Am I bonkers for writing male 1st person POV/multiple 1st person POV and hoping to sell?

I've got two POV queries, which I hope some of you can offer insight on, thanks:

1: Male, first person POV: I am circa 30K into a M/F contemporary erotic romance told entirely in my male character's , first person POV. That's the way it's coming to me, and though I've tried to write this thing in my F's POV…it's not happening. I've had a go at putting it into third person, with both M and F's POV, but…meh. So am I nuts to think there are readers who enjoy a male only 1st person POV romance/erotic romance book? I haven't read any that I can remember, but the story won't be told any other way.

2. Multiple 1st person POV in one novel: I've also written a novella from three, 1st person POV's. It's a love triangle situation, and I've told the story from each of the protagonists POV. Each chapter is subtitled with whoever's POV we are in, not necessarily in order. E.g.
Chapter 1--John;
Chapter 2: Mary;
Chapter 3--Susan…(4--Mary,5-- John,6--Susan,7--John,8--Mary…etc)

Am I bonkers in thinking an e-publisher of erotic romance would pick up these stories?

Captcha said:

i don't know about 'bonkers', but it strikes me that it will be more difficult to sell these.

This is partly just based on genre expectations. That's the part I'm more confident of in my response - I feel like I've seen SOME of this, but not a lot, so it'll have to be a really good version of what it is since it's going to call some attention to itself.

The second aspect of my concerns is much more speculative, and I should stress that I haven't read a word of what you've written, so maybe you've got nothing to worry about. But, that said... I'm wondering about the characters behind the structure. For your first story, I'm wondering WHY it was so impossible to include the female POV. Does she have her own experiences and growth in the story, or is she just an anonymous foil for the male character's desire? And for your second story, I'm wondering how this will work in terms of a love triangle - if it was a menage, it would make sense to me, but I'm assuming that by the end of the story John has chosen Mary or Susan? In which case we've spent a third of the book in the POV of a character who DOESN'T get a HEA... which might be a problem.

I don't know. I love reading different approaches to romance, so I expect I'd be a good audience for your books, but a lot of readers seem to REALLY like their genre conventions. Publishers might be worried about losing those readers. Which doesn't mean you CAN'T sell the books, but it might mean you have to make the rest of it even more awesome to make the chance worth taking.

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Thanks! To answer you, in first story I guess I'm much more interested in hero than the heroine. She's interesting, and has her own issues, but he is more complex, has the past I like exploring and is, I guess, much more fun to write. He is the character that excites me the most. E.g in my first NA novel it was the heroine who excited me and I told that gritty and controversial romance from her 1st person POV. This time it's the hero. But I hear what you're saying about the romance conventions. I suppose I should know this since I have contravened them with all of my books and paid the price in terms of angry readers wanting 'the box'. Nothing wrong with that, but these books aren't fitting into that mould. Funnily enough, the romance where I basically ignored these conventions has been a huge success.

Re second story, I'm at a fork in the road. This one is more erotic, but still a romance since my main M and F do fall in love after loads of nookie. I can either make it into a menage, FMF--not sure if that's the right label as I've not seen FMF, even on Siren, who seem to have the most extensive and mind-boggling combos I've seen on submission pages!--or the third woman can find love with somebody else, off the page. The third woman's POV sections are smaller, a counterpoint to the other two, but I can increase them if I add her to the final HEA 'mix'. At this stage I'm wondering if publishers will shake their heads at my use of three different 1st person POV's, though. Or even two POV's, if I eliminate woman number two from the POV mix. Confused? Oh, God, and I call myself a writer!

Cathy C said:

Not bonkers at all. One of my best selling romance novels is first person male. It's also won the most awards. The trick is to have some way for the reader to know what's going on in the woman's mind. Since mine was paranormal, I could get away with having a psychic link. The hero was directly involved with the heroine's emotional state. Lacking that, what about a nosy neighbor who constantly butts in? Or maybe the heroine's BFF who also happens to be the hero's sister/cousin/etc.? It needs to be someone comfortable enough that they can harrangue the hero when he's stupid, or encourage him when he's smart.

