Writing in the First Person - Writers Forum

Bob · 02-03-2007, 04:17 PM

Hey, this is my first post here and I was not quite sure where to place it since Writing 101 is locked. I am writing a novel and I was contemplating writing it in the first person. I am just wondering if anyone knows if this will still make a good book or if I should avoid it. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Bob

cyberspecter · 02-03-2007, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob

Hey, this is my first post here and I was not quite sure where to place it since Writing 101 is locked. I am writing a novel and I was contemplating writing it in the first person. I am just wondering if anyone knows if this will still make a good book or if I should avoid it. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Bob

Hi Bob...

It really depends on the needs of your story and how you want to relay the story to your readers. First person tends to be very personal to the POV character and the rest of the characters are through his/her perspective. Where as third person allows you to explore the story in different ways and through different perspectives.
Basically, how you want the story to unfold to the reader is really your best pointer in which viewpoint you want to use.

Banzai · 02-03-2007, 04:34 PM

Just for future reference, Tips & Advice would be the place for this, Bob

Bob · 02-03-2007, 04:49 PM

Alright, thank you. Can a moderator move this thread there? My entire story is about the main charictor and I only know it through he eyes. So I guess first person is right for me.

AlaskaJane · 08-09-2007, 09:28 AM

Yes, but you can still use a third person narrative. The problem with first person is that it is hugely limited as to what you can reveal about the narrator. If you do a third person limited narrative (NOT omniscient) then you have a bigger scope to describe the core character of the story. First person narrative, imho, is the most difficult to do well.

Jam · 08-09-2007, 09:35 AM

Yeah AlaskaJane is soo right...I recently tried writing just a short story in first person because I had been doing third so much, and I realize how much more difficult it is too do in first person because you are insanely limited on what you can reveal in your story. Although, if you do it right then I find stories in first person can be really amazing

Good luck eh on the novel...I'm still searchin for my inspiration for a novel

Ashen-eyes · 08-09-2007, 04:29 PM

Writing first person can be difficult; though, honestly, I find it easier than third person. I don't know why I do, but I am able to write in first person more than I am in third person. Don't get me wrong, I can still write in third person really well, I sometimes just like to write in first person more. It can be difficult, but if you want to write first person and think it'll be easier for the novel you are writing, then do so. If not, maybe go with third person.

BlackWolf · 08-09-2007, 04:36 PM

It depends on what's best for the story. I'm better at first person too, actually. I find it easier to get inside one person's head and stay there. I write like I speak, even in essays, and that can be bad in the third person.

Dabnorfish · 08-09-2007, 04:37 PM

Personally I prefer to write in the first person. I find it allows me to express the main characters emotions more readily. Which is why I'm trying to do everything third person at the moment (I was actually considering re-writing some of the things I'd previously written in the first again, in the third, as an exercise).

Rob · 08-09-2007, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob

Hey, this is my first post here and I was not quite sure where to place it since Writing 101 is locked. I am writing a novel and I was contemplating writing it in the first person. I am just wondering if anyone knows if this will still make a good book or if I should avoid it. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Hi Bob,

First person can be used for novels, so there's no reason to avoid it. Best advice I can give is to read some. Plenty if you can.

Cheers,
Rob

mammamaia · 08-09-2007, 08:44 PM

if you can't do it as well as chandler and parker, i strongly urge you to not... most of the work i see written in first by new writers is really awful and would undoubtedly make agents and publishers reach for the wastebasket with one hand and barfbucket with the other...

many readers [myself included] just don't like reading someone else's view of everything, preferring to picture themselves in the story, instead... and first does't allow for that, whereas third does...

rob's advice is worth following... go get some of the best examples of first pov and read them... then see how what you write compares with it, if you really have to go that route...

The Backward OX · 08-09-2007, 09:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mammamaia

many readers [myself included] just don't like reading someone else's view of everything, preferring to picture themselves in the story, instead... and first does't allow for that, whereas third does...

Some more in this vein for the OP.

THIS READER doesn’t like first person, as it gives you one conclusion right there on Page One. That conclusion is that no matter what else happens, and to whom, you already know that “I” will survive. If you’re writing something in the thriller/mystery genre you may wish to consider this.

Truth-Teller · 08-10-2007, 01:13 AM

Are you a horror writer, Bob?

lin · 08-10-2007, 02:42 AM

Quote:

if you can't do it as well as chandler and parker, i strongly urge you to not...

WHAT?!?!?!?!? If you can't write as well as the stars, give up? This is exactly the kind of bullshit NOT to tell new writers. Christ.
For future reference Bob, that is not advice from somebody who sells stories, okay.

Look, it's simple. A lot of books are written in the first person, it's a choice you make and has advantages as well as disadvantages. The disadvantages are otherwise known as "challenges".

AND, the first person is no more handicapped than you are yourself, bopping through live limited to your own POV. The ways you learn things you don't directly experience are the same way your narrator can learn things.

You look at somebody like John D. McDonald, whose entire Travis Magee series is first person, or Donald Westlake, who uses it often, and many, many others, you are not seeing stunted or limited story-telling.

Your story will tel itself the way it wants to. Don't let half-assed advice hem you in on important decisions.

Now if you are talking about writing it in second person, you might have a few problems...like everybody who reads it wanting to sock you.

Jeff Colburn · 08-11-2007, 06:16 PM

To get a good overview of first, second and third person, take a look at my article Who Said That? First, Second Or Third Person

It should answer some of your questions.

Have Fun,
Jeff