Do you prefer to write in third person or first? Why?

[Steerpike]

I just used the direct approach in my current story. The narrator tells the reader directly (and tells them something about her character at the same time).

She's standing in front of the new place she and her mom were forced to move to from their upscale home in southern California:


"This was my new home.

Me. Anya Balam. The Anya Balam, Beverly Hills girl and queen of Chastain Prep (up and coming, at least). That was last week. Now I was destined to be a total loser."


I may take out the first occurrence, though as I was saying the sentence aloud when I first wrote it, it sounded exactly like the character would say it.

 

[Ankari]

Although she writes from one PoV, look up Jacqueline Carey's Kushiel and Naamah's series. Those were the best FPoV books I've read.

 

[GeekDavid]

I just used the direct approach in my current story. The narrator tells the reader directly (and tells them something about her character at the same time).

She's standing in front of the new place she and her mom were forced to move to from their upscale home in southern California:


"This was my new home.

Me. Anya Balam. The Anya Balam, Beverly Hills girl and queen of Chastain Prep (up and coming, at least). That was last week. Now I was destined to be a total loser."


I may take out the first occurrence, though as I was saying the sentence aloud when I first wrote it, it sounded exactly like the character would say it.

That works too. As I said, there's pretty much endless possibilities.

Or you could go back to one of the classics. "Call me Ishmael."

 

[Addison]

For me it depends on the story. Some of them are third, others are first, it depends on how close I want the readers to be to the character. If I'm on the fence between the two then I go for subjective third, the perfect balance between the two.

 

[AlinaKitti]

I write in first.
I have been writing in first since I started writing so it feels natural for me.
It's easier to imagine being the character since a lot of how I make scenes if by day dreaming and role playing in my head as the character.

 

[Rinzei]

So far, I've only ever written in third person for stories. Not sure why - the time just never seemed to call for first person. I'm sure the reason is much deeper than that, but I'll just go with "it's not come up yet" for now, ha ha.

 

[Morgyn]

Clever idea, shifting first POV with chapter breaks. May steal that idea. Third feels so distant to me.

 

[Addison]

If I could take back or edit my earlier post I would. I've been debating that for the last twelve hours. My current WiP is in a...well a third person but I was aiming for subjective third. Obviously, as I'm posting this, it hasn't worked. So now I'm doing a little experiment with my second chapter to see if it works-if it does I'll apply it to the first. I'm going to put myself in first person perspective to add the subjective voice to the third person narrative. In another document I'll re-type it in first person.

So, in this new-found wisdom, the perspective won't fall in your lap with the story idea. You need to experiment to find the right one.

 

[Jabrosky]

Most of the time I prefer third person. In my opinion it gives me a better view of my protagonists than first person, since I can gaze at them from a short distance away rather than limit myself to their own eyesight. There are of course writers who advocate the eyesight view even for third person, but I don't really understand this viewpoint (no pun intended). If you really must limit yourself to what your characters can see, why not just write in first person?