First or third person?

I'd write it in what feels the most natural to write it in. When I try to write against what the story is demanding it becomes difficult to do and I keep slipping between the two.

Go with your gut, I'd say. Write it in First.

Maybe try writing one chapter in First and then rewrite only that chapter in Third and see which reads better. That way you're not investing so much time into one or the other.

Yup, definitely go with what feels most natural.

Don't you just love it when the 'muse' takes over.

First person is easiest for the beginning writer because you don't have to watch for head jumping, second guessing or missed plot lines. It's just as the character sees and experiences it. Third Omniscient is probably next easiest, because you don't really have to be concerned with who knows what, you just write what is going on. Very few beginners can do an unreliable narrator well on their first time at bat.

But you write what the story tells you to.

Jeff

Some stories work better in first -- very personal stories or mysteries (where you want the reader to find things out with the protag)

Others need more than one deep POV to show everything, or a slightly removed POV or...


Read lots of books in your genre, in both POVs. Consider how they were told and what your story is at its heart.

Then go with your gut

Going with your gut is fine if your gut is an informed gut

Mr Flibble said:

Going with your gut is fine if your gut is an informed gut

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You do realize that you are now obligated to write a diet book entitled The Informed Gut, don't you?

Otherwise, yeah, what others have said. It's also not a crime to write a draft in first (or third), then switch during revisions. If the story wants to come out in first person, in other words, go ahead and see where that gets you. Get the words down.

Like others said, whatever works best for the story.

Some stories seem to want to be told in either first or third. It can feel as if there is a hidden voice inside the story that you have to discover.

A lot also seems to depend on the types of stories that you like to read. If you read a lot in first then it can feel natural to write that way.

Writing in first can constrain your story-telling later on. You will have to show the entire story from one character's viewpoint (unless you are doing multiple firsts).

You might also want to think about what kind of first person you want. Is your narrator telling the story immediately after events happen or some time later? In other words, does he or she know how the story ends? That ought to change his perspective.

While you are at this early stage it's a good time for goofing off and making things up as you go along.

Hublocker said:

I've been working on a novel idea and wrote a few sample chapters out of sequence to try to get a feel for how my characters would react in a given situation.

These initial chapters were in third person and then when i recently sat down to actually try to write the darn thing, I automatically started writing in the first person because that is what came naturally.

I'll be going back and rewriting of course and if I decide to make the whole thing in first or third person I guess I can, but I just thought it was curious that it seemed to me as if the thing wanted to be written in the first person.

There are obvious pitfalls with this but it's interesting.

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When I started writing fiction, which was only three years ago so I'm a total newbie, I always wrote in present tense. That wasn't because it was the best way to tell the story. It was just a reflex. I taught myself to write in past tense. It took three years for it to become almost automatic.

I always switch my writing to third past limited, usually before I finish the first sentence, because that's what I like to read and it's a really effective way for me to tell stories.

I don't know that 'the story' is telling you anything, or that the story want's anything. I don't think of my stories as anything other than stories. Everything about the creation of the story happens in the writer's head. The story doesn't rearrange the words on it's own. It's a document. It's documentation of a tale the writer wants to tell in a way that the reader will have a good experience with it.

The story needs to be told in the way that you, the writer, decide tells it best. That may or not be the way you happened to start writing it.

Fitch

And remember, hublocker, we can consider as many possible approaches as we can think of for as long as we wish but we won't finish anything unless we start at one end and keep going till we reach the End.

Good luck,

Brightdreamer said:

You do realize that you are now obligated to write a diet book entitled The Informed Gut, don't you?

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Nah, it'll be a murder mystery from the first person POV of a chef-detective

Mr Flibble said:

Nah, it'll be a murder mystery from the first person POV of a chef-detective

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That would be Informed Palate - maybe a gastrointestinal surgeon?

You may take some back and forth or trial and error before you settle on one. Try writing the first chapter or two each way and see how it reads.

I've got an issue with my story where first person feels more natural, but I have three pov characters. I could write in multiple first, but there's a couple of other reasons why I don't want to go for first person as well (one is I don't want to give the feeling that the characters have any idea how the story ends or that they will be alive at the end, necessarily, but also, one of the characters loses his sense of continuity for a while, so some readers might wonder how he could be telling his own story in past tense). So I've aimed for a version of third that feels a lot like first. I've written a couple chapters in first, then recast them in third, in fact (to try and get the voice and immediacy into the narrative).

And guess what? It's harder to write a scene in third just like first but with different pronouns than you might think

Usher said:

That would be Informed Palate - maybe a gastrointestinal surgeon?

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Ee gads, I think you're onto something there....

*scribbles furiously*

I prefer third, but if I feel the story needs to be written in first, I will write it in first.

I write YA, and a lot of the stories in that genre are written first-person. They give, I feel, a sense of freshness and immediacy to the story. That's what I started out writing. Recently, I switched to third-person limited and it's worked quite well--my Catnip and Lindsay/Jo trilogies were written third-person limited and have gotten decent reviews and sales--and I'm currently working on a third-person omniscient story to see if I can pull it off.

All I can say is to experiment and see how it works for you.