Point of View.

Biggest "problem" with first person is that you only ever see things through the eyes of one person. (Duh - obviously) As the reader we can only ever know what the narrator knows. This can work but can also be very confining.

Switching narrative POVs in third person is something as blatant as obviously switching POVs, but can be subtler and a touch confusing when mid-chapter we see what the protagonist is thinking, then immediately follow that with what the antagonist is seeing.

This was kinda simplified, but I was up all night with a tooth absess and a combination of painkillers and lack of sleep made this very posting a major challenge. Makes perfect sense to me, but I give no guarantees.

Switching POV in first person doesn't generally happen, although some authors have mutliple first person narrators or alternate between first person narrators in some scenes and third person narrators in others.

The key here, though, is that you're writing in the POV you like to read. That's so important, to be choosing the POV because you like it AS A READER, not because you think it's easy and therefore like it AS A WRITER. It's all about the reader.

JD

I like first person POV, because I get to spend the whole length of the story talking in the character's voice. If I gave him/her an interesting voice, then it's a bunch of pages of sheer delight, and it comes fast and easy.

I tend to write in third-person limited, however, partially becase it doesn't come as easily to me (if something's hard, keep doing it) but partially because I think I can tell a stronger story that way.

First person's hard to pull off properly, sometimes, says me. I've read novels where the writing style sounds exactly like third-person, just with an "I" instead of "he" and I don't like reading them at all. The style is a great deal different.

At least, in my experience.

Oh, and the reason the formatting is funny for the first bunch of pages of the Uncle Jim thread is that it's made the move across who knows how many message boards now, and back at the dawn of time when it was created, God hadn't invented formatting yet. If you read the early pages of the Never-Ending Publish America Thread, you'll find the same thing.

I think the only real problem with 1st is that a lot of readers (and hence editors) don't like it. I recently wrote a novella in first person and got a few complaints from those used to reading me in third.

Akiahara,

Check out this link to the Forum FAQ for lots of previous posts regarding Point of View.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showpost.php?p=657737&postcount=19

veinglory said:

I think the only real problem with 1st is that a lot of readers (and hence editors) don't like it. I recently wrote a novella in first person and got a few complaints from those used to reading me in third.

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I damn well don't know why they don't like it. Heathens! Hmpf.

Actually, it may be because of what I stated, where some writers essenally take the "he" and make it an "I" and don't make the rest of the structure more fluid.

I think that if you have to force the POV, it's the wrong one. If it seems the natural approach, go for it.

Maprilynne

I don't understand why people don't like first person either, consider so many novels, including classics, were written in 1st. There must be an audience, or else these books wouldn't have gotten published or made it to best-seller lists. Some of my favorite novels are in 1st person.

I think their gripe is because they've seen so many BAD ones.

A writer can get away with anything in writing as long as it is well written. It's the bad ones that make certain styles taboo.

The choice between writing in first person and writing in third person is best decided by asking yourself, "which one is better suited for what I want to write?"

For a decision like that I would not worry about what editors or readers think. There are enough first person books out there that if one editor doesn't like it solely because it is in first person they probably wouldn't like it because you used three periods in the opening paragraph.

As for switching points of view, this is mainly done when writing in third person and generally follows the guideline of one scene = one point of view. It is possible to switch between first and third person, but obviously it must be skillfully done for it to be effective as opposed to confusing. I wouldn't suggest trying it unless there is some reason for your entire novel to be based around it.

I generally like chic-lit in first person, but not fantasy. I don't like badly done first person, and HATE badly done present tense.

I'll read first person, past tense, but present just rubs me the wrong way.

I do think there is a certain bias in POV depending on the genre. Little epic fantasy has ever been written in first person, as an example. My first book was sci/fi and written in third person limted, this new work is a comedy/mystery and is in first person. Why? It just seems to read better that way.

Last I knew, 'I was' wasn't present tense!

Akiahara said:

I think I'm confused on the whole first person past/present tense issue. I think my mind has a certain way it wants to tell a story and that's the way it goes down. Everything I do seems like first person past tense to me, but I could be wrong...

present - "I was going to the store to pick up a gallon of milk."?
past - "I went to the store to pick up a gallon of milk."?

Don't mind me, I'm just wingin' it here.

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One problem with first person is that a lot of writers aren't good enough to sound like their character. I read an Oprah pick, with a first person male protagonist, but it was very obvious that the writer was a woman. I never believed the "voice." In third person, however, it would've sounded like a woman telling a man's story and it would've been more believable.

On the other hand, if Oprah likes your book, it really doesn't matter what I think.

"I go to the store for some milk. Then I step outside and light a cigarette, and wait for a bus."

This is present tense, first person. Think "choose your own adventure" but in first(I) or third person(he, she they). Yeah, it reads icky unless it's done right. I've read both done well and icky. The icky is usually first person, or a head-hopping third omniscent.

In my fantasy WIP, first person was the natural choice for POV. My MC is a hermit so no one else is qualified to tell her story.

Yeah, it's odd to read. I actually got a sub in 3rd omni, present tense, and I couldn't get past the first page. The tense distracted me.

I think most use past because a book is like telling a story on paper. And most stories have already happened.

Wait. I think "The Time-Traveler's Wife" was done in present? And it's first person, but the POV character shifts from Claire to Henry. And it was SO well done, one of my favorite books ever.

Ok, now I gotta go look...

YES! It's present tense. Go get this book, and read how first person present is done to near perfection.

It's hard. And Audrey does a fantastic job with it.

I did my present novel in first person but I am willing to change it into third since at least one editor does not like first person.

Personally I'd rather read first person past tense than third person present. Present seems to work better with first person.

janetbellinger said:

I did my present novel in first person but I am willing to change it into third since at least one editor does not like first person.

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I don't think it's just a simple matter of changing the narrative style from "I did x" to "She did x". First-person narration and third-person limited narration produce differences in effect to the reader, at least to this reader. In making such a change, be very careful in your editing; some other changes may be necessary.

caw.