Oh, Tuesday was a great great day for news. Most of it too secret to share. Sorry, guys. Hopefully there will be info soon. I don’t know if my couch springs can take all the bouncing around I’ve been doing. (Not sure if that came out right.)
Here’s something I can share. It’s the cover for the new, hardcover essay anthology on Judy Blume, spearheaded by the fabulous Jennifer O’Connell. I’m one of the contributors.
Ooh, pretty.
Also, I received a lovely review from Trashionistas on Secret Society Girl. My favorite part:
I really loved this book. Diana Peterfreund has a chatty, witty, intelligent writing style and a brilliant way with cliffhanger chapter endings. I don’t think I finished a single chapter without at least reading a couple of pages of the following one.
If you haven’t picked up your copy, I know for a fact they’re still on shelves out there. What a lovely Halloween present they might make. Or, Christmas present. Heck, go wild. (There. My pimpage for the day.)
And it’s in FPPOV, which, of course, is the topic at hand. Wonderful discussion in the comments section of yesterday’s post. I’m loving it. As some of you said, I also don’t tend to read much of a book before I plunk down my money for it. I tend to buy on cover/blurb/author. I never buy on POV. In fact, I don’t think I really notice POV, any more than I would notice any other tool an author uses to construct a story. It’s just part of the story, the way long or short paragraphs are, or certain sensory details, or story progression through dialogue vs. narrative. I’m going to get into this in more detail tomorrow, but in putting together my TT on great FPPOV stories, I had to actually go back to some books and go, “Wait, this is in first person, isn’t it?”
So where is FPPOV most common in current popular fiction? From my admittedly quick research, it’s chick lit, urban fantasy, and cozy mysteries. I was about to make a comment about women’s fiction (in the global sense, not in the current “genre title” sense) but then SB reminded me of hardboiled detective yarns, which are also often in FPPOV, and are a more natural forefather to the FPPOV cozy. (Of course, novels in general, for better or worse, have always been considered a medium for women.) Still, I feel ill-qualified to make a statement about the place of FPPOV in the past, say, 5-8 years vs. earlier than that, because 5 years ago, I wasn’t doing much reading of fiction that had been written in the past, say, 75 years. I was in college.
And I think in college, I quite possibly read as much fiction in FPPOV as in any other POV. (Heck, I read Clarissa, which is about ten normal books, and Frankenstein in three — count ‘em — classes.) I also took a class called Fiction and the Forms of Narrative, where we discussed the topic in exhaustive detail, and which was taught by a team of profs with some of the most amazing names I’ve ever seen. But despite having taken and enjoyed and actually performed well in this class, I don’t think I thought much about the POV of the characters. Instead, I thought about how this POV was used to tell the story. We read Sherlock Holmes. We watched Rashomon. We read Frankenstein (my second time; my third would be in a class about the Sublime, the Fantastic, and the Uncanny). We read Maus and Daisy Miller and… hmm, I just realized that most of these stories are in first person — even if they are first person films or graphic novels. I’ll have to dig up a reading list and see what all I actually read.
Which I suppose makes my point that I read a lot of FPPOV. Therefore, I never felt much of a jarring sensation when I switched to popular fiction and found a ton of FPPOV to keep me company. Romance in FPPOV? Sure, why not?
The same for my writing. I look back at my juvenilia, and I’ve got an equal number of stories in FPPOV as in TPPOV. I was talking to Marley today about choosing POV and she said, “It’s just how it comes to me.” That was usually the same for me. I look over my past stories. The vignettes, and the things which we’d now be calling chick lit or women’s fiction are all in first person. The action stories are all in multiple third. This pattern rarely varies.
Of the novels I’ve finished, only two, Secret Society Girl and Under the Rose, are in FPPOV. When I was writing category romances, I wrote them in alternating third person, because they were category romances, and that was the thing. When I sat down to write SSG, it was in the style of a confessional, hence, first person. Who ever heard of a third person confession! So of course, given that my publication credits are all in FPPOV, what are the chances that I’d not only advocate the method, but go so far as to wonder if the switch had something to do with whatever made SSG work?
