First person, third person, past tense, present tense???
I keep seeing discussion about this on social media and I Have Thoughts.
Many years ago, I was one of those readers who refused to read a book written in first person point of view. I literally would not read them. I liked third person point of view. I was used to third person. I was comfortable with third person. I saw no reason to even try to read a book in first person.
My, how things have changed! I don’t know how. I didn’t read a specific book in first person and have an epiphany. I didn’t make a conscious decision to try reading first person books. I just did. And *gasp* it was fine.
Then people started writing in first person present tense. I thought that was dumb. Books are supposed to be in past tense. You’re telling a story about something that already happened, therefore it is in the past. Right?
Eh. Somehow I changed my mind about that, too. In the same way. I just kind of slid into it.
Then…I started writing in first person. I never thought I would do that. And then I started writing in first person present tense. Oh my God! What is happening??
Lots of folks have strong opinions about these things. I think there are some misconceptions about first person point of view, maybe from people like me who refused to read it. Or maybe they’ve read some and didn’t like it.
I’ve made notes of some of things readers say they don’t like about first person (and sometimes present tense) so let’s dig in!
First of all, point of view.
In fiction, we tell the story from the point of view of a character. Or often in romances, from more than one character. I love including the male POV in my romances because I love getting inside the guy’s head and knowing what he thinks and how he feels about the female character. Like, I love it when he is completely undone by her magnificence, and he falls hard for her. I want to know that!
We see what happens in the story from the perspective of the character. We experience what happens as the character. We feel it as the character. We react as the character. We know what this character is thinking. (Maybe!) BUT…we only know things this character knows.
Here are some common things I see said about point of view in stories:
I can’t get into the story in first person.
There’s only one point of view in first person.
You can’t have a cast of secondary characters POVs or scenes in other POVs which enrich a story
First person seems very selfish.
A story in third person reads like watching a movie, where first person puts the reader in as the character(s).
First person point of view is limiting.
First person bogs me down in what just one person is feeling/doing.
Third person gives me a chance to explore the main characters in a way that first person doesn’t.
First person has too much telling and it pulls me out of the story.
I lose interest when any character is in their head too much.
I feel like I don’t get to know the other characters as well when it’s only first person, and often think the main character is self-centered.
I like to know everything everyone in the story is thinking—so I like third.
When I am deep in a chapter, buried in I this and I that, I forget who the I is. (Even when the character’s name is at the top of the chapter/scene.) I prefer deep 3rd where I am switching between the main characters and getting their perspectives.
I like third person as long as it sticks to a single POV, maybe because first person restricts the reader’s perspective.
With a third person you can project yourself into the story without feeling like you're forced to accept the narrator's opinion. I like the slight bit of distance.
I don’t like first person because you never get to actually know the other person's thoughts/feelings.
The identification with the character is strong and when they do something stupid or extremely against my nature/morals, it’s hard to respect the character.
MY THOUGHTS
When I started writing fiction, I honestly didn’t know what “point of view” was. Oh yeah—my first works were full of head hopping. It was Jack Bickham’s book Scene and Structure that taught me about point of view (and not head hopping).
I learned that you have to be careful not to write things the viewpoint character doesn’t know. For example, I/she/he/they don’t know that another character is angry. Or they don’t know that the other character is crazy about them but is afraid to tell them. Or, another example, people in real life don’t usually describe themselves in their heads (Her blond curls gleamed in the sun…) Unless she’s looking in a mirror, how does she know that?
As a baby writer, I wrote in third person and I had a tendency to write shallowly. My critique partner was always telling me “go deeper!” To help with that, I would write a scene in first person. For some reason that helped me really get into the character’s head and feelings. Then I’d rewrite it in to third person.
Then I learned about deep (close) third person. Deep POV is about really getting inside the character so the reader is experiencing everything the character is, drawing the reader deeper into the character’s world. It’s about giving the reader “all the feels.”
(I can write a whole other post on deep point of view, if you’re interested, drop a comment.) (Never mind. I mean, comment if you want, but fuckit, I’m gonna write that deep point of view post because I Have Many Thoughts about this too.)
This is really no different than first person point of view.
As for the above comments, let me give my thoughts.
There’s only one point of view in first person.
