WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.140 I usually hate first -person writing, but Andrew 00:00:03.140 --> 00:00:05.900 Rose, How to Defeat a Demon King, and Ten Easy 00:00:05.900 --> 00:00:08.400 Steps is one of my favorite books, and it's written 00:00:08.400 --> 00:00:11.000 entirely in first -person. How does that happen? 00:00:12.220 --> 00:00:14.939 Anyway, figuring out why that works actually 00:00:14.939 --> 00:00:17.120 helped me understand something about first -person 00:00:17.120 --> 00:00:21.179 narration that I hadn't realized before. So for 00:00:21.179 --> 00:00:23.820 a little bit more context, I recently read another 00:00:23.820 --> 00:00:26.730 fantasy book in first -person. It had a decent 00:00:26.730 --> 00:00:28.589 premise, but the narration dragged it down for 00:00:28.589 --> 00:00:30.210 me big time. And I thought, yeah, this is why 00:00:30.210 --> 00:00:34.729 I don't like first person. It's awful. It has 00:00:34.729 --> 00:00:37.210 this kind of first person writing that I usually 00:00:37.210 --> 00:00:40.329 bounce off of. And as I thought about it more 00:00:40.329 --> 00:00:43.170 and more, it made sense to me why. I previously 00:00:43.170 --> 00:00:46.609 had the firm stance that I prefer third person. 00:00:46.649 --> 00:00:48.649 It's superior. You need third person limited 00:00:48.649 --> 00:00:53.090 and or I don't know. Do we need third -person 00:00:53.090 --> 00:00:54.490 omniscient? I don't really know, but it's not 00:00:54.490 --> 00:00:56.170 really something I'm interested in listening 00:00:56.170 --> 00:01:00.850 to. But listening to this Andrew Rowe book, this 00:01:00.850 --> 00:01:03.670 Demon King book, made me rethink my stance on 00:01:03.670 --> 00:01:06.489 first -person because it's a great first -person 00:01:06.489 --> 00:01:11.030 book. And what I discovered is it turns out that 00:01:11.030 --> 00:01:13.790 not all first -person narration works the same 00:01:13.790 --> 00:01:19.829 way. While preparing this review, I realized 00:01:19.829 --> 00:01:22.650 that there seem to be two broad styles of first 00:01:22.650 --> 00:01:26.010 -person storytelling. One is what I would call 00:01:26.010 --> 00:01:28.849 confessional first -person. The other is adventure 00:01:28.849 --> 00:01:31.969 narration, for lack of a better term. The confession 00:01:31.969 --> 00:01:34.290 style tries to put you inside the character's 00:01:34.290 --> 00:01:36.489 head constantly. There's lots of internal thoughts 00:01:36.489 --> 00:01:39.650 and feelings, not just emotions, but physical 00:01:39.650 --> 00:01:49.359 sensations as well, which is weird. This is the 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:54.040 kind that usually repels me, and I don't get 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:57.340 the appeal of it, and it's not for me. Adventure 00:01:57.340 --> 00:02:00.700 -ish narration, on the other hand, is someone 00:02:00.700 --> 00:02:02.959 recounting events of an adventure. It feels like 00:02:02.959 --> 00:02:04.980 a storyteller describing what happened. They 00:02:04.980 --> 00:02:07.480 just happen to be part of the story. And it's 00:02:07.480 --> 00:02:09.280 closer to someone telling you a story at a tavern 00:02:09.280 --> 00:02:12.240 or around a fire or on a trip or whatever. And 00:02:12.240 --> 00:02:15.520 that style of storytelling is something I'm neutral 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:18.979 to. And I even enjoy it. And actually, I love 00:02:18.979 --> 00:02:22.300 the bomb books, the Wizard of Oz books. In the 00:02:22.300 --> 00:02:25.479 first few books, you meet characters. And when 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:27.960 you meet them and they join the party, essentially, 00:02:28.139 --> 00:02:32.469 they will go into a. until they will tell a little 00:02:32.469 --> 00:02:34.330 bit about themselves. And I don't remember if 00:02:34.330 --> 00:02:35.750 it's I was doing this and then this happened. 