Hmmmm… more on that topic come Friday.
PS: Obligatory mention of Veronica Mars, which, of course, is mostly in FPPOV (voiceovers, anyone? And it’s very rare to have a scene that V is NOT in…) In white text for spoilage, as per usual…
Yuck. I dislike Pizz. Who is with me on this one? He’s annoying, and boring. And is Francis Capra ill or something? He’s not looking his usual drop dead sexxxxxy self. And at least Logan wasn’t boooooooorrring in this episode. Sure, it needed them to be on the outs, but still… (You’d think V. would have learned her lesson from teh chick dating the Scottish billionaire, but no…) I told SB I hope they break up. I prefer them in beautiful agony better. It makes the getting back together oh so sweet, as evinced by the final scene of tonight’s ep. Also, who played the footballer’s girlfriend? I spent half the episode thinking it was Paige Moss (you know, Buffy’s Veruca) with her hair dyed black. Anyone? Anyone? And where are Wallace and Mac? And shaved-head-girl? Why do they make these people “series regulars” if they never show them? Bleh. Okay, queing up the DVD to “Weapons of Class Destruction.” Oooh, ahhh… Okay, feel better now. No, wait… I have another query: “Claire was raped?” Um, how? She was the head of “Lilith House.” Doesn’t quite seem like the usual M.O. they’ve been pushing this season of girls getting drunk at a party would be working for in this case. She was so aware of what was happening on campus. I’m trying to figure out what happened… Which isn’t to say that’s the only way that girls get raped, it just seems to be how it’s happening in this serial rapist case. So now I’m all confused. Yep, all done for real now.
October 18th, 2006 at 8:56 am
“I don’t think I really notice POV, any more than I would notice any other tool an author uses to construct a story. It’s just part of the story…”
I agree. It’s part of the way writing travels down the arm into the pen – or onto the keyboard, or whatever.
Your mention of “Everything I Needed to Know…” has all the local Greenwich librarians agog. They cannot locate any publishing info/date, but are all eager to order it and read it. Can you provide any details?
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October 18th, 2006 at 9:00 am
“Most of it too secret to share.”
Pfthhh!
“I don’t know if my couch springs can take all the bouncing around I’ve been doing. (Not sure if that came out right.)”
Hehehe.
“It’s part of the way writing travels down the arm into the pen -or onto the keyboard, or whatever.”
Oh, I so agree with Bill.
My story came to me in FPPOV. It’s as simple as that.
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October 18th, 2006 at 9:02 am
POV is something that I never ever think about when reading a book. I find this topic highly fascinating since I’m not a writer and so don’t consciously consider POV when I’m reading. I’m amazed that there are those who say they don’t like reading books written in a certain POV… that seems so alien to me. I really just don’t even notice. I just want a book with characters that aren’t flat and a plot that makes sense, no matter whose POV it’s written.
Thanks for such an interesting topic, Diana! And you’re such a dang tease with all your secret happiness!
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October 18th, 2006 at 9:27 am
EVERYTHING I NEED TO KNOW… is being released by Pocket Books at the end of May, 2007.
There are 24 non-fiction essays about
how Judy’s books affecting us growing up and, ultimately, the women we
became.
Authors include Meg Cabot, Megan McCafferty, Alison Pace, Laura
Caldwell, Stacey Ballis, Lynda Curnyn, Cara Lockwood, Shanna Swendson,
Berta Platas, Laura Ruby, Elise Juska, Julie Kenner, Erica Orloff,
Megan Crane, Beth Kendrick, Jennifer Coburn, Melissa Senate, Laura
Zeises, Kayla Perrin, Kristin Harmel, Kyra Davis, Stephanie Lessing, Jennifer O’Connell and me.
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October 18th, 2006 at 9:32 am
I didn’t like Piz this episode either. He’s was rather cute in the first episode of the season b/c he seemed so sad when he found out Veronica had a boyfriend. But I *HATE* his name. Every time I hear it, I think “piss.” Nice. I hope we find out he has a real name soon, and they start using it.
This episode Piz was way too dorky and pathetic. And there didn’t seem to be any Veronica longing.
