The Humour Club discussion

I much prefer writing in the third person, using omniscient narration. I'm starting a new series and am grappling with the idea of using the first person.

Anyone have strong feelings about this? How about a list of advantages to using the first person?

Thanks.

No matter how you write, I'm sure it'll come out great. One advantage of first-person is the character's logical progression of interpreting things instead of just describing them. One disadvantage, for me anyway, is authors sometimes spending too much time in a character's head. Gets tedious after awhile.

First, thanks for the compliment! Then: good points. I'm really concerned about it limiting what I can tell if I'm stuck with only that one person (who has to BE there in order to act or react).

First is definitely a challenge if you are used to third. The first time I wrote in first person I had several false starts before I got the hang of it. I found that it needed a bit more discipline on my part than third.

For example, you have to structure the plot around what you POV character can see and experience - no sneaking off to see what the protagonist is doing behind closed doors!

One thing that took me quite a while was to find an authentic character voice for the first person narrator. The anti-hero of my first book is a reluctant hero and a bit of a dreamer. So I needed a way of speaking that would reflect his character. I decided to make him a slightly fussy young man who is obsessed with words and wordplay. That took me into a specific style of language - eg words that he would not use on principle, favourite phrases, ways of talking.

One approach that helped me was to try to visualise who my first person POV narrator was talking to and why. I eventually settled on the premise that he was telling the story to a reporter some time after the events of the story had happened. That helped me with logistical problems such as working out whether my main character knew how the story was going to end. That's not an issue with first person present, but it is something to think about with first person past.

Writing in the first person was more fun than I thought it was going to be, but it definitely needed more thought and effort than I expected. It was so much fun that my current book is also told in first person, although this time with a very different narrator - older, more cynical, relatively heartless.

Thank you so much, Will. Your comments are very helpful and have given me plenty to think about. Writing in the first person has far more complexity to it than I originally thought! I'm considering writing a few short stories with my new characters, a few in first person, a few in third, and see which I like better.

Will said: "I eventually settled on the premise that he was telling the story to a reporter some time after the events of the story had happened." That's essentially what I do, too. I imagine my narrator is sitting on a bar stool telling an old friend about something that happened to her. I find writing that way makes it easier than writing in third person.

I like that idea. It will help immensely. Thanks, Lisa.

Don't think. Just write!

You're right, Joel! I will.

Good point, Ed. I've started experimenting and you're right.

Kathy, you could make the phone book sound interesting.

Joel, you are way too kind. I would say that about YOU.

I'm a little late to the discussion here. I just wanted to add that I've struggled both ways, and feel like I really found my voice best in first person! That, even though I've now written two different 1st person narrators and their voices are (I hope) different.

I'm also experimenting with 3rd person limited. Each form has its advantages, but so far I have to say that 1st is easier for me to write. It allows my narrator to have a snarky sense of humor, if nothing else. In 3rd, I get hung up on needing to keep a more neutral tone.

Interesting, Rebecca. Thanks. I've temporarily abandoned my experiment using the first person. I felt very limited by being stuck with one person. I'll get it out in a few months and see if my opinion changes.

I've decided to try writing in the fourth person. All I need is for somebody else to write the book.

HAHAHAHA. You made my day, Joel. I'm laughing too hard to clean my basement . . .

Kathy wrote: "HAHAHAHA. You made my day, Joel. I'm laughing too hard to clean my basement . . ."

Well THAT seems like a good thing!

I do that Joel! It's called ghostwriting. Not that I wear a sheet or turn invisible when I write or anything . . .

Spooky!

I think 1st person lends itself particularly well to humor because it allows for unreliability and reader deception, which creates more opportunities for surprise, novelty and hopefully laughter. In 3rd person, you have to be "right" most of the time. A 3rd person narrator who's unreliable, is basically just creating plot holes, whereas if you carefully execute it in the first person, you are creating opportunities for insights into your character, specifically their shortcomings, which can be a great source of humor.

Only 32 days late to the conversation. Not bad for me.

I self-pubbed three novels in September. All of them were written in first person. What I discovered is that if your narrator is funny, then their take on the story and characters running all around them is funny too. Very good for humor, I agree.

Two of the books are the first two in my PI series, McCall & Company. My protagonist is a 45-year-old woman. That made writing those books especially fun for me. In the other book -- Juggler, Porn Star, Monkey Wrench -- the protagonist/narrator is more or less me. And that was fun too.

In the book I'm writing now, there are four narrators, all in first person.

I love being in the head of the person telling the story. I agree with all of you…great way to tell a funny story.

I didn't write my self-pubbed in the first person, but I seem to be reading them that way.

Joel wrote: "I didn't write my self-pubbed in the first person, but I seem to be reading them that way."

I read mine in third person, Joel. Makes me feel very important.

Rich wrote: "Joel wrote: "I didn't write my self-pubbed in the first person, but I seem to be reading them that way."

I read mine in third person, Joel. Makes me feel very important."
He'll have to try that.

Joel wrote: "Rich wrote: "Joel wrote: "I didn't write my self-pubbed in the first person, but I seem to be reading them that way."

I read mine in third person, Joel. Makes me feel very important."
He'll have ..."

He might enjoy it. If he reads it in third person omniscient, he can make sure he does.