rewriting into 1st person. Any advice?

[tomlitilia]

I decided today I need to start looking at my Valentine's day story; if I get it in next year, it will be on the fourth attempt. As I started looking at it, it struck me that it would probably read better as a first person narrative. Has anyone rewritten had experience with rewriting a story into first person narration, and, if so, are there any loopholes to watch out for. I mean, it's simple to just continually change "she" to "me", but there should be other things to think of. Any pointers? (It would be my first attempt at writing a first person female story, but that's a different topic, I think.)

 

[Erlikkhan]

I decided today I need to start looking at my Valentine's day story; if I get it in next year, it will be on the fourth attempt. As I started looking at it, it struck me that it would probably read better as a first person narrative. Has anyone rewritten had experience with rewriting a story into first person narration, and, if so, are there any loopholes to watch out for. I mean, it's simple to just continually change "she" to "me", but there should be other things to think of. Any pointers? (It would be my first attempt at writing a first person female story, but that's a different topic, I think.)

I have done this several times. You can start with changing pronouns but you really need to read through the story again and make it more personal. Third person can bring in a lot of situations (observations, thoughts, other points of view) where the first person would not be aware, e.g. "His sister was watching him masturbate through a crack in the door and heard him calling out her name" cannot be changed to "My sister was watching me masturbate through a crack in the door while I called out her name" unless it was obvious he was aware of her presence, and even then there are much better ways to portray this in the first person like "I saw my sister watching me through a crack in the door. I wanted her to know that I fantasized about having sex with her so I called out her name, begging her to ride my cock harder".

 

[ElectricBlue]

Changing tense is hard enough (I've done that on five thousand words, it was an effort); changing voice from third to first would be a real chore, for all the reasons Erlikkhan notes.

For me, any story not coming good after four attempts will never come good. I'd bin it, but I'm ruthless with my bad starts.

Good luck. I know I wouldn't have the patience .

 

[BumbleCat]

I've written in both first and third person. It is easy to accidentally switch to third from first if you're not careful about it, so just be aware of that. I also find it easy to slip into present tense when writing first person, which I don't have nearly as much trouble with in third person,but that just may be me.

When I write first person, my character is almost always female. I can (and have) written from a male POV, but I don't regularly do that when writing first person narratives.

The winter story I am currently working on has a first person female POV but I'm not sure if I'll keep it that way. I want to get in the brain of the male character so I will either have to go for third person or switch POV characters within the story.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

i was thinking about practical advice, and what came to mind was enlisting a beta reader or one of those test to speech programs. That might help catch anything that's a subtle switch in perspective, or something that would make the reader wonder how the narrator knew that.

I just finished reading a national best selling book that was purportedly writen in the first person by the friend of the main character. Except that there were whole chapters full of details that the narrator couldn't have known, and then all of a sudden there'd be a sentance that started "when Toby called me" etc. It really ruined the flow of the book for me.

I doubt you're going to have THAT problem, since you're trying to make it consistent. I was just thinking that having a second set of eyes would help.

 

[SimonDoom]

The main difference, aside from pronouns, is the limit on what the narrator knows. The narrator and protagonist are the same, so take care to eliminate all observations that the protagonist could not make. In first person you can add elements of surprise that would not work in third person omniscient.

Make sure you revise your verbs appropriately too.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Good luck. I've done this once before and as EB said, it's a lot of work. But then again, Valentine's is still far away too, so depending on the length of the story that might still be doable. Requires a lot of patience though, if it were me I might just rewrite it from scratch in first person rather than adapting the original. Sounds like a bad idea at first but it will be much less effort in the long run and it also eliminates a lot of the issues raised above with awkward sentences and such. Easier to keep it consistent when you're writing it from start to finish rather than adapting.

Also agree with the advice of a beta reader or editor. No matter how hard you try, I can guarantee you'll miss some weird sentences or third person elements. No judgement of your skills, it's just impossible to catch everything yourself. Especially with such a large and complex task.

 

[Hypoxia]

For fun, especially since Valentine's is awhile yet, write the same story in 1st and 3rd POVs. Which reads better? For a REAL challenge, try to make 2nd POV work, if you're masochist enough.

 

[SimonDoom]

Good luck. I've done this once before and as EB said, it's a lot of work. But then again, Valentine's is still far away too, so depending on the length of the story that might still be doable. Requires a lot of patience though, if it were me I might just rewrite it from scratch in first person rather than adapting the original. Sounds like a bad idea at first but it will be much less effort in the long run and it also eliminates a lot of the issues raised above with awkward sentences and such. Easier to keep it consistent when you're writing it from start to finish rather than adapting.

