft light from the east lit the dirt path I soon would walk. I rose from my blanket and dressed in my favorite buckskins and moccasins. After combing my hair, I stepped from my wickiup and walked toward the center of camp. Women from neighboring Apache bands, dressed in their best clothing, squatted around their campfires, patting tortillas and fry bread. My relations traveled great distances to share my coming-of-age ceremony. I am proud and happy. I smile and call out my morning greeting, ya'atche."
"Many blessings, my child," several replied as I passed.
The sharp scent of crisp dough and the bitter scent of acorn stew floated in the cool air. My stomach grumbled in hunger. Large feasts, such as the one my people prepared today, are no longer common. Grandmother, Ligai Tlenaai- White Moon, however, remembers the long-ago days when her band feasted at each change of season. She told me of times when food was plentiful.....
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| Sunrise |
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| Preparing for feast |
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| Wickiup |
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| Geronimo |
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| Native American Boarding School |
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| Life before San Carlos Indian Reservation |
The link will go live on August 23, 2023, at 8:00 AM Eastern Time.
I find it interesting that so many of our Round Robin Bloggers are like me, first person feels more - well personal - like YOU the reader is that person, experiencing everything they are and yet, it seems the majority of novels are in third person. Great minds truly do think alike.
ReplyDeleteI loved your excerpt, Connie, and the photos. First person does seem to be fashionable in YA and romcoms. I haven't read many historical novels in the first person. I don't know why that's the trend. I agree with Skye that it seems more 'personal'. Your excerpt really drew me in.
ReplyDeleteI agree 1st person is more personal. I wrote my memoir in 1st person for that reason and the memoir is all about me! LOL..Great photos. Came here via your Substack note.
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