1st or 3rd Person?

[Juniper]

I'm fiddling around with a story. Maybe a novel, if I am ambitious enough. I'm not going to discuss it, but I have two questions for you.

1.) Do you enjoy stories written in 1st person, or do you find them annoying and prefer 3rd? Do you think there are just some tales more suited for 1st rather than 3rd? Do you think it's acceptable to hop between the two?

2.) Do you think it's weird for an author to write in the POV of his or her opposite gender? Meaning, would it be weird if I wrote a story in which a guy was the protagonist? Is it kind of freaky that the stories I like the most are the ones in which I do this? I did this for a story I wrote for my class last quarter and they told me I did it quite well. Hm.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The author needs an androgynous name.

[limey]

Originally Posted by Juniper

I'm fiddling around with a story. Maybe a novel, if I am ambitious enough. I'm not going to discuss it, but I have two questions for you.

1.) Do you enjoy stories written in 1st person, or do you find them annoying and prefer 3rd? Do you think there are just some tales more suited for 1st rather than 3rd? Do you think it's acceptable to hop between the two?

I think it depends on the story.

2.) Do you think it's weird for an author to write in the POV of his or her opposite gender? Meaning, would it be weird if I wrote a story in which a guy was the protagonist? Is it kind of freaky that the stories I like the most are the ones in which I do this? I did this for a story I wrote for my class last quarter and they told me I did it quite well. Hm.

Not wierd at all.

[DanaC]

I like both, but in general I prefer third person.

I don't think it is remotely weird for an author to write in the voice of the opposite gender.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I like both, but in general I prefer third person.

I don't think it is remotely weird for an author to write in the voice of the opposite gender.

ditto

It is possible to go back and forth from 1st - 3rd without disrupting flow. It can be useful when changing time-lines or the intensity of the action.

[DanaC]

Good point griff.

The two styles each have something different to offer. First person is immediate and direct. It invites the reader to associate directly in to the experience of the character/narrator. But it has limitations: it does not allow the 'God' perspective, which would invite the reader to associate directly into more than one character and see the wider setting.

All depends what you want from your reader really.


As a minor point I'd also say that 1st person is easier to get wrong. Or, rather, it either works completely or it doesn't work at all. 3rd person is slightly more forgiving I think.

My own preference, as a reader, is 3rd person (though I quite like it when something jumps between the two). As a writer, I have an attraction to the first person style, because it has a big impact and forces you to get to grips with your character's internal world. I often find, though, that whilst I might start a story in 1st person, I then find myself wanting to jump to 3rd person because it allows for a greater reach. One of my favourite styles, both to read and to write is the narrator style: a first person perspective on a third person story. So, you have a character from the story telling the reader the story from a future point.

[wolf]

First person tends to narrow the focus of a novel. You only find out what happens when that character is present and conscious. If there is a lot of "off screen" stuff you want your audience to know, it gets very clumsy trying to insert that into your character's head. First person done well is great. Done poorly, you want to hurl the book across the room.

Good first person writer: Andrew Vachss. If you haven't read it, grab a copy of Flood and hold on for the rest of the ride.

Bad first person writer: Stephenie Meyer. At least I think that Twilight crap was first person. I forget, it was that bad. I heard she was rewriting the whole piece of crap from the point of view of the vampire to make another billion dollars.

[SamIam]

I prefer 3rd person. Recently, I just finished a biography of Bonnie and Clyde done in the second person. There were times when this usage confused the hell out of me. Use 3rd person, then first, and finally second. Be sure you're story call for the 2nd person if you decide to user it.

[Juniper]

But then if you decide to write 2nd person, you sometimes feel a bit controlling and presumptuous, don't you?

Though I guess there are reasons to use it, I find it really unsettling. I read a story for a class last quarter in 2nd person: "Lust", by Susan Minot. It's about a promiscuous young girl talking about all the guys she's had sex with and how it made her feel, and in 2nd person it was SO creepy. As if such stuff she considered normal, something that anyone might do, and it really got me kind of squirmy and feeling shameful about my own late teens/early 20s and when I'd finished I wanted to take a shower with some strong soap. But yeah, I guess that's the point!

2nd person is, however, the POV of choice for marketing copy.

[Third Person]

go Third Person. definitely

[Juniper]

Ha.

[Cicero]

Or you could always just go experimental like "The House of Leaves".

http://images.google.com/images?hl=e...ed=0CCQQsAQwAw

[dar512]

Unless you are convinced that the story itself calls for it, I'd go 3rd person.

[lumberjim]

Dianna Gabaldon slips in and out of first and third in her Outlander series. I kind of liked it.

[Juniper]

LJ, YOU read Outlander?

Seriously?

Actually I think the first book was entirely in 1st person, and IIRC it wasn't till the third she started hopping into other characters' heads.