QOTD: on first person

In a way, everyone assumes that first person is the most authentic and gripping. But sometimes you want to give a reader the sheer pleasure of getting to know a character who is a bit enigmatic and tricky and plays games and doesn’t reveal themselves. But to do that you’re better off doing that through the point of view of somebody else. There’s a reason that The Great Gatsby is not narrated by Gatsby, y’know? Could you imagine? “Here I am, this enigmatic lover and figure, let me tell you my story!” It’s not the same thing; you want to triangulate through the quiet and watchful narrator.

- Emma Donoghue, interviewed for Lambda Literary