It can work. It just takes extra work.

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That's nice to hear! I guess I have to make sure everything else is awesome, like Captcha suggests and show the hero's POV in as many ways as story-worthy possible. My best selling 1st person romance has a slight paranormal element, which shows the thoughts of the hero, and that's how I got around the problem in that book. In my next 1st person there was no paranormal angle, and I did it with conversations using other people, facial expressions etc. it required a different set of skills, but I'm happy to do it. I'm slightly concerned I won't be able to sell this new project and am testing the waters. I've got a few books to hand into my main publisher so I have to be choosy about what I write in between those projects. So far the books that have worked best for me have been the ones I wrote 100% invested in the POV and storyline, no matter how unconventional.

I'm thinking e-publishing here, and wondering where I can buy some male FIRST PERSON POV romances AND erotic romances to have an idea of the sort of thing these publishers will pick up. Anybody know where I should look? I've checked Samhain, Carina, Loose Id, Siren and a few others but not found the male first person POV. Maybe I'm lazy--more like daunted--but I can't face trawling through a whole bunch of publisher sites and reading samples to find out if there's male, first person POV.

chompers said:

As a reader, I wouldn't mind the male POV. But I would have a big problem with the multiple 1st person POVs. It's too jarring, even having it clear whose POV it was in. I'd constantly have to realign my thinking.

There's this bestselling author who wrote a book in alternating 1st person POV. I never even finished the first chapter, it was so confusing. Well, she didn't make it clear whose POV it was in, so that made it worse, but it was awkward to read.

Btw, I am saying this as a person who does not mind about going against all those "rules" of writing. I don't mind them being broken if it works. But personally I've never found multiple 1st person POVs in one story to be a good choice.

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Sorry, can't do the multiple reply thing on AW, but Ginger and Curious One: I'm off to check out the author you mentioned (presumably from Samhain?) and no probs with the mis-read. Ultimately, selling to a publisher would mean selling the book to readers, ultimately. One hopes, anyway.

Chompers, I totally see what you're saying. Which is why I'm scratching my head, somewhat. It comes down to skill, I think, and whether I can pull it of successfully. I haven't read enough multiple 1st person POV's to form a definite opinion, but I've read a few. Depending on how it was done I found it jarring, and I guess readers would feel the same about my story, also. Duh, so why am I doing it? I'm hoping that by separating the POVs by chapter breaks, and always advancing the story with every POV change it will work. I'm 'chomping' (ha) at the bit to finish it, though. These peeps won't wait for me to decide what to do about POV! Thanks for your thoughts and experiences

morngnstar said:

What's really weird about multiple first person POV is that it doesn't properly correspond to a non-fictional reporting scenario. The form of fiction is an imitation of what people do in real life when they talk about what happened. That's why the most typical form is third person past tense: a narrator talking about some events he wasn't involved in that have been completed. Goes back to Homer - there is no "I" because the Trojan War was over before Homer was born. Second most common is first person past, because, of course, a person can and often does tell other people about events that happened to them. Present tense is pretty rare: it doesn't make sense for describing real events unless you're on the telephone or live via satellite on the news.

How would multiple first person make sense? I could imagine a few ways. The simplest is a conversation: but that would make more of a play than a novel. I think the most suitable idea for romance would be to write it as love letters: but that would be extraordinarily limiting. You would have to justify any time they said something that the other already knew because they were there together. Not impossible: you can make an excuse by having them say, "When you did XYZ, it was wonderful." Lastly you could have each of them give post-date reports to a third party or parties. That's the least limiting. The reports could be letters, or e-mails, or telephone monologues. Actually diary entries would also make sense.

