1st vs 3rd person

Outburst

Looking for opinions on the advantages of writing from the 1st or 3rd person?

Any takers?

Seems like one advantage of 1st person is the ability to go into more depth on the narrator's views or inner state.

In no country for old men, (if i remember correctly) the author uses the third person for the bulk of the story and the first person to flesh out the sheriff's character and views.

pickarooney

Writing from the first person lets you know a lot more about a character, albeit from a highly subjective viewpoint. The downside is that you're limited to the world the character ionteracts with directly. Of course, you can write from several different first-person perspectives...

damselnat

One of the things I oive about writing in the first person is the very limitation of it myself. I love that a first person narrator is subjective, and therefore unreliable, and can essentially lie to the reader. You can really play this up depending on the sort of person your character is, they might be viewing things subjectively, or they might even be blatantly lying to the reader, even when inside the characters "head."
They also won't always be aware of everything that's going on, which can be a hindrance depending on the story, and of course you can't show the reader anything that the narrator is unaware of (but again playing with the character's personality/narration you can hide from the reader things that the character IS aware of as well).
Of course it's a totally personal thing, depending on what you're most comfortable with and which way is the most natural and until you've tried it in both you might not know which form is going to suit the story best. Experiment with both and see I'd say!

Also Starring LeVar Burton

There's pros and cons to both... I'm more inclined to write in the first person, because it suits my style of writing, for the most part, but I think 3rd person can cover a broader spectrum, so it really depends what fits best for your story...

af_thefragile

I prefer reading and writing in 1st person. It lets you enter the mind of the character, letting you see everything from his viewpoint. It makes a more intimate and more personal story. You can travel along with the character through his highs and lows and experience them first hand.
The downside is that you are very limited to what goes on in the story's world. Everything that happens, needs to come to you through the character's filter so that you see things the way he does and you can't have an outside perspective on things and events. All the characters are tainted through his vision, through his likes and dislikes.

In 1st person you can really get personal with what you write and write it like how you'ld write a diary or tell a personal incident to someone. It lets you explore the characters mental state and try to influence the ready to engage into the character and relate to him.

3rd person is pretty much the opposite. I think it is best used when there is more than one central character in the story and a lot of events take place outside the realm of the main characters. It gives you the freedom to jump from one scene to next, shift focus from one character to another, giving a more outward, birds eye view of what's going on and how its effecting all the different characters. A lot of times the reader can figure out what's going on before the characters do. Downside is it doesn't really allow you to get as personal to the characters as you can in 1st person. The reader can't really relate to the characters as well as they could in 1st person but the reader does get a greater choice of characters to chose from to relate to!

In 3rd person you can get very creative about describing actions, expressions, body language, scenes, locations and such. Everything can be told the way it is and the story doesn't need to follow a chronological timeline. In 1st person you can only describe as much as the character sees and notices, which means you can't describe the details of every little thing in the scene.

So first person narrative is like a FPS game. Everything that happens and you see, happens through the person's perspective. You run with the person, you fight with the person, you sleep with the person, you dream with the person.

A third person narrative is like watching a movie. Everything that happens and you see, happens on a screen in front of you where you can see how the characters fit into the scene and how they act and react towards all the events taking place.

Both are very effective when used in the right place. If its a psychological drama/thriller then 1st person works better imo. If its an action thriller then 3rd person works better. But then there are no set rules to anything. You can really do whatever you want and as long as you can pull it off well, it'll work.

Outburst

Thanks for all the feedback!

davyjose

This is a bit like asking Piano or Guitar? when writing a song. You can play the same chords, and create the same melody, but have two very different pieces of music.
It's the same with 1st Vs 3rd person: you can tell the same story, but follow two different paths in doing so.

My advice is to write in whichever you feel will best tell your story, factoring in your favourite style, and the one which you are best at.

I started out writing 1st person, but have since fallen in love with 3rd person -- I love the way i can layer and weave different elements, characters, themes into the same plot with it. That's much harder to do with 1st person, IMO.

Of course there are incredibly well written 1st person books, better than anything I will probably write, and when done well it can be majestic. But I also think it's easier to write a poor novel in 1st person -- it can tempt the writer into excessive navel-gazing and cheap exposition, IMO.

