YA Novels: Person? Tense?

For this edition of Whoseywhatsit Thursday, I've decided to pose a question to you all.

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• What tense do you write your YA in?
• Do you believe one tense is better than the other?
• What about marketing, from an editor or agent's standpoint? Is past tense easier to sell or present tense?

• What person do you write in mostly? First, Second, Third person close, Third person omniscient? 

Okay, so I had more than just one question. 

I've heard a lot of chatter around the blogosphere lately, about these exact questions. Some folks believe YA written in present tense brings the reader closer to the main character, makes for a more intimate relationship, it's the near and now. This, for the most part, is totally true.  And from the stats on YA first person novels purchased, it's obvious that some readers love that.

But is it the tense of the story or the story itself which a reader falls in love with? We've argued many times that tense and person can make or break a story. 

Before a writer even begins writing the first chapter, he/she must decide who is going to tell that particular story (person) and how it's going to be told (tense). Person can give a writer the freedom to give the reader views and information from many different angles of a story - Third Person Omniscient. Then there's Third Person Close, which can lead to more intimacy between a main character and the audience - limiting, but more freeing than  First Person, which, as we know, limits the writer's options. Vital information must be delved out to the reader from the view of only one character and said character might not have full access to all the information the reader will need to follow the story line(s). But there are ways around that, which we won't get into today. We won't touch upon second person, either.

Recently, I've heard that a first person present tense debut YA novel could possibly be too hard a sell. Editors shy away from first person as well as present tense, with the exception of established and well-read authors. What if you are a debut YA author with a great story written in first person present tense? Should you change it, knowing that if you were already that established and well-read YA author your story would probably be accepted as is by an editor?

What do you do? 

This Week's Thankful Thursday Topic:  What’s your opinion of writing from the perspective of the “bad guy?”  (think Dexter) -- since this is Thankful Thursday, I'm going to tweak the topic into how writing from the bad guy perspective has improved my writing -- something I'm always thankful for.

 *** Dexter image by David Deb ***

Here's the thing... I've never watched Dexter (although my mom tells me it's awesome), but I've recently learned something important about writing from the perspective of the "bad guy" -- they're not always that bad.  Here's my personal example:

When I first started out to become a writer a few years ago, I began with retelling the myth of Cupid & Psyche (yeah, I'm still working on it, but that's another story).  The "bad guy" in the myth is Venus, who is jealous of Psyche and condemns her to marry a monster.  As I wrote, I pictured Venus as Heidi Klum with a heart of coal.  Everything about her screamed "b!tch," regardless of whether she was interacting with Psyche, Cupid or any other god or goddess.  Pretty stereotypical.

Recently, someone encouraged me to put my own spin on the myth -- to tell the story from my own unique perspective.  Which got me thinking, what if Venus wasn't so stereotypical?  She could have real feelings, and be hurt, just like anyone else.  And her reactions would be more understandable and justified.

And I think that's where I learned a real lesson.  It's really "easy" (is any part of writing easy?) to write these characters that you love to hate.  They're a guy only looking to score, or a girl just trying to make herself look better by putting someone else down.  Or, if we're talking darker, we could be looking at murders or drug lords.  People who are rightfully scary.

Now take those characters, step back, and figure out why someone loves them despite their flaws.  Why does the jerk guy have a cousin who'd do anything for him?  Why does the murder have a loving family on the side who deeply cares about him?  If you write even a chapter from the perspective of your bad guy (and I'm not even talking about a chapter you keep), you will necessarily make your characters more three dimensional.  You'll understand something more about their feelings and motivations and that can't help but come across on the page.

What about you -- do you ever try to examine your story from the perspective of the bad guy?  Do you like reading stories by or about the "bad guy"?

To join in the weekly meme, just do the following:

1. Do your own blog post on what you're thankful for today. It doesn't have to be on topic (but it can be!)

2. Be sure to grab our badge and include it in your post.

3. Post a link to your blog in the comments here so that others can find you.

4. Go forth and share your gratitude! (And when friending new blogs, be sure to let them know you found them because of their participation in the meme.)

Next Week's Topic:  What's the worst writing blunder you've ever made that you realized later was actually a blessing?