I can't seem to pick, I like them both for their features but I just feel divided, it's really ripping me apart and I'm having trouble writing. To me the first person gives more personality and allows a more vivid description of emotions and occurrences, and really shoves you in the characters skin, but you can't jump from one part of the story to the other or "change camera angles" as they say. The story is locked in one character. Meanwhile the third person allows you to jump around as much as you like and it's also objective. That kind of annoys me, I don't want objectivity in stories, if we wanted that we'd read a phone book. On the other hand you can still portray the emotions of a character but not as strongly as you could in the first person. Being a gamer I understand entirely that this is the "both will work" mechanics, and each has something the other lacks but I just can't seem to choose. Which person are you writing in and why?
My WIP is third person omniscient, because it deals with acts that involve several characters...the chapter I'm writing at the moment has, effectively, two scenes that occur (more or less) simultaneously, so I'm jump-cutting between them (Hero A gazed at he horizon... jump-cut... the ambassador smiled as he made the proposal...) A couple of recent short stories were first person, because I needed to the immediacy of being in the MC's head, of letting you know what he was thinking and feeling. Just try writing the same scene from the two different perspectives. I'm sure that one of them will stand out as being correct.
Third person limited. It allows being sufficiently close to the POV character, but I find it more flexible and easier to control than 1st person. It's also most common in the novels I read, so I guess my being so used to it allows me to write most effortlessly with it. Having experimented with 1st person, I must admit for me 3rd person lim just works the best and offers everything I need. I feel like I can accomplish sufficient levels of immediacy and closeness with the third. I wrote a short story in omni, and while it was ok as it also allowed some commentary from the narrator, I didn't enjoy it quite as much. Like @Shadowfax said, try it out, and eventually you'll settle to the POV that works best for that particular story.
Thanks so much guys, I've done a comparison on a scene and I think the first person fits in better. I don't have any problem with descriptions and words just pour out so it's a lot easier because I'm one of those people who can easily place myself in someone's shoes. Meanwhile third person proved a bit more difficult because I just can't grasp the feeling of when to stop with the descriptions, like I don't know when is enough. But I'll definitely experiment with both on different works I do, I think I'll stick to First Person now because it fits with the story. I have another one which resembles a tale and the Third Person fits perfectly for it. I've got a lot to learn heh
