Choosing the Writer's Viewpoint

I was asked recently by an author whether she thought it would be better for her to write in first person or third person.  She reasoned that she wrote better in third person, but wanted to challenge herself.  So it occurred to me that other people may be contemplating the same things.

There are advantages to writing either way, as well as disadvantages. It depends mainly on the range of mobility that you are looking for as a writer, and how personal you want your writing to be to the reader.

For first person, you pretty much get nailed down to one person's point of view for the entire story. That isn't to say that you can't still talk about other characters or hint to things that the character doesn't know about, but you're limited to how much information you can give your audience. On the opposite side of the spectrum, some authors like the fact that their character can't reveal everything to the audience. It can make for a much more exciting or personal experience, especially if you get really good at capturing a character's personality. Their thoughts--humor, sarcasm, irritation--all become your greatest assets in the first person view.

Here's how I used one of my own characters in first person. This first person is from a male point of view:

[ Whatever reaction she was expecting from me, it was obviously much different than the one that she received. She stared at me in a way that I don't think I've ever been looked at by anyone in my entire life. I couldn't begin to explain it, but it was almost as if she seemed to suddenly discard everything that she wanted to say. She leaned towards me slightly, and my eyes narrowed in confusion.


"We're here," Erin called, stopping the jeep and jumping out of the seat. He caught sight of Ezra before she turned to get out of the jeep, and for an instant held the most curious expression on his own face. ]

In third person, you can give your audience clues about your characters that the characters themselves may not know. You also have a wider range to explore the emotions of other characters, as well as give a better understanding of the environment in some cases.

Here's a clip from a third person fic that I discarded some time back:

[ A pair of gentle blue eyes looked through a room full of slain men.  The twelve-year old girl looked up at her fratello, bracing herself for a scolding.  When Jose looked down at his charge, her face suddenly pointed toward the floor again.  For an instant, he could see a slight chestnut highlighted in her beautiful brown hair, illuminated by a ray of sunlight.  He wanted to reach out and stroke her soft locks, but he knew better than to let his emotions get the better of him.

“Henrietta,” he said, with a sigh of frustration.

She looked up at him.  She was already trembling.  Her sad, scared eyes pierced his heart in an instant.  He shifted his gaze to a man lying in a pool of blood nearby.

“What happened?” he asked, regaining his train of thought.  It was like déjà vu.  Two years ago an almost identical incident had happened.  She had done so well too after that incident had happened.

“Jose,” Henrietta started uncertainly.

He looked back over at her.  She was giving him nervous glances, exchanged with deep sadness.  Jose, confused, with individual thoughts and questions chasing themselves across his brain, remained silent.

“Please,” she breathed almost painfully.  His attention was totally hers now.

“Please, can we go? You’re arm, Jose.  It’s bleeding.  Please!  Can we go and get it treated now?”

Startled by her words, Jose’s eyes shifted over her face, examining every inch of it, then slowly drifted down to his arm.  How he had managed to forget, he wasn’t quite sure, but just as she said, there was blood dripping from his fingers tips.  He could vaguely recall being hit in the arm, but somehow he could not make himself concerned about it.  His gaze drifted back up and settled, looking into her eyes. ]

As you can see, you can get about the same range of emotion, but with more than one character. It's all about how mobile you want to be and where you want that emotion and action to come from.