00:02:35.830 --> 00:02:37.610 I kind of think it is. So the book switches from 00:02:37.610 --> 00:02:40.689 third person to first person as one of the characters, 00:02:40.849 --> 00:02:44.409 the Tin Man, for example, is telling you about 00:02:44.409 --> 00:02:46.270 what happened to him. And then it switches back 00:02:46.270 --> 00:02:49.210 to third person. And that's the kind of context 00:02:49.210 --> 00:02:50.889 in which it makes sense, even in a third person 00:02:50.889 --> 00:02:53.009 book, for there to be first person perspective. 00:02:53.990 --> 00:02:56.389 That's a little bit of a tangent, sorry. This 00:02:56.389 --> 00:03:00.280 book, How to Defeat a Demon, King in 10 Easy 00:03:00.280 --> 00:03:05.259 Steps feels less like you're trapped inside the 00:03:05.259 --> 00:03:07.560 character's head and more like she, Yui Shaw, 00:03:07.740 --> 00:03:11.759 is telling you the story of an adventure. Which 00:03:11.759 --> 00:03:14.520 is great. It's a great contrast. So it's like 00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:16.460 I said, it's like she's at a tavern telling you 00:03:16.460 --> 00:03:18.740 the story. Honestly, the way it ends, there's 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:24.379 almost like a epilogue where this story could 00:03:24.379 --> 00:03:26.099 be her telling you, hey, I've been adventuring. 00:03:26.120 --> 00:03:28.139 This is all the stuff that happened to me. a 00:03:28.139 --> 00:03:30.699 while ago. And it's been a while since then. 00:03:30.780 --> 00:03:33.039 And I'm ready to go on the next leg of my journey. 00:03:33.120 --> 00:03:34.719 And I just felt like getting all off my chest 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:37.219 and having a drink with somebody before I went 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:41.800 on and took on this new challenge, which is interesting. 00:03:41.919 --> 00:03:44.099 And it's funny because it kind of, one could 00:03:44.099 --> 00:03:47.259 say it removes the tension because if you're 00:03:47.259 --> 00:03:49.919 in the moment or if the first person, if the 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:51.259 person's telling you the story, you know, they 00:03:51.259 --> 00:03:53.719 survived. Unless there's a twist and they're 00:03:53.719 --> 00:03:55.500 dead and they're a ghost and telling you to another 00:03:55.500 --> 00:03:57.509 ghost or something like that, which would. kind 00:03:57.509 --> 00:04:00.870 of be funny. And I would say that's true with 00:04:00.870 --> 00:04:03.150 both types of first person, both the confessional 00:04:03.150 --> 00:04:07.710 and this adventure style first person, you know, 00:04:07.729 --> 00:04:09.069 the person survives. So you would think that 00:04:09.069 --> 00:04:11.250 removes the tension. However, that's not always 00:04:11.250 --> 00:04:13.430 true because like most things, it's all about 00:04:13.430 --> 00:04:17.310 the execution of the storytelling. So another 00:04:17.310 --> 00:04:20.810 little tangent, the confessional stuff I feel 00:04:20.810 --> 00:04:23.629 is very much like the book I read was for girls, 00:04:23.709 --> 00:04:26.480 little girls. Basically, that seems to be who 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:29.639 it was marketed for. Maybe. But I think there's 00:04:29.639 --> 00:04:31.920 this concept that women are more interested in 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:35.740 emotions and women are more interested in people 00:04:35.740 --> 00:04:38.939 and men are more interested in objects. Women 00:04:38.939 --> 00:04:42.660 relate to people directly through people, through 00:04:42.660 --> 00:04:44.980 having relationship with them, through talking 00:04:44.980 --> 00:04:46.279 with them, through talking about their feelings 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:50.000 and things that happened. Whereas men do things 00:04:50.000 --> 00:04:52.079 together and that's how men bond. And that's 00:04:52.079 --> 00:04:59.620 how men. kind of process emotions and interact 00:04:59.620 --> 00:05:01.620 with the world. It's, well, you know, there's 00:05:01.620 --> 00:05:03.819 this issue going on. What is this thing? You 00:05:03.819 --> 00:05:05.560 know, what are the things I need to