Also agree with the advice of a beta reader or editor. No matter how hard you try, I can guarantee you'll miss some weird sentences or third person elements. No judgement of your skills, it's just impossible to catch everything yourself. Especially with such a large and complex task.

It depends on how long the story is. I was about 8,000 words into my story when I decided to switch it from first person to third person limited. First I did a search and replace to replace the pronouns. Then I replaced the verbs. Then I went through the whole thing to make sure everything matched in the new version. Since the final POV was third person limited, I didn't really have to change much else; the story was told only from one person's POV even though it was in third person.

Once you've done those three things, go ahead and resume the story where you had finished.

In my case, I would not have wanted to start from scratch. That would have taken much more time. Using several passes of search and replace and then going through the whole thing was faster.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

In my case, I would not have wanted to start from scratch. That would have taken much more time. Using several passes of search and replace and then going through the whole thing was faster.

It depends indeed, and I might be a bit more comfortable with redoing work than the average writer. I do think going from first to third limited is easier than going from third to first though. It probably depends on the story, but sometimes starting over can be the better alternative. Just wanted to mention that it was an option too. Might not necessarily be the best one for the OP, which is something only they can judge, I think.

 

[KeithD]

I have changed tenses on one or two. I don't completely rewrite but I do have to review the change a few more times than usual--and my editor still finds some instances of not having completely made the change.

 

[jehoram]

I have changed tenses on one or two. I don't completely rewrite but I do have to review the change a few more times than usual--and my editor still finds some instances of not having completely made the change.

Yes, my editor has saved me from that numerous times.

It's worth it to re-cast the story once in a while, writing it in the third person and then, paragraph by paragraph, re-writing it in the first person. I don't use the find-replace function at all.

One of my better stories involved me telling pretty much the same story twice, once from the perspective of the man and the other from the perspective of the woman. The same things happened, and it was the differences in the characters' reactions that gave the two stories different flavors.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

It's worth it to re-cast the story once in a while, writing it in the third person and then, paragraph by paragraph, re-writing it in the first person. I don't use the find-replace function at all.

That's basically what I meant when I said a full rewrite, although I guess it's not entirely from scratch. But just recreate the scenes (or even paragraphs) one by one in the new perspective. Maybe not the fastest way, but I do think it will give the smoothest result, or at least requires fewer editing passes later.

 

[SimonDoom]

It's worth it to re-cast the story once in a while, writing it in the third person and then, paragraph by paragraph, re-writing it in the first person. I don't use the find-replace function at all.

I think it depends not just on the length of the story but also upon the nature of the third person POV that you use. In my case, I changed a first person POV story to a third person limited POV story. The point of view wasn't really changed at all, it was just a matter of switching the pronouns and verbs. I didn't have to make any adjustments based upon what the narrator could or could not see.

But if you were convert from a third person POV with multiple points of view, that would be completely different. You'd have to rewrite whole sections of text, and it probably would be necessary just to start the whole thing over. Not doing so worked out just fine in the case of my story.

 

[KeithD]

The danger I face is that I internalize my stories as I write them and sometimes when I'm writing in the third person I'll find paragraphs in the 1st person when I'm doing the review.

 

[yukonnights]

I have changed tenses on one or two. I don't completely rewrite but I do have to review the change a few more times than usual--and my editor still finds some instances of not having completely made the change.

This is basically what I've done. Typically, when I write I usually do a read through of what I've written to date before starting the next part. In the case of changed POV I did that, and each time I found another instance where I overlooked a mistake. Point being, it took me a lot of reads before it was clean enough to publish. But it was well worth it, as the story turned out nice and was well received by the readers. This was a Third Omniscient into First Person with multiple points of view done in section breaks, etc. I am unwilling, in most cases, to forego the ability to get into the minds/emotions of all the main characters...so I cheat and give them each a chance on the main stage throughout the story.

The lesson I learned is that I'd rather get the right POV the first time around

 

[tomlitilia]

Thanks for input, everyone. I had a go at it. I read through it and changed pronouns and afterwards searched for "her", "she" and "F1" (which is the indicator I used for the main character). Tedious work, but it seems to flow better, partly because it reduced awkward sentences to avoid pronoun confusion.

