Point of View, Part 2
After yesterday's blog, I got asked about when to use first person and when to use third person and why.
In his lecture on the podcast, Robert J. Sawyer says that if you don't have to use first person then don't. That's his opinion; I'm not so sure.
There are pros and cons to each.
The pros of first person? It's the easiest to keep straight without slips, because you are writing from a very narrow point of view in which the narrator is also the protagonist.
Further, I like the feeling of the intimate story between the narrator and the reader, as if someone was telling you their tale in a bar over a beer.
But the cons of the first person? Well, it's hard to build suspense when life and death are on the line and a character is telling you their story after the fact; you know the narrator didn't get chopped up by the axe-wielding serial killer or else they wouldn't be telling you the story.
Also, in first person, it's hard to describe a character without boasting. In third person, you can say "Anna was stunningly beautiful." However, in a first person viewpoint from Anna's point of view, you can't say "I was stunningly beautiful" unless you want that character to come across as vain. Instead, you have to show the room reacting to her beauty, which might take an entire scene.
But I say, go with what works for you and what works for the story. I write in both; my story "Old Soldier" is written in first person, while my story "The Fortune" is written in third person.
But point of view is something I struggle with every time I write, and it's something you really have to pay attention to. I find this is something where external eyes on your manuscript can really help; as writers, we're often too close to the story to see these subtle point of view shifts.
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