Changing from third person to first person

[bisexualsmoker]

Hi
I have some chapters I've written
in a series,and now after eight
chapters of writing in the third
person, I think I'd like to switch to
writing in the first person for the
remaining chapters.
Is this considered proper in writing circles?

 

[jomar]

Why not? We've both read books that switch back and forth. But you might consider some way to set up the shift in your story.

 

[sr71plt]

It should be clear to the reader (in that they wouldn't even notice it) why you needed to do that.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Hi
I have some chapters I've written
in a series,and now after eight
chapters of writing in the third
person, I think I'd like to switch to
writing in the first person for the
remaining chapters.
Is this considered proper in writing circles?

It depends why and how you switch viewpoint. I've seen several stories where the writer just got bored with third person and shifted to first person. That is VERY jarring and likely to annoy readers.

Some stories shift perspective frequently and make it work. But if you've already written eight chapters from a single perspective, changing that perspective abruptly is going to confuse readers unless it matches some natural break-point in the story.

 

[carlieplum]

Unless it is going to be clear to the reader why you did it, I wouldn't do it.

 

[bisexualsmoker]

-------------------

Thanks for the replies.
I just feel more like writing in
the first person now. I think I'll
just start the next chapters as a
seperate section.
This will make it hopefully somewhat more fluid when switching third to first person.
I'll just have a quick explanation
at the top of the second section,
ninth chapter.
If I don't do this I'll never finish
this story.

 

[sr71plt]

Well, urk, that sounds like you don't have a good reason in terms of story context to be switching--just because you now feel like writing in the first and don't want to take the time to make the whole thing coherent. A note in the middle of a story saying you're changing tense is probably the last thing in the world a reader would want to see. Good luck with the ratings.

 

[HeyAll]

As mentioned, the challenge is making it clear that there's a switch.

I've seen a few complaints in comments that switching was confusing and/or not a good idea. But I've seen it done other time and I thought it made sense.

 

[DeeZire]

How about "That A-hole doesn't know jack shit. I'm telling the story from now on."

 

[JackLuis]

It probably won't make much difference in a multichaptered story if you switch at the next chapter. A paragraph will make the transition smooth enough.

Hell, try it and I'll bet no one will notice. Except it does make for more intimate descriptions.

If it fails, you're not loosing much, really.

It might be easier to go from 3rd to 1st that the other way around.

 

[supergirlfan]

It can be done

check out
http://www.literotica.com/s/college-girls-take-on-developers
or other works by Msgrant67; she moves back & forth, but the stories are fine.

 

[Bramblethorn]

check out
http://www.literotica.com/s/college-girls-take-on-developers
or other works by Msgrant67; she moves back & forth, but the stories are fine.

I don't read it that way. I think you're confusing person (who's telling the story) with perspective (who the story is tracking). Usually those will be aligned, but in this story they're not.

Chapter 1 is all first person from Brittany's perspective.

Chapter 2 is still first person, and although it's following Chelsea, it's still narrated by Brittany. It would be easy to mistake it for third-person since she's not actually present for the events she describes, but wording like "After dividing up our targets" and "Technically, I was dressed exactly like a cheerleader..." identify it as first-person and the context of the second establishes that Brittany is still the narrator.

IMHO this is not a great stylistic choice, because it leaves the reader wondering how Brittany can provide such a detailed account of something she didn't witness.

Chapter 3: first person, still Brittany, this time describing her own role in things. It does shift from past to present tense in the middle, which I found annoying.

Chapter 4: still first person, following Samantha this time but still Brittany narrating. ("Just as I returned to Chelsea's home, Samantha was preparing for her day..." and "I have never done it, or had it done to me, but she swears by it...") Again, random tense-shift (past, present, then back to past).

The epilogue is in third person, but it's very short. This is the only person-shift in the book, and for my money it doesn't really work. It's not unusual to switch to third person for an epilogue that goes beyond what the main narrator could have observed - but we didn't do this for chapters 2 and 4, so why should we do it now when we're describing events Brittany actually could have witnessed?

For my money, this story would've worked better with third person throughout. Alternately, keep chapters 1-4 in first person, but switch narrators in each chapter so Samantha and Chelsea tell their parts of the story.