Writing in First Person Before Switching to Third

Yorth

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I discussed this idea before on discord (some months ago) and have been ridiculed for it, but I'm going to rehash it and formalize it in this thread.

One of the biggest mistakes new authors make when writing in the third person is that they choose to go with a limited approach but constantly slip into omniscient. This is different from head-hopping as you don't switch between POV characters in the same scene, it's more about the narration. They either give information that the POV character isn't supposed to have or say through narration things that the POV character wouldn't say.

This kind of behavior has many drawbacks. It creates an effect of whiplash much like that seen in head-hopping, but it also makes the author fail at creating a level of intimacy between the readers and the characters. Now, I'm not saying that you can't do it consciously while knowing the drawbacks, but most new authors don't even notice that they're doing it in the first place.

Enter the first person POV. If you're writing in first person, then there is no way you're gonna fall into these pitfalls. Or, at the very least, it would be much harder for it to go unnoticed by you. That's why I encourage 3rd person writers to try out 1st person if at least to get a sense of how the scenes should look like. Honestly, it's a pretty cool exercise. Not only does it force your writing to be more intimate, but it lets you experiment with techniques you might not have been introduced to before.
 

NiQuinn

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That's why I encourage 3rd person writers to try out 1st person if at least to get a sense of how the scenes should look like.
Already did. Not my cup of tea. At the end of the day, I'll leave it up to the author to choose the best POV they need to tell a story.

One of the biggest mistakes new authors make when writing in the third person is that they choose to go with a limited approach but constantly slip into omniscient.
The thing is, it's an actual style for some authors to go omniscient. It takes finesse, true, but it's been used by authors for a while now.

As a writer, I just can't get into 1st POV writing. It grates. In the same sense, I also can't stand reading 1st POV stories. Maybe it reflects? What an author writes is what they're comfortable in reading? At least it is with me.
 

keitaro-sempai

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I prefer 1st POV for day-to-day chapters by far. The best way to get in characters head is see through their eyes. It's also pretty good in some situations, in action scenes sucks tho
 

MrDarkness1234

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yeah it does in fight scenes but when you want to add like commentary of how someone did this or that In 3rd Pov is the best for it or maybe you want to give a bit of mystery for you character you can show then a picture and give them a good memory to show it in text making them to ask why did that happen or something like that.
 

Phantomheart

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I’m into a lot of unreliable narrator stories so far this year, and I always experimented with writing 1st person. So when SHA competition began, I decided to do a first person story with an overarching theme of forgiveness and moving on while having and unreliable narrator MC.
What I’ve learned so far in my personal experience ( may not be the same with others ):
  • It is much easier to write once you get the hang of it
  • By putting yourself in the perspective of one person, the jumpiness you get from writing 3rd person Is reduced. And I mean in the fact that plot holes relating to characters are less likely to happen in my place.
  • You don’t have to worry that much about time and the passing because when you speak the way you write, like any person would describe with enough detail, things become easier to overlook.
  • The emotional ties that are exposed in
    First person are stronger to read and sympathize with then third person.
  • You can use second person (referring to the reader as you) without sounding awkward.
  • The narrator can be analyzed as a person themselves rather than just a speaker, and gives the entire story a personality as a result.
 

Yorth

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It's interesting that you say transitioning from limited to omniscient narration in 3rd person creates "whiplash", but the suggested method is to switch entirely between 3rd and 1st which, in my opinion, gives far more a feeling of whiplash in a much more intense and obvious way. It's like the sensation of having a dream where you're an omnipotent spectator, then suddenly realising you're actually an active character. The switch is absurd and jarring.
When I say switch, I dont mean to put it in the story. I meant it as a draft before switching to 3rd person limited.
 

LostinMovement

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They either give information that the POV character isn't supposed to have or say through narration things that the POV character wouldn't say.

If a writer goes from limited to omni within the same scene/paragraph then that means they were technically writing in omni all along and not limited. Limited can't offer you insight into the thoughts of other characters or 'outside' info. So, if they do what you mentioned, it means they should stick to omni for the rest of chapter/scene.

The real issue is learning to differentiate between omni and head-hopping. Omni is about perspective so if you change perspective and prepare your reader for it, it is fine. Head-hopping is when you change voice without setting your reader for it, which ends up jarring or confusing them. On a side note, an omni narrator can be either objective or subjective.
 

NiQuinn

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On a side note, an omni narrator can be either objective or subjective.
Suddenly had me thinking, can an Omni narrator be an unreliable narrator? You know, the type where in 1st POV, the character perceives the world as they see it so they don't actually realize that people really hate them despite them thinking otherwise. I'd like to see or read a story with an omni perspective but done in a way that the narration is unreliable. That would mess with my brain so good.
 

Phantomheart

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Suddenly had me thinking, can an Omni narrator be an unreliable narrator? You know, the type where in 1st POV, the character perceives the world as they see it so they don't actually realize that people really hate them despite them thinking otherwise. I'd like to see or read a story with an omni perspective but done in a way that the narration is unreliable. That would mess with my brain so good.
Have you read The Book Thief? It's a modern classic by Markus Zusak
Narrator in that book is omni 3rd person and 1st person because its death describing the life of the main character.Very good read if you haven't read it before.
 

HURGMCGURG

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One of the biggest mistakes new authors make when writing in the third person is that they choose to go with a limited approach but constantly slip into omniscient. This is different from head-hopping as you don't switch between POV characters in the same scene, it's more about the narration. They either give information that the POV character isn't supposed to have or say through narration things that the POV character wouldn't say.
I don't know man, I kind of like that style. Have you ever read Artemis Fowl? Fantastic book series. The narrator goes on some pretty long tangents, describing the odd ramifications of certain events.
 

LostinMovement

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I don't know man, I kind of like that style. Have you ever read Artemis Fowl? Fantastic book series. The narrator goes on some pretty long tangents, describing the odd ramifications of certain events.

Hemingway does this in several of his works. Here is a passage from Old Man in The Sea. Some people might say this is head-hopping, others might say it's third person omniscient.

He was an old man who fished alone in a skiff in the Gulf Stream and he had gone eighty-four days now without taking a fish.

It made the boy sad to see the old man come in each day with his skiff empty and he always went down to help him carry either the coiled lines or the gaff and harpoon and the sail that was furled around the mast.

The old man had taught the boy to fish and the boy loved him.

Others, of the older fisherman, looked at him and were sad. But they did not show it and they spoke politely about the current and the depths they had drifted their lines at and the steady good weather and of what they had seen.

“Yes,” the old man said. He was holding his glass and thinking of man years ago.

All in all, it has become a style of its own. Btw, I wanted to say head-hopping isn't a new/novice writer's mistake, published writers are guilty of it as well.
 
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LostinMovement

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Suddenly had me thinking, can an Omni narrator be an unreliable narrator? You know, the type where in 1st POV, the character perceives the world as they see it so they don't actually realize that people really hate them despite them thinking otherwise. I'd like to see or read a story with an omni perspective but done in a way that the narration is unreliable. That would mess with my brain so good.

Yes, an omni narrator can be an unreliable one. Why? Because even an omni narrator has a distinctive voice. As long as there is voice, there can be narrative unreliability. Omni narrators can wrap the 'reality' of the story however they like and the characters as well as the readers would be none the wiser. I can see it being quite effective in the dystopian genre.

PS : I once had an interesting professor who used to tell us there is no such thing as an 'innocent' narrator, always assume every narrator has an agenda of their own, whatever it might be.
 
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