Analyzing a Debut

Book groups are wonderful things. The members get exposed to things that they might not otherwise read, and it forces them to stay on top of the latest offerings if they plan to contribute to the discussion. Now, some of them only go for the social outing or the lunch or the wine, but it's really all about the books.

Publishers supposedly don't like to publish fiction written from the first person point of view, and I'll admit that I don't like to read it. I don't know why, exactly, it's just that the prose doesn't flow the way I like. Prejudices aside, I've read some novels from that POV because of the book group's choices, and found them entertaining enough. If not for the book group, I never would have picked them up. I give them a pass at the library.

This month, I've got Robert Hicks' debut novel, The Widow of the South. Jeff Kleinman, now with Folio Lit Agency, was the literary agent on the scene. If you're sending him a query, check out this book and see if you can draw an analogy with your manuscript and this book. Never hurts to make it look like you're querying Mr. Kleinman because he's just the agent for your tome.

Opening with a short prologue, set in a time preceding the main novel, the author sets up his conflict. The main character is introduced, there's almost no backstory, and the author reveals a mysterious character that makes the reader turn the page to see who the man is. The first chapter is printed in italics, so right away, the reader sees something different. After that short chapter, the second starts, and it is told from a different point of view, without italics. Then, the author changes POV in the following chapter and switches to first person. Yes, the POV that publishers don't like. But he waited until page 24 to slip it in, well beyond the first three or first ten that agents usually get.

Now, the first person in chapter 3 is not the same first person that comes up in later chapters. Hicks uses chapter titles with the character's name so we know who's speaking. He writes well, but for those of us who read in short spurts, it's frustrating to have to go back and figure out who's the first person with the POV.

The book is well worth reading because it is well written, historical fiction that plays What If? with a real person. I could have done without the first person POV and enjoined it just as much, but I have to wonder if authors aren't using clever gimmicks to make their stories stand out from the slush.

Can a person get published by just telling a straight ahead story, or do you have to jazz it up with tricks? Should I go back to my historical fiction pieces and use different fonts? Should I do what I don't like for the sake of getting published? But once it's been done, can I copy the same tricks or will that just make the manuscript uninteresting? Been there, done that, bought the novel.

I write what I like to read. I don't buy many books because I don't like much of what is out there. Therefore, I do not get published because my manuscripts are not marketable. To thine own self be true?