Observer or participant?
An interesting question came up last week while I helped my daughter proof read a critique for English class. When you read a book do you watch it unfold around you as though you are an invisible participant or do you become one of the main characters so that everything happens directly to you? To be honest, prior to helping her I hadn’t thought about how perspective influences how I think and feel about the books I read. I had to stop and think about how I mentally process books while I read.
I’ve polled everyone in my extended family since we’re all voracious readers. Everyone told me their perspective depends on the author and also specific books if we’re talking about multiple works by the same person. Most novels unfold around the reader, as if you are the proverbial fly on the wall watching (but not directly participating in) the action. A select few novels have that magic something which enables the reader to become an integrated part of the story, in other words the reader feels like everything happens to them. At least that’s what my very small and unscientific poll came up with.
Specifically thinking about romances, which category do you fall into, observer or participant? Think about the books on your keeper shelves, did the observer/participant question make a difference in your decision making process? Does setting influence how you read a book? What about time period? If you are a character oriented reader, which character most influences your ability to submerge yourself, hero or heroine? Are you always one or the other (observer or participant)? Does point of view, meaning first person or third person, affect your perspective?
Personally, I nearly always fall into the ‘fly on the wall’ observer category. I rarely feel like a direct participant in the narrative. I’m sure it’s probably just the way my mind works, but there have been very few books where I became one with the characters and action unfolding around me. That’s not to say I’m emotionally uninvolved with my books. I often have to read with a box of tissues at hand (just in case) and I’m known to rant and rave at unsuspecting family members when a character or event annoys me.
As to keeper books, the observer/participant question wasn’t a conscious factor at the time I decided if I wanted to keep them. Looking over them quickly, they all grabbed me by the heartstrings somehow, but none of them made me feel like I was participating in the story. How books achieve ‘keeper status’ is another post all by itself, lol. Setting and time period haven’t made a difference, although contemporary settings seem to bring out my inner critic faster, and if I’m critiquing than I’m not fully involved either as observer or participant.
Characterization is most likely to help me feel like I’m the one everything is happening to. If I identify strongly with the heroine or if I really, really want the hero all to myself I’m most likely to feel fully in the action. The opposite is true too though. If I dislike either the hero or the heroine for whatever reason, I’m less likely to be a participant (and less likely to finish the book at all).
I’m sure I’ve left a lot of things out, but I hope I’ve given you a little food for thought today. Which one are you, observer or participant?