Since the story was previously written as limited 3rd person narrative, it didn't take too much tweaking to get the tone right (or at least I think so). However, subtle changes are required, I find. For instance, if 3rd person narration talks about her big tits, it feels like the narrator is merely describing what a scene looks like. If 1st person narration talks about my big tits, it comes across as cliché and bimboesque.

And yes, it will need a second pair of eyes before I submit. I always try to find an editor before I submit. I find I get better over time at spotting my own mistakes, but no matter how many times I read it, there seems to be some that I miss.

 

[Voboy]

For me, any story not coming good after four attempts will never come good. I'd bin it, but I'm ruthless with my bad starts.

This.

I did once do this when I was around 2-3k words in, though not with a tale that had been languishing so long. It was a great deal more than just changing pronouns. What others have said about making things more personal is a thing, as is the use of colloquialisms. One of the things I enjoy about FP is that it's fine to make it informal, even conversational.

 

[SimonDoom]

Thanks for input, everyone. I had a go at it. I read through it and changed pronouns and afterwards searched for "her", "she" and "F1" (which is the indicator I used for the main character). Tedious work, but it seems to flow better, partly because it reduced awkward sentences to avoid pronoun confusion.

Since the story was previously written as limited 3rd person narrative, it didn't take too much tweaking to get the tone right (or at least I think so). However, subtle changes are required, I find. For instance, if 3rd person narration talks about her big tits, it feels like the narrator is merely describing what a scene looks like. If 1st person narration talks about my big tits, it comes across as cliché and bimboesque.

And yes, it will need a second pair of eyes before I submit. I always try to find an editor before I submit. I find I get better over time at spotting my own mistakes, but no matter how many times I read it, there seems to be some that I miss.

I don't know if your particular story calls for it, but you might also search for plural pronouns, such as they, their and them. When I converted my story (in the opposite direction) I had to do a very broad pronoun search to get it right, and then I also had to adjust all the verbs. Since my story was about an interaction between a man and woman, I had every possible pronoun variation to change.

 

[tomlitilia]

I don't know if your particular story calls for it, but you might also search for plural pronouns, such as they, their and them. When I converted my story (in the opposite direction) I had to do a very broad pronoun search to get it right, and then I also had to adjust all the verbs. Since my story was about an interaction between a man and woman, I had every possible pronoun variation to change.

Thanks, that's a great advice with the plural pronoun. The story is past tense, so verb conjugation is less of an issue. I think.

 

[Maeven_quinn]

I decided today I need to start looking at my Valentine's day story; if I get it in next year, it will be on the fourth attempt. As I started looking at it, it struck me that it would probably read better as a first person narrative. Has anyone rewritten had experience with rewriting a story into first person narration, and, if so, are there any loopholes to watch out for. I mean, it's simple to just continually change "she" to "me", but there should be other things to think of. Any pointers? (It would be my first attempt at writing a first person female story, but that's a different topic, I think.)

If you change from 3rd to 1st than there is going to be change in information given.

In third person, "Sandra walked into the bar in her red dress and felt great. She ordered a drink from the bar. The bartender liked her, and reached for the good rum stashed under the bar." That works, but if changed to first person we're going to lose some information that Sandra wouldn't know.

Seems intuitive, but you'd be surprised how often that's missed.

 

[Hypoxia]

If you change from 3rd to 1st than there is going to be change in information given.

In third person, "Sandra walked into the bar in her red dress and felt great. She ordered a drink from the bar. The bartender liked her, and reached for the good rum stashed under the bar." That works, but if changed to first person we're going to lose some information that Sandra wouldn't know.

Seems intuitive, but you'd be surprised how often that's missed.

Your example actually translates directly into 1st POV.

"I walked into the bar in my red dress and felt great. I ordered a drink from the bar. The bartender likes me; she reached for the good rum stashed under the bar." This even adds a bit of data missed in the original.

The info problem comes from distance -- a 3rd POV voice knows things happening miles away that Sandra cannot perceive unless on TV. THAT is harder to translate POVs.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Never done this. I have rewritten from 1st to 3rd. It was a harrowing experience. Even after a month of rereading and changing things there were still things wrong after I posted it.

 

[jehoram]

Athalia once wrote a story in the past tense, and then re-wrote it in the present tense. She told me it was the most challenging thing she'd ever attempted. We went the editing rounds a few times, and then she gave up on it ... she wasn't happy with either version. Parts of it were incorporated into other stories, so the effort wasn't entirely wasted.