What voice do you find most to your liking: first person or third person?
Third person is the easiest way to write, and it's pretty much the most popular voice of our era. I've experimented with first person, but third person allows a writer to reveal more to the readers while keeping the characters themselves in the dark. It's basically the narrator's voice. Very rarely does a story work with the main character narrating the story unless the majority of the other characters are flat.
I think it really depends on the story you are trying to tell. I really enjoy first person when the story is more personal and focused on a single character. When the story is about that one person, rather than a platform for telling a story about a world or a theme using that person as a conduit, first person works very well and feel a lot more natural, since I can be in the characters head.
However, third person is my favourite when writing about a concept or theme, as it provides separation from the characters that allows you to explore more closely their interactions with the rest of the narrative and each other, so you can paint a picture of the world and themes you want to cover without being limited by a single point of view.
I'm a firm believer in the right tool for the job, but if pushed to say which I prefer, I'd have to say I find writing first person an easier and more natural affair.
I believe that I write better in first person POV but - and its a big but - I am always slightly disappointed when I begin a novel and find out its in first person POV. I usually get over that and go on to enjoy whatever it is I am reading but I think an author needs to be a skilled writer in order to make the other characters in the story come to life.
I switch a lot between the two. I feel that first person brings across more of a character's emotions, but third person gives it that omniscient feel so that a story isn't too blinkered or hampered by one person's account.
It depends which suits the story. First person is great for getting inside the characters' heads, but sometimes it just doesn't work in a particular story. I also like to mix both within a novel, though that probably wouldn't work in a short story.
It really depends on the story. But when using third person I tend to invest the prose with the voice of the current viewpoint character for a given scene. Or rather, it feels more like the character imposing their own perspective - and therefore voice - on the writing.
I prefer third... even if is more complicated but authors tend to lose their selves in the characters when write in first person for many chapters and books become autobiographies.
First person.
I am a strictly third person writer, and it takes a very impressive author for me to be able to read first person works. I feel as though I have a better ability to describe scenes (with or without the main character) when writing in third person.
Either is great - but I switched from first to third with the first and second book just so I wouldn't repeat myself with tone. Third is more traditional, in my mind, and harder. So I like 3rd.
I find first person to be a bit difficult for me. It's like putting myself in the story and I find it difficult to dig inside the "I's" and "Me's" to find an alien reaction. The reaction that my character is supposed to have. I guess I need to work on that a bit more.
I generally prefer to write in third person, though I have been exploring first person in some resent works. First person is more limited, which makes it harder for me. I like to be omniscient, and get into the heads of my supporting characters and antagonists along with my protagonists. Third person lets me do that.
It depends on the story. Both work well in the right situation.
I've recently developed a taste for the first person voice. It allows you to get in to the hero/heroine a lot more. You tend to sympathize with their plight and love or hate who they do. However, I do enjoy writing in third person as well because you are able to get a larger picture and flip between relative plots.
First person - not necessarily as myself. |
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