First Person Perspective

[joannekwan]

Do you like reading stories that are written in first person? Do you write in this way, why or why not?

Genuinely curious because I think I see it more in YA novels? But then again I can't be sure because I don't read books aimed at that demographic.
I suppose it has something to do with relateability.

Personally I'm not a huge fan of reading or writing in it. Too many "I"'s in a paragraph for one. Secondly, I don't necessarily want to force a reader into that perspective, especially if the protagonist doesn't click with them.

[GFalconDX]

Guess it depends on the story.

[CalixLucas]

I write in the first person mainly because the 3rd person is annoying to write (for my current writing project).

[joannekwan]

What's the project if I may ask?

[dawgofdawgness]

Not really? I guess with 3rd person novels sometimes the author is allowed to write from the perspectives of other characters, which can be kind of interesting.

But I like novels from first person perspective too.. I really enjoyed Me and earl and the Dying girl ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[CalixLucas]

It's a fanfic of an interactive story game. The distribution will explain it better than me. xD
I even have the support of the author of the game. x3

The Three of Us :: Message From The Author | Tapas

[spicy_sweets]

I honestly base which pov I write in on the characters. Like if my MC wants attention 24/7, chances are I'll write in fpov. Like with Plush Love, Eli was wayyyy to haughty and selfish to not bang my head until I let her get the spotlight. But if I'm writing someone more reserved or focused on others, I'll probably do third person limited.
...Does that make sense?

[TheFalseVyper]

I love first person! Those Called Wolf was originally supposed to be 3rd person, but I wanted people to feel the characters emotions on a deeper level. And while I agree it can be annoying sitting in someone's head that you don't particularly agree with, I believe the impact of new information hits home harder.

[joannekwan]

@spicy_sweets Yeah that makes a lot of sense.

@TheFalseVyper I suppose that's true, but what if the character doesn't even know what they want and can't process their own feelings? haha

[joe_galindez]

Too many "I"'s in a paragraph for one.

Try not to start every paragraph with "I". It gets better with practice. I always recommend that people rewrite their first novel in another point of view and then rewriting it again if necessary.

I prefer first-person over third-person. With third-person, I can never be sure where my voice is coming from, and what I should and shouldn't know. As someone who likes to put themselves in their work, it doesn't feel good to hang over everything like a cloud.

First-person really grounds me in a story, which is why I work with it nearly all the time. The only problem is that I sometimes feel any pain the character is feeling.

[TheFalseVyper]

That's great! Don't we all get a little confused in life as well? Use that confusion to push your character to get answers.

What about their feelings confuses them? Do they feel one way when most people would likely feel something else?

It's a great tool to shape your character's personality!

[joannekwan]

That's cool you have his support and allowed you to publish it even with the stipulation! Has he read any of your work?

[CalixLucas]

I can't be sure but I think he has.

[Hexigate]

Concerning emotional depth, 3rd Person Omnipotent can be just as engaging as any 1st person. Still, i've always written in 1st person; I think that i've always been fascinated with the potential of a limited perspective narrative.

Particularly with mystery and drama, you can do a lot with the narrator/protagonist if their set of beliefs and knowledge base is limited; kind of like slowly opening a curtain as a story progresses.

Perhaps a detective is led to believe something, then uncovers new facts as the story progresses. The audience would follow with the detective and be engaged by the act of their perspective gaining larger scope.

Perhaps a character is sour over something his friend did, and the audience buys into it because that character's perspective is also ours. As the story progresses, the character realizes certain things that leads him to change his mind; the character's perspective widens, as does ours.

Especially in today's set of current events and the characteristics of modern society, a lot can be said about the limitations (and ignorance) of human perspective.

[joannekwan]

@joe_galindez

With third person I think you can still very easily stay in one character's voice. You're just not directly speaking through them. Take for example this (I wrote this in like 10 minutes so it's not the best BUT):

First Person

"Another day on this bloody wall. What the hell are we even doing here?" I groaned.

The captain on the rampart quickly turned her attention to me and stepped heavily in my direction until she was but half a foot away. Her tangled strand of hair fell across her eye, her putrid breath assaulting my nose. What a piece of work. I crossed my arms, ready for her attack.

