# Should I Write My Story In First Person Or Third Person



## Verok (Dec 29, 2014)

Hey guys, recently I've started writing the novel that I've planned for so long. However, I'm stuck between writing it in First Person or writing it in Third Person. So I would like to ask, what would you guys prefer and why?

*FIRST PERSON:*

Ever since I awoke from that dreadful nightmare, I could only think of one thing, the darkness. It was all around me. No matter where I looked, its presence was there, enshrouding everything in an ominous black. Throughout the flight, we had been in this state since take-off from our transit spaceport, some many hours ago. The lack of windows and lighting, meant that it got so dark in here that oneâ€™s ears had to essentially become oneâ€™s eyes.


As I rested my back on the wall, I began to notice how quiet it was inside. None of the prisoners talked. Since I woke up, nobody had uttered a word, not even when I was gasping for air after that horrible nightmare. If it werenâ€™t for the humming noise of the engines, I wouldâ€™ve sworn that death had finally met-up with me. But alas, it hasnâ€™t and now my fate hangs on where this flying, hunk of metal is taking us. 


As I sat there staring into the abyss, I thought about my brother, Zevan.
_â€œWhy am I alive and he isnâ€™t?â€_ I asked myself, knowing full well the answer to my question. The guilt was just too much to bear. I began to sniffle a bit as tears gently rolled down the side of my muzzle.

*THIRD PERSON:

*
Ever since he awoke from that horrific nightmare, Rogan could only think of one thing, the darkness. It was all he could see. No matter where he looked, its presence was there, enshrouding everything in an ominous colour of black. Throughout the flight, everyone had been in complete darkness since take-off from the Transit Spaceport. The lack of windows and lighting in the prisoner bay, meant that it got so dark inside that oneâ€™s ears had to essentially become oneâ€™s eyes. 


As Rogan rested his back on the wall, he began to notice how deathly quiet it was inside. Apart from the soft, rumbling of the planeâ€™s engines, not a single soul on board had uttered one word. Not even when he awoke from that nightmare, gasping heavily for air. In fact, if it werenâ€™t for the humming noise of the engines, he wouldâ€™ve sworn that death itself had finally caught up with him. But alas, to his dismay, it has not and now his fate hangs on wherever it is this â€œflying, hunk of metalâ€ was taking them.


As he sat there, staring aimlessly into the abyss, Rogan thought about his brother, Zevan. 


â€œ_Why am I alive, and he isnâ€™t?â€_ he asked himself, knowing full well the answer to his question. The guilt was just too much to bear. He began to sniffle a bit as tears rolled down his muzzle, some landing gracefully on his handcuffs. By Craeoz, how could this have happened to him? More importantly, why did have to be him and only him.


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## BadRoy (Dec 29, 2014)

So, when choosing perspective you have to think about what focus your story will take and how you want your reader to feel.

First- or second-perspective (where the actions happen to 'you') have a more intimate effect on the reader because it, to a degree, puts them into the story. However the trade off is you may have trouble juggling many characters because you can't dive into those ones heads if you dedicate yourself to 1st or 2nd perspective. You will have to nail their characterization without resorting to explaining their thoughts like you might with third-person. 

Third Person perspective is obviously the most common and probably the easiest to write (trickiest being Second-).

For instance I write dirty stories and have found that a second-person perspective ("You open the door...") is ideal. This because it helps the reader get invested when the actions are happening to 'you' even if the 'you' is a character in the story.


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## Fopfox (Dec 29, 2014)

BadRoy does a good summary of it, though I do disagree about third being easiest personally, it is the most common though modern work tends to have first person crop up quite a bit.

Some additions.

First Person - Consider where your character is now at the end of the story. Consider how the events effected him until that point and incorporate that into the narrative. One of my favorite novels is Book of the New Sun, in which the narrative is a fictional autobiography, but as the events unfold the narrator is shown to be unreliable partly through his own flaws and others due to where/how he ended up. The main issue with first person is that you need to think a lot more about each POV character, so it can run into issues for larger scale stories.

Third Person - Consider who/what the narrator is. Omniscient narrator is an option, but if you want some flavour you can try and include the narrator into the story. This can be something as simple as the main character's drinking buddy (Which means you'll need to account for some of First Person's internal narration rules) or something more enigmatic (If you've read Brothers Karamazov, the narrator constantly refers to himself being there in the story, but no one ever notices him and his nature is speculated to be the Devil.)


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## Laptisen (Dec 29, 2014)

I haven't seen it too much, but some stories have a 'perspective flip', which basically allows every character to narrate per chapter or something. i.e: Joe narrates one chapter, then Will narrates another.


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## Fopfox (Dec 29, 2014)

Perspective Flip is a trap that a lot of new writers, especially for epic fantasy fall into. It's not bad, just needs control and planning. See pre-4th book Song of Ice and Fire for good perspective flips and post 4th book for excessive perspectives.

Verok, for your excerpts, which did you write first? It looks like you wrote the first-person one first and edited not only the tenses, but also added more detail. It's "deathly quiet" instead of "quiet" in third person. Those edits are good, but for determining which perspective you prefer, it would be best to start from scratch on a new passage to determine your personal comfort instead of editing an already made passage. Disregard if you did write both from scratch.

The right perspective is a matter of personal comfort and implementation. How do you feel when writing both? Your examples don't show any serious problems with either and I'm sure you can pull off either. (If you want to see seriously bad, you should see me writing present tense!)

Of course, writing outside your comfort level is great and encouraged too.


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## Conker (Dec 29, 2014)

Third person. It's just too easy to fuck up first person.


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## Zeitzbach (Dec 29, 2014)

First person is better if you're making a spin-off just for a certain person. 3rd person is much more open.


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## Verok (Jan 2, 2015)

Fopfox said:


> Perspective Flip is a trap that a lot of new writers, especially for epic fantasy fall into. It's not bad, just needs control and planning. See pre-4th book Song of Ice and Fire for good perspective flips and post 4th book for excessive perspectives.
> 
> Verok, for your excerpts, which did you write first? It looks like you wrote the first-person one first and edited not only the tenses, but also added more detail. It's "deathly quiet" instead of "quiet" in third person. Those edits are good, but for determining which perspective you prefer, it would be best to start from scratch on a new passage to determine your personal comfort instead of editing an already made passage. Disregard if you did write both from scratch.
> 
> ...



First of all, I would like to thank you all for your replies.

I've decided to go with third person and am rewriting it in such.


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