I usually use the first person point of view (I) in narrating my story. It is easier for me since I can relate better to my character and therefore, express the feeling of the character more efficiently basing on my own experience and also giving it a bit of humor. I am currently writing a novel where the main character is a boy. Should I still use first person point of view? I think it will be difficult for me to relate the character's way of thinking since I am a girl and I know that there are differences how boys and girls deal with a specific situation. If I don't use a character's point of view and thus, use a narrator, can you give me advises on how I can still efficiently describe the emotions and thoughts of my character and add humor in it.
Well, it would depend on the boy's personality. Is he aggressive or calm? Is he shy? Social? His actions will depend on that. Now, here's an example of how to show emotion through the boy. Once, in a writing class, a young lady wrote from the perspective of a boy and had him screaming in his pillow. The rest of the class said that boys typically don't scream into pillows. Instead they beat the crap out of it or throw it across the room. If you're unsure of how to write about boys, observe how they act in other works of literature, ask your guy friends, etc.
I don't think the effectiveness of your portrayal of your character will be at all dependent on whether you write in 1st or 3rd person. As Link suggests, it will depend much more on whether you portray him in a way that is believable to the reader. However, you have said yourself that you usually write in 1st person because you are more comfortable with it (I know, you said you "relate better" to the character, but that's really about your comfort level). But the very fact that you felt compelled to post the question suggests that in this case you are not comfortable. And I'm guessing that's because you usually write by trying to put yourself in the position of the MC, and now that's much more difficult. My advice would be, then, to write it in 3rd person. I think you would be more comfortable that way and better able to focus on the aspects of your MC's personality that you want to bring to the fore. If you are observant, you will have decided what kind of person you want your MC to be and will able to write about him. But if you depend on making yourself into the MC, you will probably experience some emotional dissonance. Better to separate yourself a bit from your MC. In my writings, I have created several prominent female characters, but I have never written about them in the 1st person. As it happens, I once, as an exercise, wrote my autobiography as if I had been born a girl. I found it illuminating, but a difficult task.