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I'm not sure I understood your first sentence correctly, but in any case I disagree with some of your generalisations, e.g. first person present POV not 'making sense for describing real events' unless over the telephone etc. Huh? Err, I've read some great books written in this POV, mainly YA. Wonderful stuff, which gives a book an 'immediate' tone and pacing--and not a telephone in sight. Multiple 1st POV makes sense to me for this project, in terms of the narrative. I don't have an issue/problem with the 'how to/mechanics' of writing multiple first person POV'. That's not the gist of my question. If you scroll up to my initial post you'll see that I have chosen to title my chapters as per your example in Game of Thrones, with the name of my POV character being the header. I agree that multiple first person POVs can be jarring, just as jumping around the mini-stories in GoT (though that doesn't seem to have hindered his sales!). Hence, I'm wondering what my chances are in selling this book to a publisher, seeking input regarding publisher's (and reader's) attitudes. As this romance is more erotic than what I write for my publisher, and my readers would probably flip, I want to place it elsewhere under a different pen name.

So, I think multiple first POV makes as much sense as multiple third, or single first, single third--not necessarily in proscribing it to epistolary, diary entry, letters or such like, but in what I am going to call normal narrative. I read about someone who writes in second person POV. Something my mind would boggle at but it works for her literary stuff. Absolutely fine. Commercial? Maybe not as much as other POVs. IMHO if a certain POV choice suits the story, then it is right. Time was when I hated reading 1st person POV, then I read loads of urban fantasy and couldn't understand what my prejudice was about! My highest selling novels are written in 1st person POV and my publisher wants more. Go figure. What I'm saying is that if there are no books written this way (multiple third, or even more male fist person POV) then attitudes won't change. If there's a market for it, GREAT. If there isn't…*pouty lips*

AuthorJLaCross said:

I think both of those are fine I've read all male pov books and loved them. I've also read multiple pov books and loved them as well. I've even read a book where some chapters were in first person, others in third. The thing about each of them was that they were done very well. The characters were consistent and well developed. The authors really got into their heads. I think that your writing is your own, and if done well, people will like it. Also, the thing with readers is that everyone has their own opinion. I love some books that others don't, and didnt enjoy some books that a lot of my friends raved about. The same goes for readers of my books. You just have to find your audience

Happy writing

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Oooh, that reminds me of a sci-fi book I loved which was told in 1st person POV for the main character and the other characters in 3rd person POV. In romance, though, I'm not so hopeful, but maybe I'm wrong? What I've decided to do is finish both novellas and then e-mail several publishers I'm interestd in and see what their response is, if any. If I get this thing off the ground, submit and it gets picked up I will report back! Might be a while, but I'll update.

U

morngnstar said:

The key word being real events. You don't walk up to a friend and start saying what's happening in first person present. Fiction need not imitate real life, but traditionally it has. You're free to be very modern and buck the tradition that goes back to Homer. If you want, you can write a book in second person. You won't be the first. If that's the statement you want to make, go for it, but it might make some portion of your audience want to put it down.

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Well, this is fiction, no? You also don't walk up to people and say "'John told me he went to the park'," Pisco said. We are talking fiction. In books. You might not walk up to a friend and speak to them in first person singular but narrating a book is a different matter. The tradition of third person story-telling pre-dates Homer, with oral culture, and is a great and fantastic way to tell a story. Not disputing that. Actually, I don't want to write a book in second person. My statements were in response to proscriptive generalisations regarding POV. And yes, I agree. Some of my audience might want to put down my current project due to mutli-person POV. I might decide not to flog it, then again I might shrug my shoulders and go with the flow.

thethinker42 said:

No, you're not. Samhain and Riptide have both published books of mine with multiple first person POVs (I usually have two, but have had up to three). I also have a BDSM novel written entirely in the male POV (it was picked up by a publisher originally, but I have since re-released it on my own).

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OMG at the reader e-mail! That must be very annoying! I'm going to check out your books, presumably under the name in your avatar. Thanks!

LOL! I was just on the Samhain website right now, actually! Thanks for the offer (very much appreciated!) but as you were typing I went to Amazon and bought The Princess and the Pornstar, Who's Your Daddy and Recontructing Meredith! Not only will I be entertained over Xmas, I consider them a great investment in my own understanding of writing an entire book in Male first person POV and multi-person 1st POV! Ha, I had typed in 'Deconstructing' instead of 'Reconstructing' and was getting annoyed!