Which do you prefer and which do you think is more useful when writing a story? I prefer first person but I'm trying to write in 3rd as my story wouldn't work in 1st person.
I enjoy first person in order to flesh out the main characters qualities and values through his point of view, while third person is useful for stories with more characters involved through actions.
This topic has been discussed numerous times. I've written four novels. The first was written in 3rd person, the second in 3rd person limited, the third in 1st person, and the fourth had the first chapter in 1st person and the rest of the novel in 3rd person. I find that my choice is based on what I think will work best for the story at hand.
3rd person by far. No offense to stories in 1st person, but I hate them. It puts too much focus on a character we never really get to know.
When I started off with my first novel I was writing the mc's pov in first and the others in 3rd, that wasn't a conscious choice, it just came naturally that way since I wasn't comfortable with writing a guys pov in 1st person. But eventually I came to change the first into third as well and now I like it a lot more. I also happen to dislike most books written in first person and maybe realising that was the first step towards writing in third.
Third person comes more naturally to me than first person. I've recently been doing workshops to improve my first person. The most challenging one being a story purely in diary form. Always push your writing. Don't get too comfortable in a certain style, you may not always notice when you've gone wrong.
Huh? What have you been reading in first person? That's a major point of writing in first person - getting to know the person whose POV it's in
3rd person for sure. However, there's a few exceptions such as the Dresden Files which are written in 1st person and done well. 3rd person means you can move the story between characters and locations, whereas 1st person you're basically stuck with only the MC's perspective and experiences. Exceptions to this are stories written as a collection of journal entrys or letters, such as Dracula.
I usually prefer 3rd person because it gives you more sides to a story, but if a story is well-written in 1st person, I like it a lot. I prefer writing in 3rd.