understand 00:05:05.560 --> 00:05:07.779 what's going on with this thing and this thing 00:05:07.779 --> 00:05:10.220 and this thing that are all some of the, that 00:05:10.220 --> 00:05:12.620 are all the, that are all parts of this larger 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:14.139 thing that's going on. So I can understand it 00:05:14.139 --> 00:05:15.740 so I can interact with it. And that's how I'm 00:05:15.740 --> 00:05:17.500 going to deal with it. Versus women might want 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:19.560 to know, well, what's happening to the people 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:23.920 who are, you know, affected by this thing. Yeah, 00:05:23.959 --> 00:05:26.939 this thing happened. What about the people? And 00:05:26.939 --> 00:05:30.360 I feel like this confessional writing style kind 00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:33.279 of leans into that. It's written, at least this 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:35.699 other book, was written by a woman, two girls, 00:05:35.819 --> 00:05:37.939 and it's all about the internal feeling, all 00:05:37.939 --> 00:05:39.439 about this personal stuff. And there's even like 00:05:39.439 --> 00:05:42.040 little personal politics type stuff going on. 00:05:43.079 --> 00:05:47.019 But this story is written by a man, has a female 00:05:47.019 --> 00:05:49.040 protagonist, and she's telling you the adventures 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:51.269 she went on, the things that she... The places 00:05:51.269 --> 00:05:52.990 she went, the people she was with, the things 00:05:52.990 --> 00:05:54.589 that they encountered and the items they got 00:05:54.589 --> 00:05:55.810 and things like that, because it's kind of a 00:05:55.810 --> 00:06:00.410 Zelda parody send up type of deal. And how she 00:06:00.410 --> 00:06:02.790 thinks about them a little bit and how she figured 00:06:02.790 --> 00:06:04.350 out clever ways to work around the limitations 00:06:04.350 --> 00:06:07.110 that she has as a person, not being a hero, not 00:06:07.110 --> 00:06:08.350 being in the hero class. It's kind of like a 00:06:08.350 --> 00:06:10.449 game lit type of thing. It's not full lit RPG. 00:06:10.550 --> 00:06:12.970 I'd say game lit because it just because that's 00:06:12.970 --> 00:06:16.129 what I'm saying. But it's interesting because 00:06:16.129 --> 00:06:19.819 it deals with events and things. more than it 00:06:19.819 --> 00:06:21.339 does with people. There are emotional moments, 00:06:21.379 --> 00:06:25.500 there are touching moments, but that's not the 00:06:25.500 --> 00:06:29.720 focus. Focusing on the emotions and on the people 00:06:29.720 --> 00:06:32.160 isn't how you get to those things. You know the 00:06:32.160 --> 00:06:34.819 characters, you travel with them, and then things 00:06:34.819 --> 00:06:38.220 happen and you react emotionally to them, which 00:06:38.220 --> 00:06:40.399 makes sense. That's the kind of storytelling 00:06:40.399 --> 00:06:45.839 I prefer. So anyway, getting back to it, to be 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:49.329 more specific. Like I said, it focuses on events, 00:06:49.350 --> 00:06:51.250 not emotions. There's strategy. There's clever 00:06:51.250 --> 00:06:53.269 plans going on. There's adventure pacing. It 00:06:53.269 --> 00:06:54.649 just keeps moving. There's not a lot of sitting 00:06:54.649 --> 00:06:56.269 and dwelling with things. There's some reflection 00:06:56.269 --> 00:06:58.069 times, but it's just let's keep moving to the 00:06:58.069 --> 00:07:00.589 next thing. There's this great thing that happens 00:07:00.589 --> 00:07:02.949 maybe three quarters into the book. Yui goes 00:07:02.949 --> 00:07:06.250 into this. It's like where the Master Sword is. 00:07:06.329 --> 00:07:07.750 She goes into where the Master Sword is. She 00:07:07.750 --> 00:07:09.410 can't pull out the Master Sword because it's 00:07:09.410 --> 00:07:10.829 locked in this thing. Only the hero can get it 00:07:10.829 --> 00:07:14.610 out. She can't. She's not a hero. And she doesn't. