Writing Your Book: Who Tells the Story?

The biggest choice you make when you start your novel is the decision: who tells the story?

If you tell it in the third person, who's the primary viewpoint character? 

On the other hand, if you choose the first person -- "I" -- that presents challenges. Your first person narrator needs to be there for all pivotal scenes. Moreover, there's a limit to what he knows and understands.

As this article, How a Pronoun Shaped a Novel, says:

Writing in the first person was thrilling at first. No scene started as a blank slate—my heroine was always there. I was not obliged to do any complicated bobbing and weaving between the narrator's perceptions and those of other characters. And writing from a single character's point of view sped up the Frankenstein-like authorial process of making her seem alive.

Writing in the first person can be comfortable, but it may not be the best choice for your story. It's not the easiest choice, either.

Try writing from your preferred point of view. If it doesn't work, that's fine. You can always rewrite if you see it's not working.

 

 

Comments

[MissBCross]

I personally think that the first person is EASIER , but the third person leaves more room for possibility, of explaining views without sounding like a long winded thinker :) ,
therefore, first person is great, but third is higher quality

[Angela Booth]

There you go -- I always find first person more challenging; there's only so much a character can know from his own experience.

When he's talking about other characters, it's hearsay.

Everything depends on the type of novel you're writing, of course. And your own preference. :-)