forum How best to write in first person?

Started January 07, 2019 by @CurtisFamWriters

tune

I'm really good at writing in the third person, but I prefer to read first person books.
Any tips??

Writing in first person is terrible and terrifying. Existing in first person is difficult enough. My suggestion would be to basically just write like hell and then edit edit edit. Edit like your life depends on it, then edit some more because that's probably the only way to start. And just like any other writing its probably going to be bad at first and get better as you continue practicing. Also, read a lot of first person stories and pay attention to the things you like, the things you don't like, the things that grab your interest and the things that break it, etc. Learn from the successes and failures of other authors to improve your own writing. Good luck!

Thx!

Just saying but I write in first person constantly. What I do is try to write it like third person but it is what they are experiencing first hand.

I usually use first person, but I've never really thought about how… I guess some things to watch out for would be

• The narration depends very much on what tense it's being told in. First person present tense means we find things out as the character does and no one has hindsight. If it's past tense, it implies that the character is looking back on events - which means that they probably have a different perspective on what happened than they did while it happened, if that makes sense. Foreshadowing is a lot easier in past tense, but it's a lot more fun in present tense.
• First person narrators are, by definition, unreliable. It always pays to plan out two things before you start writing - what really happened, and what the character thinks happened and their perspective on events.
• Switching perspectives while you're in first person is tricky, and I'd generally recommend avoiding it.
• First person generally means that it's important to cut out filter words - words that come in between the character's perspective and the story. (For example, as a first person narrator, you don't have to say "I saw this happen" because the fact that we read it means that the character saw it happen, so all we need to know is that "this happened".) (idk if I'm explaining that well)
• The characters all need very distinct voices!! It's always important, but especially in first person - you there to be language quirks and charms that are unique to the narrator and only the narrator. (I struggle with this bit tbh)