Writing Dark Fantasy - First Person or Third Person Perspective?

[D.S.Nate]

I'd say go third or at least third limited POV. It just allows for more head-hopping without it being too jarring. and when you are world-building from different people POV from 1 person that must be a pain in the ass to keep fully consistent since you are limited only to their POV.

most times I'd normally say it depends but if you writing Fantasy with more and one POV then just do it in third person

 

[JohnDoe9838]

Don't jump from first to third. It looks unprofessional

Although I agree, I'd like to add something to this (that nobody asked me, but I wanted to say).
Switching from first person to third person can be done in the following cases:

1) The story is in third person limited present tense and is mixed with first person in past tense. Something like
Present: third person, one chapter.
Past: first person, the other chapter.
It could also be done in the same chapter.
It feels like each past is very personal, but well, you could abuse this too much and turn your story into a collection of flashbacks that never goes anywhere. The idea really is to tell two parallel stories far apart in time that intertwine in some way.

2) Only once in the story. Whether it has an important symbolic meaning or is used as a device to shock the reader. I've only seen this used in one book, "El Martín Fierro".The whole story is about a gaucho singing his story in first person at a campfire. When he finishes telling it, he cries and breaks his guitar. When the guitar breaks, so does the narration and an omniscient narrator tells the fate of the gaucho afterwards.

I'm sure there are other cases where it would work, but I can't think of any.

Going back to the question, keep in mind the following.
The difficulty with writing multiple characters in first person is that if you have more than three, they start to sound the same.
This is not an unbreakable rule, though. I'm sure there are stories out there that can have dozens of first-person characters and still work just fine.

Consider what RayneStorm and greyblob say

1. Don't switch POVs so often. It's confusing for the reader
2. First person with a lot of head jumping can get very confusing, especially if your characters don't have strong individual voices.

multiple first pov is a terrible idea. building a character in first takes time and most likely readers will only connect with one or two tops. it'll be a nightmare.

I don't agree 100% but they make a very good point there.

 

[RayneStorm]

Don’t worry, dude, I’m not saying you’re a hypocrite. I just find it kind of funny, that’s all.

Actually, I totally understand you. I’ve been experimenting with writing in different styles myself. As a reader, though, personally, I love every POVs equally. I just focus on the story when reading. It doesn’t really matter which POVs the story’s written in. If the story’s fun, then I’ll dig it.

Like you said: it’s the matter of taste.

I didn't think you were saying that. I was just making a point. Just because I don't like something doesn't mean I won't give it a (valiant) shot. which leads me into what is the most important thing for me in a story, not the plot but the characters. If I enjoy the characters (whether that's because I like them, find them interesting, or love to hate them and wish to kill them myself) I can forgive almost anything. I have proudly proclaimed that I will watch episodes upon episodes of Bo Bian from the drama Die Now just existing and being his evil self. Just because I don't like first person, doesn't mean I'll automatically hate the story... I'm just going to need some excellent characters to make up for it

I don't agree 100% but they make a very good point there.

It's not a hard and fast rule (Kane Chronicles managed to make both narrators sound distinct to where you can tell who was speaking without seeing dialogue tags) but it's so hard to get right that I'd say focusing on characters and plot would be a better use of time. A good story told simply will be more enjoyable to read than a story with beautiful prose and no substance.

 

[Scaver]

Although I agree, I'd like to add something to this (that nobody asked me, but I wanted to say).
Switching from first person to third person can be done in the following cases:

1) The story is in third person limited present tense and is mixed with first person in past tense. Something like
Present: third person, one chapter.
Past: first person, the other chapter.
It could also be done in the same chapter.
It feels like each past is very personal, but well, you could abuse this too much and turn your story into a collection of flashbacks that never goes anywhere. The idea really is to tell two parallel stories far apart in time that intertwine in some way.

2) Only once in the story. Whether it has an important symbolic meaning or is used as a device to shock the reader. I've only seen this used in one book, "El Martín Fierro".The whole story is about a gaucho singing his story in first person at a campfire. When he finishes telling it, he cries and breaks his guitar. When the guitar breaks, so does the narration and an omniscient narrator tells the fate of the gaucho afterwards.

I'm sure there are other cases where it would work, but I can't think of any.

call me dumb but ill trying multiple pov with first pov. Ofc as the story goes on some pov will be lost in dust since mc will traveling of sorts.
You first pov is succesfull when reader can just open any chapter and read a few paragraph and tell whose pov it is.
I personally plan on using past tense to create mystery. Like ending a chapter with a sentence in past like "I'll later come to know what it was"(this sounds way too generic but whatever.)

 

[ArcanePunkster]

Thanks for all of the advice from everyone. I think I'm going to go with the third-person limited POV as it seems to be the type of writing style that I'm looking for. It just seems the ideal writing style as it has a bit of that first-person experience without it being too restrictive.