forum first person vs third person

Started January 16, 2018 by @cami

tune

time for another discussion!!

when writing, do you prefer to write in first or third person?

i can understand the benefits of both, but i'd like to know where everyone else stands on the opinion!

the reason i was thinking about this is because i was just thinking about it in my own writing, and when i was writing my "toronto newsies meets a darker shade of magic" story in third person, it was so vivid and the characters were consistent. meanwhile, when i'm writing my "throne of stars" novels in first person, it's all over the place in terms of descriptions and consistency.

for some reason i wrote the second "throne of stars" novel in third person close and that was my favourite one to write, so i'm thinking i need to change the other two to third person (but that would require rewriting an entire novel and i don't have the energy for that).

I used to write only in third person but then I decided "Hey, I've never really written in first person before. Let's try that." Predictably, it was terrible because it was my first try so I ended up writing a whole lot of my shorter stuff in first person for a while to try and get better at it. I like to think I've improved since then, but I still write most of my longer stuff in third person and only really write short things or random snippets in first person.

I generally write in limited third person, since it feels the most natural to me, and rarely touch first person. (Not the biggest fan of first person in books, though that's just a personal preference ^^; ) Though, I do sort of delve into second person if it fits the tone I'm trying to convey.

I personally write in first person quite often, if not all the time. I usually switch who's view I'm writing in, either at the start of a new chapter or in the middle of one (which is tricky and usually marked with ~~~). As long as you make the change clear, it goes pretty smoothly. You can get different views on different characters and things this way. But, everyone writes differently; this is just me.

It depends. Usually, I write in first person. When I do, I really feel like I can enter that character's mind. I can feel what they feel. I can imagine myself in their place much more clearly. But for some stories, emotional cues are better than internal dialogue, so it changes :)

I used to be all stuck up about disliking first person when I was younger, thinking that it was a "lesser" style of writing. I've definitely changed my opinion since then, and could care less what style the book is in as long as it's fresh and well-written.

I love first person books such as Jane Eyre, the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, and Sherlock Holmes stories (some are third, some are first. I think). The Queen's Thief series (awesome series, the first book is okay BUT THE SECOND AND THIRD ONES HOLY CRAP) has some good first person books, too (some are third person).

I can't read the same style with the same tricks over and over. I need something new, something creative, or at least I need to change up the different genres and styles I read constantly. So then my writing kind of reflects that, too. I've written some short stories in first person, some stories in third person in a fairy tale/sarcastic/witty kind of style (AWESOME STORIES LIKE THAT: Howl's Moving Castle, The Princess Bride, The Light Princess), and the one I'm writing right now is in limited third person.

SO YEAH. SORRY THAT WAS LONG.

I like to write in limited third person or first person depending on what I'm writing. If I'm writing in a universe with extensive world building or an abnormal setting, I'll use third person limited because I want the focus to be on the character, but I also want the reader to feel immersed in the setting. If it's set in our world, then I'll use first person. I feel like there's a lot of things that can go wrong with first person, it can sound really robotic without proper syntax or well developed characters. It's also really overused, especially in amateur work in places like wattpad (internally cringes) and really isn't done well. Stuff can go wrong with third person as well, but I like the challenge of making the reader connect to the character the hard way, rather than being like "You should instantly relate to my character because you're in their head.". I just think that third person is generally better written because the author has added in extra hours and details, and really challenged themselves.

^Good words

What's the difference between third person and limited third person?

limited third person tends to follow only one character's perspective and knows only their thoughts (example: if you've read six of crows, each chapter is from another character's perspective, but written in third person, so that's limited third person), whereas an omniscient narrator can know the thoughts of everyone.

Oh, okay. Thanks, @Cami!

Personally, I prefer to write in first person, manly because it gives the reader a sense of being close to the character(s), seeing that the author is writing from their point of view. This gives the reader a chance to see how the character feels in certain moments, what the character is thinking, and so on and so forth where as in third person, you're really only limited to the way that character's interact with each other. For me, third person is an overview – like an overseer of all character's and what they do but not what they think and how they feel but as for first person, its more personal, more in-depth. With both, descriptive writing is do-able in my opinion! (saw someone mention that their writing was better in third person, as far as descriptions and such goes) but at the end of it all, its really what the writer prefers/feels more comfortable with doing :]

Except I'm letting my characters think to themselves in third person, so that covers being in their minds. Asher thinks to himself a lot, actually. I definitely love a ton of first person books, but some books actually function much better with that element of mystery in a character that third person provides a lot of the time, in my opinion. I agree with nostradamus that it takes more showing and not telling in third person, and pulling it off in a way that makes the characters still feel real is pretty cool.

I'm a big fan of limited third person, but first person is fun too. depends on the tone of the story.

When I write Geneva Weston, it’s always in first person, because her mind is very important to the story. When I write the Throwing Sparks books, I use third since I have more characters

I prefer a mix between third person and second person (second person is referring to you as a reader sometimes).

I personally prefer writing in first person, but I do go through a lot of trial and error trying to get every bit of context or other character's ideas or PoVs in coherently with the story and pacing and everything.

I also like to mix it up a bit between first person and limited third person. For example, I might do two or three chapters in first person and then one in limited third person in order to view the story from another perspective, or to tell what is going on in a totally different place within the story.