Advice on 1st person vs 3rd person writing.

[Sunadmire]

I just got my first story published and it seems to be well received. The story is written in 1st person and some pre-publication feedback suggested that it would have been better received if it was done in 3rd person.

I am working on another story (series actually). The plot involves two male friends going on a trip and telling each other of past sexual experiences. The nature of these narratives would require writing in 1st person. Should I devise a mechanism to get out of 1st person and into 3rd person? Any ideas on how to do that?

The advantages would include easier reading and more room for character development for the female partners. A disadvantage would be loss of interaction between the two friends. Is the issue big enough to warrant an entire review?

There are chapters where third person writing would be natural like what happen during their overnight stays.

I would love to get your feedback and suggestions.

Regards

Sunadmire

 

[SinfuIDreams]

I usually don't reply to forum threads anymore, but this post cried out to me.

I write nearly every story in first person perspective, I love the feeling of being able to give the character depth and emotions seen only from their eyes. I might not always nail it and yes I have been criticised for my style of writing. I have found for every negative comment I have received there has been a dozen positives. (Most are still sitting at Hot Rating and thousands of views.)

If you are anything like me you write for your entertainment and then the entertainment of others. Don't let people change your style, write how you want to.

At the end of the day, it is your story to write as you please.

 

[AlphaLyon]

The plot involves two male friends going on a trip and telling each other of past sexual experiences. The nature of these narratives would require writing in 1st person. Should I devise a mechanism to get out of 1st person and into 3rd person? Any ideas on how to do that?

I think you're on the right track to keep it first person, as it limits the "omniscience" of the scene and creates tension, as neither character knows fully what the other is thinking/feeling.

If you need to ping-pong between the two characters, just make sure you are handing off in a way that is fluid and stylistically clear. e.g -

I wonder if John knows how tasty this muffin is.
<clear break>
Man, that muffin Sam is eating looks good.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The advantages would include easier reading and more room for character development for the female partners. A disadvantage would be loss of interaction between the two friends. Is the issue big enough to warrant an entire review?

Try close third person. You can get in just as close and get the same intimacy as with first person, with all the advantages you mention. It's worth developing your narrative skills in both forms, I reckon, because it gives you another writer's tool. Limiting yourself to just one voice is, well, limiting.

 

[SimonDoom]

I want to second what EB said about limiting yourself. If you always write from the same perspective you're not going to grow as an author.

There is no "right" point of view. The choice of point of view should depend upon the needs of the story, which vary from story to story.

Here are the two main advantages of choosing third person:

1. You can disclose to the reader what more than one character is thinking. You cannot do this in first person.

2. As the narrator you can tell the reader about things that are happening that the first person narrator might not know. You can provide history and background. You can set a complete scene. You can tell the reader that there's a monster around the corner that the main character doesn't know about.

When you write in the third person, you are not limited in your ability to convey what is going on in a character's mind during an erotic encounter. So there's no obvious reason, despite what some say, that it has to be any less personal than a story told in the first person POV.

If you choose to write in the third person and write from the POV of more than one character, my recommendation is to switch the POV only after the end of a chapter, so in each chapter you reveal the thoughts of only one character. You don't have to do it that way, but I think it usually works better to do it that way.

 

[Sextified]

The advantages would include easier reading and more room for character development for the female partners. A disadvantage would be loss of interaction between the two friends. Is the issue big enough to warrant an entire review?

Congratulations on getting your story online!

I'd echo the comments made so far, but especially the idea of writing for your own reasons and in your own style.

My current unpublished Arc is the product of a lot of hard work, and learning by trial and error. I have grown so much as an author over the last twenty years.

In choosing a POV, you might ask yourself this question: Are you most interested in telling a series of events (story) or how your characters feel about going thru the experience (insight).

I do agree with the idea of there being such a thing as "Close Third Person". It has a lot of advantages, but for myself, I have come to like "Head Hopping" the best.

Let's say that you have three people deeply involved in an emotional argument. The "Editor" can interject all sorts of comments, easing your readers into the thoughts and feelings of all of your characters. If one of the actors is lying to the others, your Editor can let your readers know that.

For me, I can add a lot more tension and interest by being in a hybrid version of First Person, then carefully choosing when to switch views. I make sure that I include all the thoughts, worries, hopes, fears and emotions of the "Camera" character. I also take the opportunity to gently include some of the annoying but needful "Tell" aspects of the story, but mainly use the scene to stick with the much more interesting and gripping "Show" that readers seem to love.

Action, detail, motivation and information can be easily told from any point of view.

I love the extra conflict that only seems to be possible from letting the readers hear the secret inner thoughts of the characters.

