Thread: Is first person or third person POV better?

I wrote my first book in first person POV. Does that mean I should always write in first person? Can an author write both ways? (Different projects of course.) Also I wanted to know what the general consenses was around POV. Do you like to read a book in first person or third person? (Fiction)

The point of view you use for a story is up to you. Each story can use a different one. You could even mix them, although that might not be the best idea. Some people have issues with first, but there is nothing wrong with it.

I'm no expert but the POV is where your narrator is sitting in relation to the action. You need to be consistent within a piece but from one piece to another, with different ideas, it might make sense to shift the POV. Or not. Ultimately you need to decide for yourself, but there's no requirement that you have to repeat yourself from piece to piece.

If both books are not related to each other, I think it is fine.

Anyway, I enjoy first person POV, UP Country by Nelson Demille is one of my top favorite. I keep on reading again and again.

As others have stated, POV is entirely up to you. I write in first person because it feels better to me, but it might not to you.

I like first person as well. But I've been considering third person because then the story isn't limited to the Main Characters POV on everything. I like reading book reviews to see what readers are looking for, and a lot of them like third person better.

Then I suppose no one but friends and family will buy anything I ever get published.

I've written in first person, but I find third person far less inhibiting. I also make a point of not reading any fiction novel written in first person. It's not that I don't like the writing, but my subconscious has long since associated first-person writing with biographies and autobiographies, and it feels somewhat phony -- if that makes sense -- for me to read a story which isn't true but which someone is writing as though it were. That sounds confusing, I know, but I tend to look at it as the author fantasising about doing the things s/he is writing about. I suppose you can blame Twilight for that.

Well if most people hate first person, I guess I should quit while I'm still behind.

I wouldn't go that far. There's a big market for first-person writing. I know several authors who write in nothing else. I just don't like reading it, but I may be in the minority.

According to what Sunny just said in response #6, you are solidly in the majority of people who prefer third person.

Most of the books I read are written in first person and I prefer first person myself. I just find that with book reveiws most complaints are the reader prefers third person. I feel like I can relate better to the character if it's written in first person, myself. It feels like I'm in the story rather than being told the story. If that makes sense.

It also depends on what you're writing about. If you're writing something which calls for readers to be 'misled' on certain facts, writing first person might make that more credible & easier to do.
I've never read romance (gag-gag & all that), but I'd imagine first person would do really well there.

I think one problem with first person is that you have to take more care with it.

One thing to keep in mind is that third person can vary at how you use it. If you are going to only have one pov character, you can get real close, enough so that some of the characters thoughts can be stuck right in the narration without needed to italicize or qualify them in any way. A little bit like first person but written as third. If more than one pov character is involved, a bit more distance is normally used. Thoughts would need to be qualified as such, but you can still be closer or father away from the character. There is a Fly on the wall, or a camera form of third which is very distant from the characters in that it only shows the actions, and doesn't really get inside any of the character's head. The most dangerous, third person omnipresent, which can jump from character to character to character without a break and zoom in and out at will. This one is probably the hardest to do since it is so easy to confuse the reader about who they are looking at the world through, and a fast way to pull the reader out of the story altogether as they figure out what they missed.

I say try different ones. Each one has a range of pro's and con's to it, and experimenting with the different forms can give you a better understanding of them. I found, oddly enough, Descriptions, by Monica Wood had one of the best explanations of pov's and the purposes of each I have seen so far.

Originally Posted by Offeiriad

Well if most people hate first person, I guess I should quit while I'm still behind.

You shouldn't allow anyone else's opinion to define your writing. If you prefer to write in first person then go ahead.

There are a lot of wonderful and popular books written in first person. Stuff like 'The Catcher in the Rye', 'A Clockwork Orange', 'Trainspotting' and my personal favourite - actually my absolute favourite book - 'Vernon God Little'. And like Rustgold said, there are some books that would only work if they were written in first person. 'Fight Club' is one example.

Though for me, I have to be able to really get into the character's head to enjoy a first person book, whereas I'll read anything in third person. So I think that first person books are harder work - both to write and read. I have given up on a couple of first person books that I just couldn't connect with.