"Another word of dissent from you and I'm tossing you to your death," she hissed.

That'll be the day. I stood solidly and paid the shrew no mind.

Third Person

Fennel paced around the rough hewn stones, "Another day on this bloody wall. What the hell are we even doing here?"

The captain on the rampart quickly turned her attention to him and stepped heavily in his direction until she was but half a foot away. Her tangled strand of hair fell across her eye, her putrid breath assaulting his nose.

"What a piece of work," he thought as he crossed his arms, ready for her attack.

"Another word of dissent from you and I'm tossing you to your death," she hissed.

"That'll be the day," Fennel mused. He stood his ground not minding the shrew.

And in general I think a first person pov can also miss a lot of establishing descriptions for a setting if they aren't that observant or eloquent of a person.

First Person

The room was dark save for a sliver of light peeking in through the boarded window. My lantern was smashed and everything in here was damp from the flood. There was no way of getting any light going without causing a ruckus. I felt nervous and I could barely see a thing but I had to find the doctor's journal.

Third Person

The room was dark save for a sliver of moonlight cutting through the boarded window. Her lantern was shattered and all manner of match and wick were damp beyond use from last week's flash flood. The risk of alerting the neighbors to her presence was much too great to even try to pry a board loose. A darkness engulfed her, but even as dread crept up along the back of her spine, she was determined to find the doctor's memos.

[joe_galindez]

Sure. As a reader I have no preference. It's just that I write more easily in first-person.

[gateofselidor]

I used to write in first person a lot when I was a teenager, but I generally stick to third person now. It's a lot more versatile, and creating a rich and realistic environment is important to me, and a lot easier to do in third person. As a reader, it's much the same. I prefer third person, but I'll read first person if I like the look of the story.

[Masterman]

I can read and enjoy stories done both ways. Plan ahead though! The final book in the Divergent trilogy was a disaster, because the author (spoiler warning)
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

decided she wanted to kill off the protagonist, but it's hard to finish a book when the point of view is dead. So, she wrote that whole novel from two points of view; the protagonist and her boyfriend's, only... she didn't really succeed in making their voices at all distinct. Nearly everyone who I spoke to who read it found it massively confusing; they would think they were reading from Tris' point of view, and then the narrator would say "oh, here comes Tris," and you would have to flip back to the chapter head to figure out what was going on. Pretty clumsy for a best-seller.

Otherwise, I don't see why you can't have good prose in either first or third person.

[beta1042]

I enjoy both. I think it depends on what the story is going for. If the focus of the story is to develop a single character and watch that character grow, then 1st person works really well for this. I also think stories where you don't want to reveal the thoughts and emotions of certain characters can lend itself to 1st person( like romance type stuff. There can be a lot of intrigue if you don't know what the guy is thinking for example).

But when a story is an adventure with multiple main characters, I usually prefer 3rd person.

I must say though, I hate hate hate hate hate when the story uses first person but switches who is first person every chapter. I don't mind if there is a definite pattern(like all odd chapters are character A and all even chapters character B), but when you're jumping around with no rhyme or reason and I have to spend the first 3 paragraphs of a chapter figuring out who's perspective I'm in, I get mad (I'm looking at you The Fifth Wave).

[phen]

I do enjoy first person perspective a lot but most of the novels I read that are written that way are autobiographical accounts (fictitious mostly), travel journals, and I-novels. I mean, it can be difficult to suspend your belief (disbelief?) in moments because the narrative can take turns into territory you can't personally understand/see yourself in but... there's often a sense of familiarity in them I enjoy. Like being along for the ride with an author personally in lieu of accounts disconnected from the reader.

I write a lot of short stories from the first-person perspective like this, hoping to better exclude secondary characters from the thoughts and feelings of the narration. It (when successful) puts a spotlight on the reader and presents a simulated power of events that occur. Tricking the mind into thinking whatever's happening is one's own choices (very fantastical, very escapism, heh). But there are limits of it and it can lead to a similarly disconnected reading experience due to overt details, extreme self-interest, etc.