- - - -

During one of the story's three way arguments, I delved deep into the mistrust and frustration the others had of the motives of the instigator. As the scene breaks up without any real resolution, I switched the POV one last time, to show the sneak thinking he had gotten away with yet another lie. He was quietly gloating, on the inside, until he caught a knowing look between his two friends. Suddenly he had to worry that he had been found out after all.

As the three friends all separately went on to their own next scenes, I had plenty of extra material to push the main plot along.

- - - -

But if you do choose to switch from the inner thoughts of one character to another, then come up with your OWN set of rules for doing so.

I use a "< < < < > > > >" between breaks. I also add a few extra name identifiers, at the beginning of each switch, to keep who is speaking as clear as possible. I also always try to follow a strict sequence and etiquette for handling the entire book. That is important, because your readers need to be able to trust in your style and intent.

Since I also move forwards and backwards in time, and change locations as needed? I use a "Chapter Header" for every such major change. I like the challenge of portraying the same character either backward or forwards a decade or so in their lives.

One woman, Emma, changes so much from her early self. I have to be very conscious of WHEN she is whenever I write her in a scene. The shy young girl pursuing her only love, is so different the the woman that forced herself to send him away, as is the true woman who now wonders if that bit of self sacrifice hasn't doomed all the people she cares about.

Her word choices are different in all three timelines, as is what she notices in the room, and how she addresses anyone that comes across her path. In the safety of her own mind, Emma FEELS different to the readers. As I get better at writing her in the new Arc, I think that the readers probably wouldn't even need a 'Time Stamp" to know which version of Emma they were reading about.

I use something like this for the Chapter Headers:

> > > > > > > > > < < < < < < < < <

One week before
Move In Day

Back Seat of a
Yellow Cab

Pulling away from
the restored Opera House
in a very troubled part of town

Just after the first set
of the special Blues Concert

> > > > > > > > > < < < < < < < < <

One of my favorite Science Fiction/Fantasy authors often has chapters as short as two or three paragraphs. Each has their own little header, and the little tidbits that short help keep the readers grounded in his huge world. A ship setting sail. A baby being born. A battle about to start. He doesn't play strictly by the rules as POV goes, but most of his stuff is written in Close Third Person, unless only one character is in the scene, reflecting while they go about their day.

So far in the first 400 hundred pages of the new work, I have about thirty named characters, and will have about seventy or so before the Arc closes down. One over-arching pivotal male character, three women who easily hold their own as major players, then about six other men and women that could equally be the dominating force in any other normal story.

I think that if you are going to write in the First Person, make it worth the reader's while. When you are in each person's head, the readers should both KNOW and FEEL the difference. As a writer, I like to disappear from the show, and let the Actors take the center of the stage.

When I do read other long series of SciFi or Fantasy, I hate it when I can feel the hand of the Author pushing things along artificially. To me, that is almost impossible NOT to do in Third Person. The plots simply wouldn't move forward, unless the Editor wasn't making themselves known, one way or another.

In a good First Person story, all I usually feel is what is happening thru the character's eyes.

 

[Privates1stClass]

I just got my first story published and it seems to be well received. The story is written in 1st person and some pre-publication feedback suggested that it would have been better received if it was done in 3rd person.

I am working on another story (series actually). The plot involves two male friends going on a trip and telling each other of past sexual experiences. The nature of these narratives would require writing in 1st person. Should I devise a mechanism to get out of 1st person and into 3rd person? Any ideas on how to do that?

The advantages would include easier reading and more room for character development for the female partners. A disadvantage would be loss of interaction between the two friends. Is the issue big enough to warrant an entire review?

There are chapters where third person writing would be natural like what happen during their overnight stays.

I would love to get your feedback and suggestions.

Personally, I prefer to read and write first person stories. You get an intimate view of the character's motivations, wishes, and desires. Of course, there are limitations with first person, in that the character doesn't know everything that's going on around them. That's where third person shines--an omniscient view can tell the reader what everyone is thinking.

However, there are some tricks you can use in first person to help eliminate some of those limitation. For example, you can use dialogue with other characters to let your first person character know what happened. Or, your first person character can overhear a conversation, read a letter, and so on, to fill in the blanks that they don't know about personally.

Whatever you choose, good luck, and I think some of the previous commenters have good points.

 

[HappySpouse]

If both friends are telling tales, it sounds like the overall narration would be 3rd person, but they would be telling their stories in first-person.

I was once told that I should rewrite a story in third-person because it would work better. I thought about it and they were both right and wrong. They were right because there were three people; and my story could only tell how one person felt, what one person thought, and what one person saw. To make them even more correct, that one person wasn't doing much (comparatively). However, they were also wrong because it is a true telling of one husbands experience without a single exaggeration or guess. Every word is genuine truth. Third-person would have defeated the whole point of relaying to my wife how incredible being with her is to me.

Only you know how your story goes. Just because someone's suggestion about your story is true, doesn't mean it's true to your story.