I am annoyed that they decided not to show us how Veronica and Logan’s relationship developed (again) over the summer. Each season we have them just get together, only to end with them in the earliest stages of their relationship. We don’t get the emotional pay-off of seeing them in their fledgling romance. So, now I am just irritated with them having this settled romance.
It would be nice, this time, to have Veronica screw things up and not Logan. Have *her* feel bad about her actions and be devastated when Logan breaks up with *her.* Maybe that is where they are headed with Veronica being constantly concerned he is cheating on her or whatever.
And I didn’t believe her when she said that SHE is the one with big trust issues. I mean, her dad is her rock. Yeah, her mom was a crappy mom, but she has Mac and Wallace who have been solid friends. Logan has much more reason to doubt HER and not to trust HER with his screwed up family life.
As for the absence of Mac, I think Veronica is going to go through what most freshmen go through…they lose contact with their high school buddies. It happens to most everyone. You go to college, you promise to stay friends forever, and then you go your separate ways. I just think Mac is growing up and learning to make new friends. She was kind of a geeky outsider in high school, and now she is making new connections.
Veronica is the one that seems to want to cling to her past…and maybe she will start growing away from her high school buddies, too.
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October 18th, 2006 at 10:06 am
Veronica is the one that seems to want to cling to her past…and maybe she will start growing away from her high school buddies, too.
I’d buy that, except Mac has been added to the cast as a series regular, and Wallace has always been. I feel like series regulars should… I don’t know. Be on the show?
As for Logan, I think that WOULD be cool, if she was the one to screw up for a change. The lack of “development” doesn’t bother me, since they’re kind of in “reunion” stage, and their romantic arc has been pretty well explained over the past two seasons. Everything that happened between them last year, even while she was dating Duncan… and the big moment during Alterna-Prom… and I loved that final scene last season when you saw that they were back together and he had her pushed up against the wall in the Mars office…. ::siggggghhh:: It’s like, “I love you because you saved me from the mass murderer.” ohhhhh, so sweet.
As for V.’s trust issues, I definitely see them. Yeah, he’s got major issues too (I spent most of second season wondering why Keith was being an asshole and not trying to figure out some way to put Logan in therapy. Emancipation for someone that screwed up? Yeah, right) but at the same time, Veronica is also a product of a broken home, with a TON of cheating (her MOTHER?) and as she says in the Pilot, “I’m never getting married” because all she sees all the time is cheating spouses because of her dad’s work.
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October 18th, 2006 at 11:42 am
Great cover for the essay book! I have several people I want to buy a copy for.
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October 18th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
I actually really liked Piz the first episode and then this episode… I thought he was annoying. What with the network changes I think Piz is the character new viewers were supposed to latch onto. But now he’s just obnoxious.
Veronica Mars is not a high budget show and I think that is really the main reason we didn’t see Mac or Wallace. They can only pay so many people for so many episodes. And remember, Wallace disappeared for a HUGE chunk last season (and man did I miss him).
The Logan/Veronica thing only upsets me because I am STILL angry about the Duncan/Veronica thing last season (what happened to Duncan’s mental issues? Why does she trust him? Why did she treat Duncan like a king and yet never trusts Logan?). But I won’t even get into that rant.
And yeah, not sure what’s up with Francis Capra looking so… I always prefer him when he has a mustach anyway.
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October 18th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
You have secrets to share, and yet I have no email *pout*
Awesome review of SSG! Congrats!
I remember reading a first person story for pleasure when I was in…oh about 2nd grade. Which, knowing how old I am, was a very very long long time ago. I never think about POV when choosing a book to read. I don’t make my buying decisions based on POV. I base it on whether the story sounds good to me.
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October 18th, 2006 at 5:09 pm
Congratulations on whatever it is, you big tease!
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October 18th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
I love the Blume book cover and can’t wait to pick up a copy.
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June 10th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
Hey in case you never found out, I read on the TWOP boards that Francis Capra had to take medicine for his leg and it had all sorts of negative side effects which explains why he wasn’t looking so hot in season 3 VMars.
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