Young Writers Society

How do you decide which is better to use, third or first person? What are some advantages/disadvantages of using them. Which is better when you have two points of view in your story?

I always use first person, mainly because im a big fan of breaking the 4th wall

A lot of that is Kind of personal preference. Generaly, if you have multiple POV's, you should always use Third Person. Not that you have too, but it can get confusing as to just who "I" is when you switch views. If you still want to, go ahead, but be very careful.

Which you chose is also simply a matter of how you want to tell the story. Persoanly, since I am a very character oriented guy, I often find myself leaning to the first person, as it allows to get into a character more. Since they are the narrator, you can more easily get their personality and realte to them. In third, it's a little less personal, but allows you to take a bit more of a broad view on the scene.

In a sense, in first you're listening to a story and in third you're likely envisioning much more like a movie. That's just my opinion of course. It all boils down to the mood and tone of the work you want and how you want your readers to react. Try thinking about book you know and think about how it may have been written using the other kind of POV. Perhaps that will give you some insight on the matter. Heck, I think I'll try it. Trust me, many books would sound a whole lot different.

You could even use a combination of both. Pick one character (the main lead preferably, though perhaps not) and have their part first person, and for everyone else use the third. James Patterson does this in his Maximum Ride books, and I feel it works well, getting the thoughts and emotions of Max while still knowing what's going on with the other five at the same time when they're separated.

Well, I'm getting tired and I think I've rambled enough for now. If I think of anything else, I'll add it. Hope this helps.

I generally prefer third person, myself; first is just too limited. With third person, you can be as intimate with or as distant from the narrating character simply by choosing how much to reveal. Every once in a great while, first person is preferable, such as in short pieces whose purpose is to explore the emotions of a single character, but third person is generally best, because it is more versatile.

I always use third person but for historical fiction I like to use first person, mainly because they are my shorter stories and you can get an impression of what life was like in a certain era by the person's thoughts or how they react to things we wouldn't find strange at all.

I use First Person, mainly because I LOVE getting into the head of my main character(s). I'm evil that way.

I'm not stranger to the Third Person POV though. It has more advantages than the FP POV. For instance, if your main char dies, well, actually you have "other" main characters to continue on with the story, AND you get many prespectives and opinions. With the FP, if something happens to your main char, that's it; the story is at an end.

However, it is in my opinion that the FP POV is more of a challenge, and people of often argued otherwise but it is true - in my opinion.

I would rant about first person, and how it's insanely hard to write a whole novel in it, and how it's totally way too egocentric for my tastes. But I won't.

Third person is my drug of choice. Especially third omniescient.

In his trilogy, (Amulet of Samarkand ?) Jonathan Stroud writes in more than one POV, but one he writes in first, and another in third. It was immensely confusing. I'd just get used to reading in first person, and the chapter would end. On to third. My advise is, whatever you choose, pick one. Personally, I like to write, especially novels, in first person, but since you do have more than one POV, it might be more understandable to do it in third. Anyway, good luck, I hope I helped!

I didn't have a problem with the Bartimeus Trilogy (Jonathon Stroud), the first few chapters of The Bad Mother's Handbook (excellent, excellent book) confused the Hell out of me. I don't bother and read chapter titles, so with things like Jodi Picoult, where the chapters switch POVs, all in first, I don't notice and it's bloody confusing.

I tend to use third person as default, and first person in special cases.

By special cases, I mean:
- stories driven by characterisation,
- stories in which the main character/s change a lot,
- stories detailing a person's journey,
- and some other ones when I feel the first person would work better.

Usually depends on the kind of story I'm writing, for the most part. As a default I've tended to use third person, but I've used first in the past. My Chronicles of Magic story was/is/whatever in first person (I'm not working on it at the moment and don't know if I'll ever go back to it or not).