Whereas, in 3rd person, you have so many more lements than the character to focus on.

Spiritoftheseventies

I would go for the third person as writer actually has to put himself or herself into the mind of someone else which is more challenging.

Blush_01

Someone once told me that people starting out prefer the first person because it's perceived as easier (and in a way it is easier to say "I" than challenge the protagonist's flaws with a narrator or other characters). I used to be totally in love with the first person because writing from the "I" perspective comes more naturally. I now prefer the third person omniscient (although the third person limited has its perks) because it has broader scope.

It was recommended that if I was totally convinced I should write something in the first person I should first write it in the third person and then re-write it in the first person once I had everything straight in my head (advice not specific to me, I might add ). The only thing I haven't tried, and am a bit dubious about attempting, is writing in the second person.

Then again, I only scribble for fun, so there you go!

pickarooney

I started writing a book once where the narrator communicated with the protagonist and there was a blurring of the first, third and even second person.

I had the omniscient narrator correct the lies the protagonist was passing off as the truth and him in turn refuting the narrator's claims.

Needless to say, it was never finished.

Spiritoftheseventies

pickarooney wrote: »

I started writing a book once where the narrator communicated with the protagonist and there was a blurring of the first, third and even second person.

I had the omniscient narrator correct the lies the protagonist was passing off as the truth and him in turn refuting the narrator's claims.

Needless to say, it was never finished.

Pickarooney did you ever read The true story of the Kelly Gang. The reason I bring it up because the author Peter Carey researched letters Ned Kelly wrote to his daughter and through them wrote about Ned Kelly in the first person.
An excellent example of how first person is used. Would recommend it to anyone interested in the genre.
One of the best books I have ever read.

pickarooney

Spiritoftheseventies wrote: »

Pickarooney did you ever read The true story of the Kelly Gang. The reason I bring it up because the author Peter Carey researched letters Ned Kelly wrote to his daughter and through them wrote about Ned Kelly in the first person.
An excellent example of how first person is used. Would recommend it to anyone interested in the genre.
One of the best books I have ever read.

I bought it and it's on my bookshelf but I've never got around to reading it. I will do someday.

Outburst

It's an odd read, not a comma in sight : )

Arpa

Look at Mr. Joyce's symphony. Stephen is the third person, yet you never realise it for one moment. We are drawn so deep into his consciousness that you believe it's in the first person. So...just write like Joyce and you're sorted.

Spiritoftheseventies

Outburst wrote: »

It's an odd read, not a comma in sight : )

Yes that was a literary technique. Joyce did the same for Penelope, the last chapter in Ulysses. One sentence which ran on to something liike 40,000 words if I right. Stream of consciousness and all that.
Loved the Carey book. Definitely in my top five of all time.

Outburst

Not sure on second person - is that what Arthur Conan Doyle used in Sherlock Holmes - i.e. Watson recounting the actions of Holmes?

pickarooney

Second person is more like the style of those old choose-your-own-adventure books, if you remember them?

Outburst

Ah ok - so the reader is referred to in the story?

I still have nightmares of turning to page 43 and being eaten by a sabre toothed tiger : )

Antilles

That's why you turn to page 43, but keep a finger stuck on page 27, just in case

Dublin141

I'm more comfortable with 1st person but I love 3rd person omniscient if it is done well. I can't do it well. :rolleyes:

I read a choose your own adventure blog the other day. It wasn't finished but it brought back a lot of bizarre memories!

Arpa

Dublin141 wrote: »

I'm more comfortable with 1st person but I love 3rd person omniscient if it is done well. I can't do it well. :rolleyes:

I read a choose your own adventure blog the other day. It wasn't finished but it brought back a lot of bizarre memories!

Yeah, I used to love the Asterisk and Obelisk one. It had cardboard pull out maps and everything.

As a link between Sherlock Holmes and Game Books, have a look at this if you're interested.

http://www.gamebooks.org/show_item.php?id=2466

FredBaby!

I find it depends on what characters you have, although I am quite partial to the first person.