I strings

I suppose the limit's when you start getting annoyed.
The moment you realize the "one" too many, that's when it's too much.

If you're noticing the "I's", it's probably too many. You don't want to drag the reader out of the story and one way to do that is to get them thinking about the actual writing process instead of the characters, setting, plot, etc.

Only one is needed to orientate the reader.

Then it's a question of technique and varying sentence structure so the 'I' s do not intrude when used.

I this and I that and I this and I that can become boring and tedious very quickly.

Read First person novels to see how others overcome the issue.

8

If you or other readers think there are too many then there are too many. If no-one notices, then there aren't too many.

I agree with KTC.

It's true that when you notice the I's, you probably have too many. But in first person, way more than you might think can exist without drawing too much attention to themselves, especially at the start. Here's the opening of Jim Butcher's Storm Front:

My name is a Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. I'm a wizard. I work out of an office in midtown Chicago. As far as I know, I'm the only openly practicing professional wizard in the country. You can find me in the yellow pages, under "Wizards." Believe it or not, I'm the only one there.

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Dresden is talking about himself, so you get more first person pronouns. After the start, events get rolling and the MC is more likely to have some external event in the sentence's subject slot.

Chuck Palahniuk suggests "submerging" the I by speaking in the first person voice, but hide the "I." He says,

You can write in the first person, but nobody wants to hear a story told that way. We’re too ready for a first-person story to be boasting and bragging. A hero story. Nobody wants to hear that crap. So the moment we see that “I” on the page, we recoil. It bumps us out of the fictional dream – the same way a self-absorbed person irritates you. It’s always: I I I, me me me.

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He goes on to talk about the strengths of the first-person narrator versus the third-person, about the level of authority that readers enjoy in a first person story, even as they subconsciously recoil from the use of "I."

So he suggests this:

Consider writing in the first person, but after your first draft – take out as many I’s as possible. Or hide them. Change them to “mine” or “me” or “my.” Or switch to the rhetorical second person or even third person. Just get rid of those I’s. My personal demon is any story that starts with “I.” That instantly turns off my attention. But that’s just me.
Keep that camera pointed away from yourself for as long as possible.

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KTC said:

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6.5




Honestly though, read it aloud. If you start to hear I so much that you really notice it, it's probably too much.

JLCarver said:

Chuck Palahniuk suggests "submerging" the I by speaking in the first person voice, but hide the "I." He says,



He goes on to talk about the strengths of the first-person narrator versus the third-person, about the level of authority that readers enjoy in a first person story, even as they subconsciously recoil from the use of "I."

So he suggests this:

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"I" can certainly be overused, just as any word can be, but to say readers recoil at seeing I on the page is complete BS, based on nothing but a lack of knowledge. Readers not only do not recoil at seeing "I", most love seeing it. It's the very thing that makes first person so powerful. Overuse of any word is bad, but, this is the only problem with "I". Using it is good, and without it there would be no reason at all to wirte in first person. Really strange thing for a writer to say.

Jamesaritchie said:

"I" can certainly be overused, just as any word can be, but to say readers recoil at seeing I on the page is complete BS, based on nothing but a lack of knowledge. Readers not only do not recoil at seeing "I", most love seeing it. It's the very thing that makes first person so powerful. Overuse of any word is bad, but, this is the only problem with "I". Using it is good, and without it there would be no reason at all to wirte in first person. Really strange thing for a writer to say.

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"Recoil" was Chuck Palahniuk's word said in relation to his assertion that readers see the "I" as bragging. I'll give context to the word again in Chuck's own words:

"The theory is, you can write in the first person, but nobody wants to hear a story told that way. We’re too ready for a first-person story to be boasting and bragging. A hero story. Nobody wants to hear that crap. So the moment we see that “I” on the page, we recoil. It bumps us out of the fictional dream – the same way a self-absorbed person irritates you. It’s always: I I I, me me me."

I think he would agree with you that overuse is bad. And that's his point. In the original essay, he even goes on to explain why the "I" is such a good choice in a story: You can employ honesty in the narrator; the story is better "grounded" in the narrator's world; and first person lets the reader "become" the character.

Here's his full essay, along with his short story "Guts" that uses the first-person narrator (thought be warned: "Guts" isn't for the faint of heart): http://captainkristiane.tumblr.com/post/20668965702/httplitreactorcomessayschuck-palahniuksubmerging