1st person or 3rd person

[Sabruness]

I generally write in third person with POV segments when i want to show a particular character's view of an event or time period.
Shattered Horizon is my first attempt at writing completely in 1st person. I write it in the style like the protag is telling her story to a crowd (or perhaps writing a book of her experiences).

 

[LostinMovement]

Both viewpoints have their merits and demerits. It all depends on what kind of story you are writing and how you want to tell it. Most people I have talked to seem to prefer third person. It is often branded as the 'proper' writing style for some vague reason. Some 'critics' tend to associate being a decent writer with the ability to master third-person storytelling, which is utter bullshit. They regard the first person as a 'juvenile' and the mark of a newbie writer.

I personally prefer the first person, most of the literature that I have enjoyed throughout the years are written through it. Take the popular Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins for example, and the controversial Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. I love getting into the head-space of the narrating character, seeing the color of the world through their biased eyes and flawed/deranged minds. Third person, even if deep, inevitably creates distance between the reader and the character.

 

[LWFlouisa]

I wrote a few short stories where there might be parts in first person, and other sections in second person, depending on the context as well. To me limiting it to just first or third, causes a linguistic flow problem:

It makes stuff like epistolaries and letters read like no thought was given to who it was addressed. As you know, in letters, they frequently tend to be structured as referring to yourself as your name, and the person you're speaking to in second person.

For examples of blending third and second, see Mary Poppins ( first book ) as one example, where they might intermittently refer to the reader for specific information.

David Foster Wallace frequently wrote cliff notes with small print and second person.

I think most people giving unsolicited advice on Twitter know this, and they're just being uncompromisingly stubburn and irritating for not acknoledging the exceptions.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Third person. I have tried first, bu unfortunately I encountered too many restrictions with which I am uncomfortable while 3rd person didn't cause me such hassles. The latter is decisively more flexible.

 

[tigerine]

I have experimented with both, and found that third-person limited tends to be the place that I settle in as a storyteller. I conceptualize this as a camera over the shoulder of the main character, kind of like a third person shooter game. I can interject the main character's thoughts and comment on them while following them around, and still allow for some omniscience while relating the events of the story.

First person allows for more 'fun' with unreliable narrators and limited POV. But as someone who specializes in world-building far beyond the frame of the camera, first person is usually too limited for me. I didn't go to the trouble of researching something in-depth (17th century lace-making, treatment of war dead in Sengoku-era Japan, terraforming, take your pick) only to ignore it.

 

[Ethereal]

I do both becuase its helps with world building and sometimes to world build you need different points of view.
it also helps that the main character of my story is often the narrator for third person povs.

 

[AliceShiki]

I only write in 1st person, a good part of it came because of Roleplaying tbh, like... When I was writing while Roleplaying, I couldn't simply develop the world at large nor interfere much in how other characters acted or interacted with my character... Because well, they were not my characters, nor was it my world, so I got used to being restricted to what one character sees and does. And I came to really like it.

So when I started writing a novel, I just kept the same style, but now I can control the world and the actions of the other characters, still, I keep the focusing in one character only and on her head and how she views everything~

At the end of the day, you need to write in the way you're comfortable with IMO, the result will be better if you're doing something in the way you prefer~