I have an idea for a character piece which has been brewing for some time now. I know I want to relate the story of an old and dainty collector of fantastical oddities who is persecuted by his town in some way. I know he has a caretaker or assistant who admires him. What I don't know is whether or not to frame this short story--my goal for this is a compact and moving 1.5k-2k piece--in first person regaling events that have already occurred or standard third person describing unfolding events. I have a feeling first person would be much more personal, but on the other hand there are much fewer risks with third person. At the moment I prefer something like, "I always imagined Keith as someone with one foot in another world" as opposed to, I don't know, "Mervyn took in his master's melancholy expression. He'd always imagined him with one foot in another world." Both have there strengths and weaknesses of course. Third may have better movement when it comes to rolling up to the climax instead of simply telling the reader about events that have already happened. These two seem balanced to me right now. What do you think is more powerful personally? I'm sure a thread isn't needed, but I have a habit of starting things without truly working through my reasons for picking this or that technique sometimes. I'm trying to make full use of this forum as I haven't always done. Thanks.
It sounds like you have a better feel for the voice of the story in first, and it's going to be a fairly character-driven piece, so I'd say go ahead with first. As far as feeling like you're 'telling the reader what already happened' I've found that, when using the past tense, so long as you aren't actively acknowledging that these are past events, the tense fades into the background and it can feel just as forward-moving and in the moment as any other pov-tense combination. Both are good, both could work, and since there isn't any particularly compelling reason to use one over the other (for example, I strongly recommend third person when dealing with multiple pov stories) go with your gut. Plus, it's going to be a short story, so if worse comes to worst you can always edit to change the pov.
I'd use the frame. I like playing with narrative voices and I like burying subtext in the narrator's viewpoint. But @Idiosyncratic's got a point - you're only going for a 2k piece. Write it one way and if you don't like it then write it the other.
I always ramble about how much I love Demons by Dostoevsky but the imperfect way in which he integrated a sort of second person yet omnipotent narration really worked well. Especially with the small-town persecution rhetoric - it would be a feasible way in which you could use first person and third person to convey whatever it is you want to. Stavrogin's entire persona (aside from his confession) was built upon the musings of an unreliable/almost third person narrator reporting his actions/the opinions of the rest of the town's occupants. I can't really endorse picking up Demons and dredging through it but it is the best example I can give and it left his character (for the most part) open to interpretation.... Easier than a Rules of Attraction sort of vibe, especially when writing a short piece. (It took me five years to ever attempt writing outside of first person and I will forever be in awe of how much easier I found it to be, but that's just me.)
