Monday, October 15, 2012

First Person vs Third Person

I'm sure I've blogged about this before, but I thought it merited a re-visit.

Last week, I finished the first draft of Curse of Life. In my update post last Wednesday I said this book was interesting on different levels for me. I wanted to address one of those today.

This book is written in first person. This is the first time I've finished a story I've set out writing in that POV. Traditionally, I write in third.

But this book just screamed "I have to be in first person." And it didn't lead me astray. I think the book is stronger in first for a couple of reasons.

First, it really lets me show the conflict of feelings my MC goes through in the course of the story. And I don't just mean the ups and downs that the conflict of the book forces her through. I mean the opposite emotions she feels about everything. The way she lets herself fall deeper in love with the love interest all the while knowing she'll be married to some foreign prince and not the love interest. (Traditional fantasy here.) The way she feels about the thought of being married off to some foreigner changes. There're a lot of conflicting emotions in this and I'm not sure they would work so well in third person.

Second, there's a twist about one of the characters that would be telegraphed too much if I wrote in third. In third, there's an expectation of hints and foreshadowing outside the POV character's ken. In first, what the character sees is what you get. I have one passage to tweak so the twist is masked even better, but again this, I think, works better in first person.

If you have a question you're dying to ask me, something you want me to address either here on my site or over at the Dojo, send it to info(at)stephanie-mcgee(dot)com

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4 comments:

  1. Fantastic post. I haven't tried writing in 3rd person because most of my characters it wouldn't sound right in 3rd person. Congrats on finishing your 1st draft :D

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    1. Thanks. Every book does have a POV that works better for it.

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  2. I've never written in first person myself. I'm a little intimidated by the idea. Sounds like it worked great for you, though.

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  3. When I wrote my selkie book, I knew it had to be in first person. It's the first novel I've ever completed in first person, and it was difficult! It still needs a lot of work. I'm glad you found a POV that works for this one for you!

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