which one do you prefer? i like writing in 3rd person more, but today i got a sudden thought of trying out first person narrative.. feels a bit strange. 
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1st or 3rd person?
- Thread starter Blessed-one
- Start date
i usually write in third person. it's easier for some reason. i've expiramented with first but i never got very far. just wasn't comfortable with it.
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I almost always write in third person simply because I like to remain detached from my stories. If I write first person I feel I get too involved and then I struggle to keep things in line and tie everything up.
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discipleofWORD
Active Member
Ohhhhh yea!!! I took notes on this!
I was reading a book called Reading Fiction and it explained about these different points of views...maybe these will give you some suggestions between the text.
1st person- This is basically in the viewpoints of your character. There's something called "unreliable narrator," your narrator is very disilluted by reality (e.g. a guy thinks he's going off to see the king, when the reader knows the guy is really going to the insane hospital).
3rd person- There are three times
Ominscent- I do'nt know if I spelled that word right, but it's basically you're god(sounds kinda blasphemous...) and you get to hear any character thinking, you could go to any place you want to talk about without being restrained.
Objective- this is like a movie in a way. You don't get to tell any characters' thoughts. It is basically what you see and hear is happening
3rd person ominscnet- This is like first person, but in third person. You get to peer into his thoughts, etc.
I do'nt know if this is really clear(it's actually hard to explain...). I hope you got what this was saying...
But I would suggest you to tell it from 3rd person first. Then when you look at the story, ask yourself "what is better? 1st person, etc."
Try different point of views from other characters(meaning tell the story from their perpective)
E.g.
Incident: A clown came out of a limo and as he walks down the red carpet, he got hit by a pie.
-You could tell it from the clown's perpective, describing what it was like getting hit by the pie.
-You could tell it from the limo driver's perpective, missing the whole thing until he heard the pie splat.
-You could tell it from the pie thrower's perpective, telling how badly he wanted to throw the pie.
I was reading a book called Reading Fiction and it explained about these different points of views...maybe these will give you some suggestions between the text.
1st person- This is basically in the viewpoints of your character. There's something called "unreliable narrator," your narrator is very disilluted by reality (e.g. a guy thinks he's going off to see the king, when the reader knows the guy is really going to the insane hospital).
3rd person- There are three times
Ominscent- I do'nt know if I spelled that word right, but it's basically you're god(sounds kinda blasphemous...) and you get to hear any character thinking, you could go to any place you want to talk about without being restrained.
Objective- this is like a movie in a way. You don't get to tell any characters' thoughts. It is basically what you see and hear is happening
3rd person ominscnet- This is like first person, but in third person. You get to peer into his thoughts, etc.
I do'nt know if this is really clear(it's actually hard to explain...). I hope you got what this was saying...
But I would suggest you to tell it from 3rd person first. Then when you look at the story, ask yourself "what is better? 1st person, etc."
Try different point of views from other characters(meaning tell the story from their perpective)
E.g.
Incident: A clown came out of a limo and as he walks down the red carpet, he got hit by a pie.
-You could tell it from the clown's perpective, describing what it was like getting hit by the pie.
-You could tell it from the limo driver's perpective, missing the whole thing until he heard the pie splat.
-You could tell it from the pie thrower's perpective, telling how badly he wanted to throw the pie.
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Well it depends on the story because sometimes one person works better than the other person.
But the one I'm working on now it's actually first person, as are quite a lot of others. But I can always keep myself separate from my character. So when I say "I" I have no problems knowing that it's the character.
But I think it really depends on the story and the author.
But the one I'm working on now it's actually first person, as are quite a lot of others. But I can always keep myself separate from my character. So when I say "I" I have no problems knowing that it's the character.
But I think it really depends on the story and the author.
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thanks for the infor, disciple. It looks like 3rd person does have quite a number of advantages, isn't it?
yeah, mostly, Justice. It's hard to alternate between the two when you're settled with one. And when you do decide to change, you're not sure whether you did the right thing as you read the finished part.
yeah, mostly, Justice. It's hard to alternate between the two when you're settled with one. And when you do decide to change, you're not sure whether you did the right thing as you read the finished part.
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Buskanaka
Hold me in your arms, never let me run away
I like both actually, they're both fun. 1st person is probably harder to write a good story in though which is why most people don't like it. But then, my favourite books are written 1st person so that's my inspiration to keep writing that way.
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i think you've hit the jackpot. I like reading 3rd person more and that does influence on which one i choose to write with.
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Surprised by joy
The Cuteness
Here's a brief description of my favorite POVs (Points of view):
1:
First Person. It is more limited, but it also has more scope for character developement. If one is writing a character-based narrative, first person is a possible choice. It can be used with very amusing effect, if the first person is a petty or clueless character, to discredit the character's point of view through their own words. Fyodor Dostoyevsky does this exceptionally well in Notes from Underground. A few more good first-person books:
Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis (my personal Favorite-Book-in-the-World)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, Alexandr Solzhenitsen
Tom Sawyer/Huckelberry Finn, Mark Twain
2:
Third-Person Omniscient. The first-person, the 'I', knows everything, and switches between thoughts of various characters, always in the third person. The 'I' may or may not add comments of their own; however, they may not be a character in the story. Tolkien in LotR uses this style. A style for epics with a broad base of characters.
3: Third person subjective: A middle ground, referring to a single character's thoughts, but in the third person (he, she). Jane Austen usually uses this POV in her novels, notably, Pride and Prejudice.
1:
First Person. It is more limited, but it also has more scope for character developement. If one is writing a character-based narrative, first person is a possible choice. It can be used with very amusing effect, if the first person is a petty or clueless character, to discredit the character's point of view through their own words. Fyodor Dostoyevsky does this exceptionally well in Notes from Underground. A few more good first-person books:Till We Have Faces, C.S. Lewis (my personal Favorite-Book-in-the-World)
One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovitch, Alexandr Solzhenitsen
Tom Sawyer/Huckelberry Finn, Mark Twain
2:
Third-Person Omniscient. The first-person, the 'I', knows everything, and switches between thoughts of various characters, always in the third person. The 'I' may or may not add comments of their own; however, they may not be a character in the story. Tolkien in LotR uses this style. A style for epics with a broad base of characters.3:
Third person subjective: A middle ground, referring to a single character's thoughts, but in the third person (he, she). Jane Austen usually uses this POV in her novels, notably, Pride and Prejudice.
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I usually find writing in first person easier, not sure why, I guess I prefer to base the stories I write around one central character and I find that easier to do in first person.
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Third person omniscient works better for me - that is due to the epic's I've been writing. There's just no way on Otherworld I could go with first person with all the different characters, but one of them DOES talk in the first person when he gets upset. It is his "character flaw" 
it's fun to write, but not all the time.
it's fun to write, but not all the time.
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inserting first person into an overall third person narrative? i don't think i've ever seen that before!
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Blessed-one said:
It's only one character, and it's his dialogue interaction with other characters - not the narrative itself.
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lozzie
Just me...
That sounds interesting... I like third person as well, because it offers the opportunity to have mulptiple POVs. It can be fun to write too, because you can switch from one character's perspective to anothers. I guess ultimately it depends on the conext of the story as to whether you use 1st or third.
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