First person dominance

Heck no, you're fine. It seems like it's more common in spec fic than in contemporary, but it's certainly not a rule.

Current successful examples? The Lunar Chronicles (Marissa Meyer), Fangirl (Rainbow Rowell) (there's a contemp for you). And dozens more other people can name, I'm sure!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Daughter of Smoke and Bone is third person. So is Leviathan by Scott. Granted, I'm not sure how long ago they were released.

First-person tends to be more immediate. I enjoy third-person (I write in third-person actually), but for some reason, first-person always seems easier to read.

Enchanted and Hero by Alethea Kontis I just finished Enchanted yesterday and loved it. It's a fairy tale mash-up.

Traditionally the writing advice i've read always skewed towards third person POV being easier to write! I think it's just up to the book. I generally find contemporary/realistic fiction uses first person POV, while fantasy (particularly when it's more removed from the real world) tends to be third person. Of course, many, many exceptions apply.

I think it's a mix of both first and third-person out nowadays although I haven't looked at any stats. My first three novels were in first-person, past tense, while two others (Lindsay Versus the Marauders/Catnip) were written in third-person. I just finished writing two more in first person.

Both first and third-person have their advantages and disadvantages. FWIW, try both and see which works best for you.

Most of the YA books I've picked up recently have been first-person. Right now, I'm reading Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente which is in third person, although I'm not quite sure if it counts as YA.

I think first person works so well for YA, because a) it allows quick identification with the MC and b) because a lot of YA is very character-focused. You'll find way more adult books about whole ensembles of characters and particular events being viewed from different angles.

I do, however, know quite a lot of people (late 10s/early 20s) who will immediately put a book down if it's in third person. I might just have weird friends though

I don't even get the reasoning for first person present tense. You can still make your character selfish without doing that. I do like first person past tense though. Not every teen is selfish either.

Though my issue is less first person present tense, and more those five word short clipped sentences in first person. That makes me feel like I'm being shot out of a rapid fire watermelon canon.

I do think first person present can be done well, in a type of story that is dependent on not revealing some things happening under the surface to provide a twist plot turn.

In YA, first person is generally easier to write, and it's easier to convey emotions and thoughts. The series I'm writing is in 3rd person, and to me it can't be any other way. But I started writing in 1st person present for another stand-alone project, and I was amazed by how well it seemed to flow all by itself. I can see why it's so popular with both readers and writers.

I wouldn't worry. There's still plenty of third-person out there--it's here to stay. I've never heard from any authors or agents that they had a problem selling third-person books, but frequently hear people being pleasantly surprised over finding third-person books.

I've gotten so used to first person, that when I picked up a book in third (YA), I admittedly had a hard time getting into it. It definitely took a few chapters for me to settle in, but I never felt the urgency of the emotion or tension from it. And since it was a "thriller/horror" book, I was always left feeling a bit distanced from what was going on. I wanted to be IN the MC's head so I could really feel the panic and fear of what was going on.

Then again, whenever I beta read my friend's books--YA Fantasy--her third person doesn't bother me at all. So, maybe it is a genre thing like Ivae said?

Whatever the case, first present, first past, third present/past, third omni, second person, etc. Just write a good book and it won't matter. There's an audience for every book as long as it's well written.

JustSarah said:

I don't even get the reasoning for first person present tense. You can still make your character selfish without doing that. I do like first person past tense though. Not every teen is selfish either.

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It's not about selfishness. It's about getting the character to easily connect with the reader. I'm not sure where you got selfishness from.

I usually write first person present tense but my current WIP is first person past. Weird adjustment.

Don't count yourself out for 3rd person! I've heard some agents are looking for that these days. Both have their pros and cons, but as others have mentioned, there are a lot of 3rd person books that are popular in YA.

I read a lot of 1st person, so I thought I'd find 3rd hard to get into--but to be honest, the 3rd person books I read were just as enjoyable, and they would have been a lot harder to get into if they were 1st.

So don't pick a POV based on what's popular--it'll be really obvious if it's not right for the story.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. First-person does seem popular in YA these days, but there are still third-person titles out there. So, if third person is right for your book, that shouldn't be a deal-breaker for agents.

Interesting point! While I have enjoyed a few YA books in first person, I normally don't like reading first person. I find it too invasive -- notable exception to this was The Hunger Games.

