Young Writers Society

So, as you probably gathered from the subject...i'm writing a first person fantasy.
What do you think? I'm well aware that most fantasy is written third person. Well aware. However, I've read a few fantasy books written in first person, and i loved them. It can be done, although i'm not trying to emulate that particular style.
See, i love my main character. I love being inside her head, and i just don't think i could write her the same from third person. But in most cases the plot is better served by writting third person.
What do you think? I've never gotten far enough into the story (i rewrite a lot, and i've been world building lately) for the plot thing to come into play, so i'm totally lost.

My "policy" *snigger* is always to write in whichever way makes you feel most comfortable, be it third or first person, past or present tense, or whatever. If you prefer first person, then do it. You will just have to use different methods of furthering the plot, that's all.

-Kaz

Go for it! I quite like First Person. I've written fantasy in it, although it was light, funny fantasy. But still. Anyway. You need to do different things in fantasy. It's developing a, unfortunately, well-deserved reputation for being the same thing over and over. So different is good.

Plot ... well. It's not like there will be no plot if you write in first person. Just make sure you don't get bogged down too much in how the character is feeling about everything, and you'll be fine.

And if you decide at some stage that third person would certainly be better, then I guess you can always rewrite. Sounds pretty bad, but you're going to do it when you finish anyway.

I prefer using first person more than third. I really get to know my characters better in first, and feel more intimate with them. With third person I feel more stand-offish, like I'm the narrator telling a story about these characters I know about, instead of one of the people telling their own thoughts and feelings. So, I heartily endorse first person! Of course I recognize the limitations of first person, but I feel I write better in first rather than third. If you wanna write in first, then go do first! I personally like reading first-person stories better as well.
I remember the first time I read a first person story, I called it an "I" book ("Oh, yes, I got an "I" book out of the library today..." ) Well, I can't have been older than eleven!

-ST

Write it the way you want to, straight through. At the moment, I'm attempting to write a first-person fantasy and each subsequent attempt, it's worse, so just write how you want to write it. And continue -- don't stop for edits.

Heh. Don't stop for edits. That right there would be my number one problem. I'm ALWAYS stopping for edits.

Yeah, me too.

When you say 'The plot is better served in third person', what do you mean? Do you mean that you want the reader to know things your character doesn't?

ehm..yeah. Maybe plot was the wrong word.Characterization, maybe? Just certain insights that would help the reader get to know the motives etc. of a certain character/s. It's kind of difficult for me to describe.

Write a character study of the major characters. And, why not try the snowflake method with it? Ever since Crysi told me about it, I'm telling everyone else about it.

-ST

In my love for writting stories like this I have found that there are only two paths that you can take with this, either no foreshadowing to very little or you have to basically scream it. I have done versions with both and its fairly easy to do both.

ShadowTwit wrote:Write a character study of the major characters. And, why not try the snowflake method with it? Ever since Crysi told me about it, I'm telling everyone else about it.

-ST

I do a lot of character stuidies, although not recently. What's the snowflake method?

I agree with the majority here - write how you want to write. You have enough to worry about with having to force third person out of you, too.

Here's a thought - if there are points in the plot where the readers might understand the scene a bit better by having insight from another character, switch your point of view to that character. You'll still be writing first person, but you'll be inside another character's head. I've seen a few novels do this, and it can be extremely effective.

ETA: Google the snowflake method - it's the first link that comes up. It's an excellent way of outlining your story by starting at the wide view of the story and slowly zooming in to catch all the details. Very thorough. It takes a lot of time to complete, but it helps you understand your story inside and out, even if you know it by heart.

Glad I could recommend it!

I'm not in mad love with first person narratives* but I think they could be done, and done well. The Vampire Lestat is almost entirely first person, and that's a fantasy of sorts.

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*for the sole reason that the narrators often end up sounding like Lestat, whom I adore, but one can only take so much of the stuck-up, egocentric narrator type