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:16.540 tell her party members what she's doing or her 00:07:16.540 --> 00:07:19.279 one party member at the time. And she also doesn't 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:21.959 tell the audience what she's doing. And she basically 00:07:21.959 --> 00:07:26.660 says, you'll find out later what happened. And 00:07:26.660 --> 00:07:29.379 that's it. It creates a suspense. It's a clever 00:07:29.379 --> 00:07:31.660 use of the first person limitation that she's 00:07:31.660 --> 00:07:33.579 choosing to withhold information from us. And 00:07:33.579 --> 00:07:34.939 we know that. And she knows that we know that. 00:07:35.220 --> 00:07:37.139 And then it turns into this cool surprise at 00:07:37.139 --> 00:07:39.139 the end, which is really neat. Again, despite 00:07:39.139 --> 00:07:40.480 the fact that she's telling the story and we 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:43.720 know she survives. there's this great final fight 00:07:43.720 --> 00:07:45.519 that's really intense even though we know she 00:07:45.519 --> 00:07:49.120 survives and uh the narration is still exciting 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:50.680 even though it's first person so she's saying 00:07:50.680 --> 00:07:52.459 i did this i did that you know the demon lord 00:07:52.459 --> 00:07:55.740 did this whatever um but it works it didn't feel 00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:57.779 claustrophobic at all it felt and it didn't feel 00:07:57.779 --> 00:08:00.740 like we weren't in the scene like we i don't 00:08:00.740 --> 00:08:02.199 know i don't know if there was immediacy there 00:08:02.199 --> 00:08:04.180 because i hear first person is good for immediacy 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:06.680 But I don't really buy it. I don't really see 00:08:06.680 --> 00:08:08.600 it. It doesn't really make sense to me. It seems 00:08:08.600 --> 00:08:10.879 like it's good for, like, wasting time. Sorry. 00:08:11.139 --> 00:08:15.180 Sorry. Sorry to be mean. And I think the parody 00:08:15.180 --> 00:08:18.740 tone works with the narration well. There's this 00:08:18.740 --> 00:08:20.620 Zelda -style structure. If you ever played a 00:08:20.620 --> 00:08:22.899 Zelda game or two, you understand you go to this 00:08:22.899 --> 00:08:24.459 temple, you collect these things, you go through 00:08:24.459 --> 00:08:26.639 these challenges, whatever. And she kind of, 00:08:26.660 --> 00:08:28.579 like, gets to examine those things. Like, well, 00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:30.079 you know, why are these enemies leaving this 00:08:30.079 --> 00:08:32.720 room? Why would the silver goddesses put this 00:08:32.720 --> 00:08:35.029 stuff here? Um, why wouldn't the demon Lord just 00:08:35.029 --> 00:08:39.710 do this? And, uh, it's interesting because it's 00:08:39.710 --> 00:08:41.690 like, huh? Well, why, why do the games work like 00:08:41.690 --> 00:08:44.470 this? It takes the conceits of the games and 00:08:44.470 --> 00:08:48.429 it says like, if this were real, why wouldn't 00:08:48.429 --> 00:08:50.110 somebody just work around it? And then it says, 00:08:50.210 --> 00:08:51.970 well, somebody can work around it. And that person 00:08:51.970 --> 00:08:54.009 is that somebody is Yui Shaw and she's going 00:08:54.009 --> 00:08:55.250 to do it. She's going to kick buttons. It'd be 00:08:55.250 --> 00:08:56.789 really cool. And you're going to enjoy watching 00:08:56.789 --> 00:08:58.769 her figure out ways to work around the system 00:08:58.769 --> 00:09:01.590 that has been set up, which is pretty cool. And, 00:09:01.590 --> 00:09:04.159 uh, She also gets, like I said, to poke fun at 00:09:04.159 --> 00:09:06.500 things, and it's really enjoyable. So at several 00:09:06.500 --> 00:09:08.379 points, I actually forgot that the story was 00:09:08.379 --> 00:09:10.580 in first person at all because it was just that 00:09:10.580 --> 00:09:13.279 good, and I was that drawn into what was going 00:09:13.279 --> 00:09:20.700 on. So this book actually changed my perspective 00:09:20.700 --> 00:09:24.639 a little. I do not hate first person narration. 