You can’t have a cast of secondary characters POVs or scenes in other POVs which enrich a story
Yes, you definitely can have more than one point of view in first person. I always (almost) write two points of view – the main female character and main male character. I have even written three points of view (see my ménage romances) in first person.
First person seems very selfish.
I often think the main character is self-centered.
I think I understand why readers may feel this way. Because of the constant use of “I” in first person, it can feel like the story is all about that person. (Well, it is.) But this also can be a result of weak writing. Varying sentence structure is important no matter what POV you’re writing in.
Example:
She walked into the room. She sat on the couch. She crossed her legs. She looked up at him. “You’re an idiot,” she said.
How about…
She walked into the room and sat on the couch. Crossing her legs, she looked up at him. “You’re an idiot.”
This would be exactly the same in first person.
I walked into the room. I sat on the couch. I crossed my legs. I looked up at him. “You’re an idiot,” I said.
How about…
I walked into the room and sat on the couch. Crossing my legs, I looked up at him. “You’re an idiot.”
First person point of view is limiting.
First person bogs me down in what just one person is feeling/doing.
Third person gives me a chance to explore the main characters in a way that first person doesn’t.
I like to know everything everyone in the story is thinking—so I like third.
There are limits when it comes to point of view, but they’re really not that different from first person to third person. Even writing in third person, the point of view character still can’t know what another character is thinking or feeling – that would be head hopping or poor writing. A good writer will have the other character give off clues about how they’re feeling or what they’re thinking in ways other than coming right out and saying it. The POV character might pick up on these clues—or they might not. They might be oblivious and we, the reader, shake our heads at them for not realizing this guy’s crazy about you!
Examples:
I sense tension ripple through him. I lift my head from his chest and tip it back to gaze up at him. His eyes meet mine and for a moment I feel like I’m lifted out of time…like I’m in a bubble, with Ford. My chest fills and I have the crazy thought that Ford wants to kiss me. My lips part, my eyes locked on his.
His arms tighten around me, then release me, and he steps back. His eyes shutter, his face drawing into tight contours.
“You’ll find someone else.” I grimace. “Sorry. That’s a stupid thing to say.”
OR
We’re silent amidst a new buzz of tension.
“Jeff and I are over,” I say to Nate once the server leaves. “It was years ago.”
“Then why see him?”
“I don’t know if I will. And if I do, it doesn’t matter.”
A muscle ticks in his lean jaw.
I lean forward. “Nate. Are you jealous?”
He scowls. I’m sure he’s about to say no, but he closes his mouth. He’s silent for a drawn-out moment, then he mutters, “Yeah.”
As for knowing what everyone in the story is thinking—that’s not completely possible unless you’re writing from the POV of every character, in first person or third person. But you can have more than one viewpoint character, as in romance, MFC and MMC, and know what they’re both thinking. Again, first person doesn’t have to be just one POV.
I like third person as long as it sticks to a single POV, maybe because first person restricts the reader’s perspective.
This comment doesn’t really make sense, because a story written in third person from only one character’s point of view is going to have the same restrictions as the story written in first person.
The identification with the character is strong and when they do something stupid or extremely against my nature/morals, it’s hard to respect the character.
With a third person you can project yourself into the story without feeling like you're forced to accept the narrator's opinion. I like the slight bit of distance.
A story in third person reads like watching a movie, where first person puts the reader in as the character(s).
These are fair comments. If a reader prefers distance, it’s true that third person POV might give you that. But if it’s deep POV…maybe not!
Writers want readers to identify with the characters. We want readers to believe in them, invest in them, care about them. We work hard at our craft to make sure that happens.
As for the other comments, many of these issues can be addressed with just stronger writing. I mentioned above varying sentence structure, important no matter what POV you’re writing.
Showing vs telling is another skill that’s important no matter which POV you write in. Telling us another character is angry is…boring. Showing us the character is angry (his face reddens, his eyes narrow, and his hands clench…) is more immersive.
(I can write a whole other post about showing vs telling! Watch this space!).
If a story doesn’t pull a reader in, it’s probably not because of the POV it’s written in. And if a character is in their head too much, that can happen in third person or first person; that’s a pacing issue, being aware of balancing dialogue, action, internal narration.
I guess my overall point is that it’s fine to have preferences, but I think if a book is well written, it doesn’t matter if it’s in first or third person or even what tense it’s in. I’ve read books that I don’t even notice which it is. So give different styles a chance!
