Urban Fantasy: 1st or 3rd person?

Not at all. There are only drawbacks depending on how and what story you wish to tell. Urban fantasy as a genre does not allow for an across-the-board easier time writing a story.

I think the first person trend was started in part by the huge success of Jim Butcher's Dresden books, but there are quite a few successful series out there in third person as well. Third person is in no way a bar to success, if that's how you want to write it.

I do third person urban fantasy and it works for me.

I would think that it would depend on the story itself. Some stories lend themselves well to a certain point of view. I would consider heavily the prevalent point of view in the genre, but you've got to do what's best for the story always.

Most UF that I've read is in first person, partly because it's a blend of the mystery/crime/thriller/whatever-that-genre-is, which is also written in first person quite often. That doesn't mean you can't write a good one in third, though. Do whatever comes naturally.

I've been thinking a lot about this lately. My UF WIP has three POVs, one for each MC (hello acronym, my old friend), so I did it 3rd person, but my next novel is definitely going to be 1st person. I see the same trend you do in the bookstore and figure it can't hurt to go with the flow.

I think it depends on what you want to highlight, PIF. Sympathy (wanting the character to succeed) or empathy (caring about how the character feels)? It also depends on how you want to reveal it.

Third person is good at letting us sympathise with the main character and empathise with the world, but first person often helps us empathise with the main character and sympathise with the world.

So if your MC is very sympathetic then I'd suggest third person (e.g. Tolkien's hobbits). This gives you options for omniscient empathy to look at the reactions of others. If it's less sympathetic then I'd suggest first person (e.g. Chandler's Marlowe or Fraser's Flashman) or limited third. This opens up empathy so that at least we understand what your MC is feeling.

It may also be helpful to consider whether you want the character to operate more on the world or the world to operate more on the character - and how you want to reveal the character to the audience: outside-in (by impressions and impacts) or inside-out (by motives and reactions)?

If your character is operating on the world but revealed inside-out then you might choose first person (e.g. Gene Wolfe's Severian in the Book of the New Sun series). If it's outside-in then you might choose third (e.g. Batman).

If the world is operating on a character who's being revealed inside-out then you might choose third person (e.g. Akakii Akakievich in Gogol's The Overcoat). If it's outside-in then you can choose either (Lady MacBeth is third person for instance, but I generally prefer 1P or limited 3P because it feels tenser to me).

Also, if you want to alternate between sympathy and empathy it can be useful to use a 3P observer who's actually a character in the story. A lot of horror stories do this, for instance.

Random ideas here that I've been putting together... Hope they may help.

Also think about what the requirements of the story are. I'm doing an urban fantasy, and neither third nor first was right--it was omniscient. There were a number of very specific elements that were better suited for omniscient.

What Linda said. I'd also add considering your MC's voice. If she/he has a very strong or particular voice, first person can really work to your advantage. If their voice isn't that strong but yours is (the narrative voice), third person would work well.

I could be wrong, but omniscient IS third person, yes?

Tasmin21 said:

I could be wrong, but omniscient IS third person, yes?

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Generally. I suppose you could do omniscient 1st person if your narrator is injecting themselves somehow into the narrative as in:

Biff walked out the magic door. I noticed that the blood sugar in his brain was kind of low so I wasn't surprised when he fainted.

Tasmin21 said:

I could be wrong, but omniscient IS third person, yes?

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Yes. But in omniscient, the narrator has the ability to look into everyone's mind whereas a tight 3rd person POV sticks to a single character.

One reason I personally don't like 1st person is that often the writer is locked into a single POV and I like the diversity of having more than one character weigh in. (Though there are some books with multiple 1st person POV's.)

You know, that's actually an interesting thought... Doing an omniscient PoV, but telling it first person AS the narrator. Has that ever been done?

Tasmin21 said:

You know, that's actually an interesting thought... Doing an omniscient PoV, but telling it first person AS the narrator. Has that ever been done?

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I have no idea...but it seems like it would work like 3rd person limited since
the narrator would have to situate themselves somehow so that the reader could make sense of the omniscience.

I thought long and hard about this because I had an idea that would have only worked in third person, but eventually, the story I started writing came out naturally in first person.

There are no rules except write the best damned story you can.

For my UF I did limited 3rd, for me it adds more layers and mystery to the work because you don't know what every (besides the MC) is thinking. This helps me also create the overwhelming feeling about being in an urban landscape that I am going for.

Tasmin21 said:

You know, that's actually an interesting thought... Doing an omniscient PoV, but telling it first person AS the narrator. Has that ever been done?

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Yes. There is a YA book called The Girls that I just read where five girls all tell about the same incident. Every chapter gives voice to a single girl (some get to speak more than once). It's a very short book (I think it this style might become tedious in a very long one), but it struck me as a very creative way to write a story. The book isn't fantasy or anything, and really is meant to appeal to preteen girls, but I found it interesting.

There's probably more out there like this, but this was the only one that I could think of.

I do third person limited, it started out of a need to get myself out of the bad habit of head-hopping, but now I've found that it works quite well for my UF.

I I I I I I I think there are more drawbacks in first person. lol

The fad will pass, I hope.

Stormhawk said:

I do third person limited, it started out of a need to get myself out of the bad habit of head-hopping, but now I've found that it works quite well for my UF.

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I actually had the problem too. One reason why my first book was 182K long.

When I went back to edit it (with some sharp criticism from my English major gf), I was amazed at how much tighter it became when I cut a lot of those extra scenes and internal monologue.

rugcat said:

I think the first person trend was started in part by the huge success of Jim Butcher's Dresden books, but there are quite a few successful series out there in third person as well. Third person is in no way a bar to success, if that's how you want to write it.

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Um, don't you mean LK Hamilton?

With that said, my UF is written in first person, and I prefer to read UF in first person. I gave up on Anita Blake a LONG time ago, but I still enjoy Rachel Morgan as well as Dante Valentine.

while we're on the subject, why do some of you write urban fantasy?

The omniscient first person has been done before, usually to represent a ghost or incredibly intelligent person...

FR