Writing in first-person POV is something many fiction writers instinctively gravitate to. It seems easy and natural to adopt this POV in writing, probably because we’re so accustomed to telling stories about ourselves in conversation, and of course we always tell them in the first person. Certainly, I’ve always favoured this perspective in my own work, and I now find myself shuffling between two alternating first-person narrators in my book, Virginia’s Ghost.
The chief advantage of first-person POV is the wonderful sense of intimacy it creates, the sense of being right inside the narrator’s head, privy to all of his or her thoughts, perceptions, and emotions. You can create an intense bond between narrator and audience when you’re writing from the first-person POV, and that intimacy is one of the chief reasons for selecting it. Of all the different POVs, it is probably the one that most easily allows readers to become emotionally invested in your story.
Remember, though, that your narrator should be someone whose head readers would actually want to be inside for the duration of an entire short story or novel. If your narrator is weird, obnoxious, or arrogant, you can be sure that few readers will be interested in your book. Draw up a detailed profile of your first-person narrator to ensure that you’ve created someone worth spending all that time with. Think about what qualities will make your narrator worth listening to. Does she have a particular attitude that makes her fascinating? Immerse yourself in the character and remember that when you’re writing in the first person, you’re writing using your character’s voice, not your own. You’re filtering your entire story through your narrator’s perceptions, so this character’s take on things had better be interesting.
Remember too that using first-person POV limits you to writing about only what the narrator knows and has experienced, so in this way, it can limit where your plot goes. Though I suppose you could have another character telling your narrator what just happened in the other room, this is far from ideal. You cheat readers by offering a second-hand account when they really wanted to be right there, front and centre, seeing the action through your narrator’s eyes. It almost goes without saying that your first-person narrator needs to be someone who is constantly at the heart of the action–in most cases, your protagonist.
Another important thing to be conscious of when using first-person POV is that your narrator is in the position of knowing the whole story right from the start. What this gives you as a writer is the flexibility to discuss, with the benefit of hindsight, what the narrator wouldn’t have perceived earlier in the narrative but now understands. To what extent you want to exploit this is up to you. My view is that when you write from a position of hindsight, you sometimes reveal too much about what’s to come and you also distance readers from events. By contrast, writing in real time, as events are actually unfolding, creates a sense of immediacy that plunges readers into your narrative.
Although writing in first-person POV doesn’t appear all that difficult, many writers nonetheless make errors when writing from this perspective. By this I mean that they make “illegal” shifts into another character’s POV. If your narrator suddenly starts telling us what another character is thinking, that’s a POV error, as there’s no way he could possibly know. As well, if the narrator starts describing a scene he hasn’t witnessed, that’s also an error. Writers also frequently make the mistake of describing the first-person narrator’s appearance as if they were looking down on him from above, which is yet another breach of the POV rules.
It may take some practice, but If you can create a compelling first-person narrator and stay consistently inside that character’s head, then you are well on your way to mastering first-person POV.
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Great explanation Caroline, as you know I’m now using 1st POVand find myself shifting from real-time dialogue with other characters to narrative monologue describing a scene or her internal thoughts and opinions of people, places and situations. Does this multiplicity of approach stay within your boundaries for 1st POV?
Thanks for the this, look forward to future blogs!
Cheers
nick
PS: like the new winter-scape on your home page!
The wintry scene is visible from my balcony, Nick, though it’s not snowy at the moment. I’m fortunate indeed to live on a ravine. We occasionally see deer grazing in the woods!
Using your first-person POV character’s thoughts is well within the POV rules, though it’s important to balance thoughts with action. Interior monologue will enlighten us about the nature of the POV character and contribute to creating that character’s voice, but It’s possible to spend too much time in the person’s thought processes and really stall the action. I’m always thinking about what will move a story forward.
Great points, Caroline. As you know, my first book was written in first-person, and I absolutely loved it. It helped me to relate to the narrator, which (I hope) helped the reader relate to him as well. I had considered writing the sequel from alternating first-person P’s o’V, but wondered how the reader would take it. I’ve seen it done… once? Maybe twice. How do you think it’s working for you so far? Because, you’re right. I don’t want to cheat the reader out of the action happening in the other room, but sometimes it’s also fun to blindside the narrator with what everyone else has been up to.
That’s a good thought, Bob–I think there’s certainly an argument for blindsiding the narrator at times with things he or she didn’t see or know about, especially if the narrator’s the person who’s going to be most affected by the goings on. Come to think of it, this happens to both of my narrators to an extent. I am finding it tricky writing in two different voices, both female. Narrator no. 1 is a middle-aged, lonely, workaholic, while narrator no. 2 is a young, initially carefree flapper (I use her diary to tell her story). They are at rather opposite extremes, and both undergo a considerable transformation by the end of the book. I don’t think writing two different first-person narrators is for the faint-of-heart.
Excellent advice! I’ve rarely attempted first person POV, so I haven’t thought much about the pitfalls — clearly you have far more experience with this. Does your editorial experience help you keep your omniscience under control?
Thanks, Abby! I don’t naturally tend toward an omniscient narrator and think it would be quite challenging for me to write this way. I prefer to stay primarily in one character’s head, as I think this allows readers to become more engaged in a story. Still, the omniscient viewpoint has been around for a very long time, and certain authors, e.g., Charles Dickens, were masters of it. But I consider it difficult to do well.