00:09:25.100 --> 00:09:28.019 I strongly dislike a particular style of it, 00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:29.399 which I've spent some time describing to you. 00:09:31.629 --> 00:09:34.250 Again, there's the confessional style of first 00:09:34.250 --> 00:09:39.029 -person versus the storytelling style of first 00:09:39.029 --> 00:09:41.889 -person book, story, whatever. And this book 00:09:41.889 --> 00:09:46.730 showed the difference to me. And it's clear to 00:09:46.730 --> 00:09:48.710 me that one is superior to the other. That's 00:09:48.710 --> 00:09:51.210 a matter of my preference. I'm curious what you 00:09:51.210 --> 00:09:54.110 think. Do you like first -person books? Do you 00:09:54.110 --> 00:09:56.919 avoid them like I usually do? What are some great 00:09:56.919 --> 00:09:58.620 first -person novels that you would recommend? 00:09:58.840 --> 00:10:00.759 Because if there's more good stuff like this, 00:10:00.779 --> 00:10:02.159 that would be great. Andrew Rowe has a bunch 00:10:02.159 --> 00:10:04.679 of other books. I checked one of them out. It's 00:10:04.679 --> 00:10:06.519 a series of six, and they're first -persons. 00:10:06.519 --> 00:10:07.600 I was like, oh, I don't know if I'm going to 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:09.740 do this, but I might. If somebody strongly recommends 00:10:09.740 --> 00:10:12.120 it, I'll check them out, and it could be good. 00:10:13.200 --> 00:10:14.720 Again, if you know a first -person fantasy or 00:10:14.720 --> 00:10:16.940 adventure story that really works, I'd love to 00:10:16.940 --> 00:10:19.179 hear about it. Let me give you some historical 00:10:19.179 --> 00:10:23.559 examples. Jules Verne's Journey to the Center 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:26.870 of the Earth is first -person. Hold on. I'm trying 00:10:26.870 --> 00:10:28.730 to think. The Alan Quartermain books are first 00:10:28.730 --> 00:10:31.710 person, and they're telling of these adventures 00:10:31.710 --> 00:10:34.070 that happen to these people, and they're classics. 00:10:34.690 --> 00:10:36.090 They're probably classics because they're good. 00:10:36.389 --> 00:10:37.970 It's been a long time since I've read Journey 00:10:37.970 --> 00:10:39.049 to the Center of the Earth. I read it when I 00:10:39.049 --> 00:10:41.850 was in high school. It's been a couple decades, 00:10:42.110 --> 00:10:45.110 and I haven't read it since then. But anyway, 00:10:45.250 --> 00:10:47.350 that's just two examples of stuff. Recently, 00:10:47.389 --> 00:10:49.250 I tried an Alan Quartermain book. I never finished 00:10:49.250 --> 00:10:50.509 it, but it was interesting to me that it was 00:10:50.509 --> 00:10:52.440 in first person. got distracted and wanted to 00:10:52.440 --> 00:10:56.240 read other things. So anyway, again, please give 00:10:56.240 --> 00:10:59.340 me an answer. Tell me your thoughts about first 00:10:59.340 --> 00:11:01.000 -person books, whether you love them, hate them, 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:04.440 and ones that you recommend. And also, I would 00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:08.059 be remiss if I did not tell you to check the 00:11:08.059 --> 00:11:10.960 pinned comment to find more of my reviews or 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:12.639 my book chats where I'm talking about books in 00:11:12.639 --> 00:11:14.360 kind of a loose manner, not going super deep 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:16.179 into them, but giving you a broad assessment 00:11:16.179 --> 00:11:17.659 of them, a broad idea of what they're about, 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:20.039 and encouraging you to check them out. You can 00:11:20.039 --> 00:11:22.580 find Probably some bonus content, too, if you 00:11:22.580 --> 00:11:24.899 check the pinned comment. There might just be 00:11:24.899 --> 00:11:26.759 something interesting for you to find over there. 00:11:26.840 --> 00:11:29.460 Anyway, until next time, folks, this is MJ with 00:11:29.460 --> 00:11:30.779 Fortress Fiction signing out.