Should you write a novel in the first or third person?
It’s up to you.
I prefer to write mine in the third person because I don’t want to take part as a character in my own book, but would rather be an outside observer of events.
Writing in the first person means that you yourself are the main character in a book. You use the words “I,” “me,” “my” or “we.” In other words, I did this and I said that.
There are both advantages and disadvantages to writing a book where basically everything that happens, happens to you personally. As the narrator of the book and its main character, you can speak directly to the reader and share your most intimate thoughts and actions.
For example, the line, when I heard this news, I thought that I would die.
If handled well this can be more dramatic than writing in the third person where you would say, when Dave heard the news, he thought that he would die.
In the first person you are talking directly to the reader. This can make the story feel as though you were sharing a secret with the reader. It’s a personal and up-close form of storytelling. I like to refer to it as “diary writing” because it’s much like writing a diary.
However, there are also downsides to this format.
The author/narrator of the book (you yourself) are limited in what you can convey. You can only describe your own thoughts and actions. Other characters in your book—you could only guess what they were thinking—you can’t get inside the heads of the other characters.
The first person is thus a one-person show—you.
There is also the temptation—human nature being what it is—to misstate facts, to exaggerate or cover up mistakes or bad choices you have made, to make yourself look more worthy (if you are writing about your own experiences).
Since it‘s your own thoughts and actions—objectivity can suffer.
For example, you write and portray that your mother-in-law was a vile shrew to get some revenge on her when in fact she had many good sides to her, and you were often unreasonable (this is forgotten or dismissed), in your dealings with her.
Third person writing on the other hand has its own pros and cons.
You have more latitude. You can portray any number of characters what they thought and said. The story takes in a wider view than that of a first-person book.
You show the characters interacting with each other more or less equally although your main character you are closer to and more involved with—but as the narrator you step outside the story. The characters become the focus—not you and what you think and say.
I like my own stories to be about them (the characters) and not me.
A downside is that if you are less dramatic about a character than you are about yourself (in the first person), the reader may become less connected to your main character than they would to you. Third person can become less raw and personal a portrayal than something you experienced yourself.
There is also the possibility of “head-hopping,” jumping too quickly between too many characters saying and doing things that can confuse or bore the reader.
Still, to me, developing conflict and suspense requires more than just one character (myself), and let’s say if I have a villain a bad guy—-it’s more important for me to show the reader why he’s bad, than it is for me (in the first person) to suggest or guess that he’s bad.
Next week we’ll talk about AI and why it’s just a useful tool and not a threat to writers.
John Sammon is a freelance writer and the author of 41 books, many of which can be foundhere on Amazon. He is a resident of El Dorado Hills. His commentary is the first in a series on the trip of self publishing.
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