spirituous

In all of your opinions, which point of view do you enjoy more in a mystery novel? I am currently writing mine in 3rd and am kind of BLAH towards it. Problem is, the main character is a woman. Meh, who cares? Women authors write as men all the time, I can write as a woman. Haha, that mere thought makes me giggle. I am the picture of maturity, obviously. So I guess this is two questions: Do you like 1st or 3rd person better in a mystery, and do you think I could write 1st person with my main character as a woman? Thanks!

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Nazareth

From what I understand, most people want 3'rd person- I can see this being the case because look at most authors, they produce 3'rd person books mostly- They will pop out a couple of 1'st, but prolly just for a change of pace in their writing-

I guess people like the different perspectives when reading.

I guess I prefere 3'rd person over 1'st as well

aspire

well i don't read to many mystery novels. But i think for crime-mystery its better to write it in 1st, if its not crime it then comes down to what you prefer or what you find easiest, which would be 3rd person for me. You could do both and see which one is better and suits you more. then lastly post it here and get some critique and advice.

its your choice.

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daniela

When I am reading a mystery, I prefer third person because it lets me feel like I am there in the story but as a silent observer, not the main character(s). I like to try to solve the mystery on my own before the end of the novel, and with a story in written in the first person I do not feel free to do that. Sometimes it seems that I am limited to the mc's knowledge and his/her way of thinking when everything is told from their perspective. I am not allowed to use my own brain and get stuck using the character's which only contains enough knowledge to come up with a solution after all of the clues are laid out, and I hate that.

I think it is possible for you to write in first person with a woman as the main character. Just make sure you do some research and observation (do not become a peeping Tom, though ). In addition, it would help if you ran the story past a diverse group of some of the women in your life to make sure you have done it right.

--DM--

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spirituous

Thanks for all of your input guys. I think I will try writing two versions of the story, in first and third. Hopefully one or the other will capture my attention.

Haha, yeah. Maybe I should run it by my twin sister and see what she thinks if I do make it 1st person. Wouldn't want to get into stalker mode.

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Nazareth

My traumatic experience was, I had a novel about fully written, in the 3;rd person- decided like you that it was kinda blah (Which it was but it wasn't because of the 3'rd person- it was because myt writing was just plain aweful) So I switched the whole durn thing to 1'st person- which at the time was easier for me to write things in the present tense because I could write as though I were actually at the scenes & could record my thoughts-

My qwriting got better when I went & editted everything making everything present tense, but then I learned that most people prefere 3'rd person- So now I'm stuck with this novel in first (I'm not going through the hassel of switching it back to third- that was too much work switching it to 1'st & making sure everything jived)

I had almost the whole thing written (About 120,000 words) and felt the plot was weak, so I started the whole thing over from scratch- this novel is going to kill me I swear!

spirituous

Sweet Jesus. That is just terrible. I've had that expierence before, but never when the novel was finished. So sorry :[

As for people prefering 3rd person, don't let that stop you from writing first. That's why I am currently writing two versions of the story in 1st and 3rd. And if I like the 1st better, well tough luck. You will read it and enjoy I say! Haha.

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BlackHoleEnvy

All hail the mighty first person/present tense!

Seriously, get on your knees....

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