First Person Point of View – A Writer's Guide
Advantages & Disadvantages of Writing 1st Person POV
Jul 26, 2009
First person point of view can be more intimate than the commonly used third person, and this can be both an advantage and a disadvantage. What kinds of stories are best told as first person narratives?
The answers will always be individual and varied, but these guidelines can help a writer decide what voice and viewpoint to use.
Questions to Ask When Writing in First Person
Is this the character who is best qualified to tell this story? Sometimes, the central character is best qualified. Sometimes, it's another character; for example, the Sherlock Holmes stories are narrated by Watson. Holmes wouldn't seem nearly so clever or impressive if the reader could see exactly what he was thinking.
On the other hand, a mystery narrative that gets away with first person focusing on the central character, and yet doesn't reveal the train of thought, would be Raymond Chandler's novels, which follow the detective Philip Marlowe.
Chandler mostly does a very good job of concealing Marlowe's inner thoughts by making Marlowe the kind of tough guy who doesn't go in for a lot of introspective, touchy-feely stuff; however, his writing has still been criticized for a few instances of hiding what should have been obvious to the reader.
In general, be sure to show all of the relevant details the character's senses reveal. Thoughts and feelings can be hidden for later revelation – for example, Bob looks at a picture of his father and feels sad, but only in the next chapter do we understand whether this is because Bob's father is dead, dying, estranged or simply because he recently insulted Bob's accomplishments.
However, when using first person, trying too hard to imply one of these options and then revealing a different story later is not playing fair. If using misdirection, be subtle.
What kind of character is the narrator? How emotional is this person; how thoughtful and introspective? The character's narrative voice will reveal very different things depending on these factors. Let's take the same situation – Jane loves Bob and hasn't told him – viewed through the eyes of three different Janes.
The first Jane, who is neither very emotional nor very introspective, might tell the reader that Bob was a great guy, strong and smart and loyal, and she'd always want him around to go to bat for her when problems come up in her life. She isn't talking about her own feelings: rather, she tells the reader what she knows about Bob, and leads them to draw their own conclusions.
The second Jane, who is very emotional but not very introspective, might tell the reader that she felt butterflies in her stomach when Bob was around; that when Bob complimented her dress, her whole mood improved; that she thought Bob had a great smile and it made her think of children with that smile. She wouldn't linger on the implications of these feelings.
The third Jane, who is introspective about her emotions, might tell the reader her thoughts about Bob: would she want to marry Bob? Why or why not? What kind of person does she think he is, and does she think her own personality traits are compatible?
Advantages and Disadvantages of Writing in First Person POV
The above kind of internal monologue is both a great advantage and a great disadvantage of writing in first person point of view. A writer can tell stories this way that can't be told in any other way: when a character puts together complex thoughts and feelings, or puzzles out a situation, it can be quite exciting – but on the other hand, if that character is just mooning on about their baser emotions, it can bore the reader.
And in any case, a writer should always make sure to alternate scenes of introspection and action. A character's inner thoughts can be rewarding, but only if they're about something that the reader has seen, felt, or experienced through the character's perceptions. Philosophizing about a boring life just bogs down the story.
Switching Viewpoints
One final note on first person: switching viewpoints can liven up a story, or weaken it, so consider carefully when deciding to write more than one viewpoint. The strength of having multiple viewpoints in a first-person story is that it shows more information and more perspective to the reader. The weakness is that the story may not need all of this information – and that when character viewpoints are added just to provide information, it can come off as dry and boring. The antidote is to make certain all viewpoint characters are interesting people in their own right.
Find out more on writing three-dimensional characters, or learn more about writing in third person.
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