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From: Norma Jean Sawicki <nsawicki_at_nyc.rr.com>
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:48:32 -0500
When I started out in children's book publishing in the late sixties, reviewers were quick to criticize a first person novel in which the narrator, through speech and insight, was much older and much more mature, and wiser than a real kid of the narrator's age could possibly be. Writers took great care not to go over the top, and if they did, many editors would question the language as well as the perception(s), etc. Unfortunately, that sensibility fell by the wayside in recent decades although it still exists among those reviewing first person novels with child/teenage narrators that are published for adults.
The number of novels in which the narrator sounds like Holden Caulfield is extraordinary so much so that in teaching, I sometimes distributed the first chapter ( without the name of the novels/ writers) from five different novels and asked students how many writers wrote those five novels. Most of the answers were wrong which created terrific discussions.
For many writers, especially if one has a good ear, a first person novel is much easier to write than a novel in third person which requires more technical skill. Many say kids prefer first person novels to those told in third person which I say depends on the kid but even if it were true, there is a difference between a real child/ teenage narrator and an adult posing as a kid in age only.
Wish the mindset of the earlier decades would return.....Norma Jean
Received on Sat 30 Jan 2010 12:48:32 AM CST
Date: Sat, 30 Jan 2010 00:48:32 -0500
When I started out in children's book publishing in the late sixties, reviewers were quick to criticize a first person novel in which the narrator, through speech and insight, was much older and much more mature, and wiser than a real kid of the narrator's age could possibly be. Writers took great care not to go over the top, and if they did, many editors would question the language as well as the perception(s), etc. Unfortunately, that sensibility fell by the wayside in recent decades although it still exists among those reviewing first person novels with child/teenage narrators that are published for adults.
The number of novels in which the narrator sounds like Holden Caulfield is extraordinary so much so that in teaching, I sometimes distributed the first chapter ( without the name of the novels/ writers) from five different novels and asked students how many writers wrote those five novels. Most of the answers were wrong which created terrific discussions.
For many writers, especially if one has a good ear, a first person novel is much easier to write than a novel in third person which requires more technical skill. Many say kids prefer first person novels to those told in third person which I say depends on the kid but even if it were true, there is a difference between a real child/ teenage narrator and an adult posing as a kid in age only.
Wish the mindset of the earlier decades would return.....Norma Jean
Received on Sat 30 Jan 2010 12:48:32 AM CST
