Writing fiction in the 1st person.

Lots of stuff is written in first person! It does work quite well in many cases.

Top of my head:

Odd Thomas, Dean Koontz
The Dresden Files (any of the series), Jim Butcher

Drawnig a total blank for some reason, but there's two...

I have just read two books that were written in first person, as follows:

The Boleyn Inheritance - Phillipa Gregory
Innocent Traitor - Alison Weir

So many to choose from -- where to begin? I know, how about the book store and the library? If you pick up 10 books, chances are at least one is written in first person.

If nothing else, pick up:

To Kill a Mockingbird
The Kite Runner


Start from there.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was great!

I'm also a fan of first person, and it works for telling a story very well. However, it's not for everybody. Just realize going in that you're limited to what one person knows/thinks. You have to keep a believable personality throughout, but if you know the char inside and out (it sounds like the char might be you, so this shouldn't be a problem) then go for it!

Also, I'm a fan of unreliable narrators.

I think "unreliable narrator" is one of the biggest draws for first person. Can't really do that with another other type of narrative. I can't imagine Fight Club or American Psycho written in anything but first person.

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books are written in first. Loads of chicklit is written in first. Many mysteries are written in first.

If you give us a teensy clue about what genre you like to read, maybe we can narrow down some more titles for you.

7 I can come up with off the top of my head:

Laurell K. Hamilton
Vicki Pattersson
Janet Evanovich
Jim Butcher
Mary Janice Davidson
Kim Harrison
Charlaine Harris

You'll find a lot of first person in urban fantasy.

The Catcher in the Rye is another example. Who could ever forget Holden Caulfield?

He's one of my all time favorite narrators That book is what inspired me to write my first novel in 1st.

Bear in mind that there's a significant difference between a first-person story told by a narrator character who is not a guise for the writer, and a first-person story that is thinly-veiled autobiography. The first is widely and well-done by many acclaimed writers. The second is also widely done, but less often successful, IMO, and very often a trap for inexperienced writers, leading them into maudlin angst-filled navel-lint examination.

caw

aadams73 said:

If you give us a teensy clue about what genre you like to read, maybe we can narrow down some more titles for you.

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What I was going to say. The first book that popped into my head was Baby Sitters Club for some reason. Those are all in first person. But I would have no idea if you would like that!

There is so much in first person. Just let us know what you like, and we can recommend something similar.

blacbird said:

Bear in mind that there's a significant difference between a first-person story told by a narrator character who is not a guise for the writer, and a first-person story that is thinly-veiled autobiography. The first is widely and well-done by many acclaimed writers. The second is also widely done, but less often successful, IMO, and very often a trap for inexperienced writers, leading them into maudlin angst-filled navel-lint examination.

caw

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Very interesting points blacbird, I think that is why I chose to write my memoir in 3rd person as if it were a novel, I was afraid of not being able to do it properly in 1st person. For some reason I have trouble with 1st person. But the first 1st person you're talking about is one I enjoy reading but have trouble with composing. Thanks for posting that, it helped me to understand that there are two types of 1st person, at least I agree with your post, there might be others who can offer other types of 1st person writing. Great topic mum23.

Duped said:

The Boleyn Inheritance - Phillipa Gregory

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First person I've seen who's read that book, besides me. What did you think of Boleyn Inheritance? I liked it. Three people/first person. I really liked it.


I do really enjoy first person work. And there is a ton of it.

I was also going to say Catcher in the Rye. It was the first thing I thought of.

First person

I don't think it matters in the least whether the protagonist is a guise for the writer. It's all in how well it's done. In fact, I think I'd go the other way. Any first person protagonist that really works is going to have a huge chunk of the writer in there with him.

It's the story that matter, not whether the protagonist is really the writer in disguise. Too many writers goof by writing a story that's just wish fulfillment, not in the fact that the character is largely the writer.

First person is extremely common in mystery and western, of course, and almost all noir fiction is first person.

First person can be a tougher sell for a new writer. It seems so easy and natural to write that many think it is easy and natural. But doing it well, telling a publishable story in first person, is generally much tougher than telling that same story in third person limited, so agents and editors do tend to shy away from first person novels written by new writers.

Unless you read a lot of first person, you probably can't write it well enough to sell such a novel.

Jamesaritchie said:

First person can be a tougher sell for a new writer. It seems so easy and natural to write that many think it is easy and natural. But doing it well, telling a publishable story in first person, is generally much tougher than telling that same story in third person limited, so agents and editors do tend to shy away from first person novels written by new writers.

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I tend to agree with this. A new writer often finds it easier to write in first person than third. The problem is, although writing in first is easy, writing something good in first is hard -- more difficult than third, I think.

Jamesaritchie said:

I don't think it matters in the least whether the protagonist is a guise for the writer. It's all in how well it's done. In fact, I think I'd go the other way. Any first person protagonist that really works is going to have a huge chunk of the writer in there with him.

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Not quite what I meant. I was thinking of novels like A Clockwork Orange, or Little Big Man, or John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels, or Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novels, where the author adopts the persona of a narrative character, much like an actor adopts the persona of the role character. Obviously the viewpoints and attitudes of any good author are going to shine through that character persona. But none of these would be described as "autobiographical".

And I also didn't intend to imply that all "autobiographical" novels are inherently bad (obviously they're not), and I don't think I did. My main point stems from a lot of first-person manuscripts by inexperienced writers I've read, in which any real story gets smothered in internal rumination. Too much thinking and feeling, not enough doing and happening.

caw

blacbird said:

Not quite what I meant. I was thinking of novels like A Clockwork Orange, or Little Big Man, or John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee novels, or Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novels, where the author adopts the persona of a narrative character, much like an actor adopts the persona of the role character. Obviously the viewpoints and attitudes of any good author are going to shine through that character persona. But none of these would be described as "autobiographical".

And I also didn't intend to imply that all "autobiographical" novels are inherently bad (obviously they're not), and I don't think I did. My main point stems from a lot of first-person manuscripts by inexperienced writers I've read, in which any real story gets smothered in internal rumination. Too much thinking and feeling, not enough doing and happening.

caw

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Sorry I misunderstood you. Yes, first person by new writers is very often filled with the internal. They forget the real story takes place out in the world, just as it does in third person.

What bugs me is seeing so many manuscripts by new writers where every last thing is filtered through the protagonist. I saw, I heard, I felt, etc. Sometimes the simple article "the" can work wonders. Instead of writing I saw/heard the car explode, just writing the car exploded can make all the difference.

Nerilka's Story by Anne McCaffrey
Star Trek: The Next Generation: I, Q by Peter David and John de Lancie

Jamesaritchie said:

What bugs me is seeing so many manuscripts by new writers where every last thing is filtered through the protagonist. I saw, I heard, I felt, etc. Sometimes the simple article "the" can work wonders. Instead of writing I saw/heard the car explode, just writing the car exploded can make all the difference.

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Agreed. I find I do this a lot (either in first- or third-person POV: he saw X happen, instead of X happened) in rough draft. Being aware of it now, I look for this minor fetish at the edit phase, and consider each instance in its context; most can be changed, but a minority need to stay. The point is, much like the infamous It was X that did Y construction, they all need to be examined, one by one, at the edit stage.

caw