August 2007: Point of View (cont.)

All that sounds as though first person is the way to go, doesn’t it?

But there are disadvantages to using first person, too. The biggest one is that writers who haven’t had a lot of experience writing fiction are very apt, in first person, to tell their story instead of showing it. They talk about what happened instead of acting it out for us. And your readers won’t be nearly as involved in your story as you need them to be if it is summed up and told to them instead of being dramatized.

It isn’t that a first-person narration can’t move into action as effectively as a third-person one. But you may well find it too easy to talk your story in first person instead of showing it. And if you do, your story won’t be a strong as it needs to be.

Another is that when you write in first person, your narration usually comes out sounding a lot like you. That’s fine if you and your character have much in common. If you are about the same in age, gender, education, ethnic background, etc., you probably don’t have to change your natural voice to make your character believable on the page. If your character is very different from you, though, writing in first person may be difficult. You must make your character sound like herself, not like you.