I tried to get into Percy Jackson, but after a few paragraphs, the first person was too 'in my face' for me to relax into the story.

With my own writing, I naturally lean towards writing third person but have experimented in first person when writing for specific markets. I think it all depends on how the story needs to be told.

I have heard that first person is on the way out. No source on that, just what I've heard around the forums/blogs/web. But I personally think whatever is good will get published, er, maybe a good story. Because I've seen crappy writing get published. Anyway, I would write in whatever feels comfortable to you. I wrote a third of my book in 3rd and started over with 1st. It just felt right. And I resisted it so hard because I didn't want to follow "trends". Write what feels right.

Make the switch. I did, and I can't imagine going back to 3rd person unless I'm going back to fantasy or adult fiction.
3rd person just feels too distant from the protagonist(s) for young adult in my opinion. Yeah some people still do it, but as you've noticed, it's in the minority.

I really enjoy first person but only if it's present. First person past is a bit jarring at times because I want to feel thrust in the middle of the story and the urgency.. not... that happened, that happened and it ended like this.

Bufkus said:

Make the switch. I did, and I can't imagine going back to 3rd person unless I'm going back to fantasy or adult fiction.
3rd person just feels too distant from the protagonist(s) for young adult in my opinion. Yeah some people still do it, but as you've noticed, it's in the minority.

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A reader can just as easily connect to the MC in 3rd as in 1st if done right, especially if it is 3rd limited. I work in 3rd regularly, because not only is it my default setting, I can give needed info to move the story along that I can't in 1st. At one point in time most YA was in 3rd like a lot of adult books tend to be, some of them are still fairly popular even now.

The trend over the last couple years has been 1st a majority of the time, but not all stories can or should be told in 1st.

OP, don't change your books POV unless it really needs to be changed to tell the story you want to tell.

I can't imagine that either first or third person will ever vanish. First person and even present tense were common in the contemp YA of my childhood ('70s/'80s), but far from universal.

I've been writing mainly first lately, but third doesn't have to be distant from the MC. The trick is avoiding filtering: instead of "She wondered why he was never on time," you can just write, "Why was he never on time?" Bring us as close to the POV character's thoughts as possible.

Flaubert pioneered a technique called "free indirect discourse" and used it in Madame Bovary; tons of third-person YA and adult writers still use it today. Basically it means narrating in third person but in the character's voice, not that of an omniscient or neutral narrator: "Beth was going to be late, and then she would fail the test, and if she failed the test she would never go to college and would probably end up scrubbing toilets like her aunt Emmy who always smelled hideously of Clorox, and she would be better off dead." This is third person, but it's not distant at all; it's essentially Beth's voice. We are trapped in her head, just like with first person.

The cool thing about this third person technique is that you can have different perspectives in different chapters without the transition being as jarring as it might seem with several first person narrators. The narrative voice is basically a transparent lens; it's very flexible.

Now, you can also do a distant or omniscient narrator, but I think that's a hard sell in YA, and in contemporary fiction generally. You're more likely to see that in stories that have a self-consciously artificial aspect, like satirical fairy tale retellings. In a book like The Waking Dark, you have close POV chapters alternating with some broader omniscient chapters where the narrator generalizes about the town.

So, there is no one way to do third person. At its best, it can be way more flexible than first, though first always has the advantage of greater immediacy. I like them both; the story dictates which one I'll use.

Chuck Wendig's recent Under the Empyrean Sky is in third person present tense.

I have noticed, and I think there is a reason for it. I think it is easier for readers to connect to a character, and easier for the writer to convey emotions from first tense. This does not work for all genres, however, and I don't see it as often in sci fi or paranormal.

My first drafts are almost always in third person, but then I tend to switch in the revision process. It is often like a breath of fresh air when I make the switch.

I'm reading a YA in third right now, and it took a while to get into it - the characters were definitely more removed from me as a reader than if they'd been in first. I often feel with third that the writer tells me about the characters rather than show me, somehow?
As long as the story grabs me, I don't mind either POV, but in my own writing I'm partial to first. My two current projects are in first, but one is present and the other past.

Personally, I like both first and third. It doesnt bother me

However, I have had students who refuse to read anything but first person and they say it helps them get into the story better, as if its happening to them(they really like this when it comes to teen issues such as drinking, rape etc. etc.)