MIDNIGHT WRITING What Sort of Person Am I? First Person Narration
Midnight Writing features info and useful tips on writing, collected and edited by a writer in the hopes that he can help others, and in turn get the help he needs.
“I was watching some [motorcycle racing] this morning… that all comes down to who’s first past the line, who’s the fastest. This has nothing to do with that. Who’s on pole position? Well that guy decided to go backwards, that guy decided to sit in the stands and drink a Slurpee, that guy went forwards and it’s all like: What do you think?”
Christian Bale, post-Oscars interview
Being first, second or third person in writing has nothing to do with pole position or a podium. There isn’t a best or worst around here! And while each has its own advantages and disadvantages, it really is down to what a story needs.
And as always in writing, any rule can be broken depending on what a writer is trying to do (except for capital letters and punctuation… I’m a stickler).
Read on for a breakdown of each person, with every significant advantage and disadvantage I could think of. For clarity, these are elements I have noticed in my own writing experiences. I’m sure there are plenty more!
How Egotistical! First Person (I, me, we, my)
First person can get a bit of a bad rap sometimes.
Sometimes it’s thrown in with so-called ‘purple prose’ (overly flowery, big on metaphors), popularised partly from people aping the style of Raymond Chandler and others. This all came from the great boom of detective novels from the 1920s until around the 40s or 50s, depending on who you ask.
Sometimes it’s seen as basic compared to the other two entries, perhaps because children tend to naturally write stories from a first person perspective, sometimes with themselves as the protagonist.
Sometimes writers tend to think it limiting. Everything being from one point of view? What if you need to show something the character doesn’t actually take in?
The first point is redundant as both parody and straight detective fiction still exist; purple prose is not equal to first person narration. The second is nonsensical as it relates to actual quality. It’s this third point I’d like to examine. Because it may be on the money. What a writer must do, however, is balance any drawbacks with the benefits.
Neat Little Biscuits
In this way if third person narration is a top of the line Swiss army knife, first person is a pallet knife. Pallet knives, for those not in the know, have a rather niche use compared to other utensils in your kitchen. But good god are they useful when you really need them. First person narration can lend such an immediacy and connection with a character if used at the right time, in the right way. You wouldn’t use a pallet knife to cut a steak. But taking cookies off a baking tray? There’s nothing better (I think. I’m not sure, my cookies taste awful).
First person can be an incredible tool to limit the information your reader has access to. This is why it has this indelible link to detective fiction nearly one hundred years after Chandler et al. A half-heard conversation is suddenly lost, or your protagonist only gets a glimpse of something important, before it’s whisked away under cover? First person done right can come down to how well balanced a writer is with revealing certain clues, detective fiction or not.
It’s also a natural way for a reader to be gifted an insight into a character’s mind. Whilst second and third person can do this in their own ways, first person allows a writer and a reader to dive deeply into a character’s psyche. But does it dive that much deeper into a character to be worth it? Compared to third person, it’s debateable at best, an easy win for third person at worst.
So it’s that bad?
Just like a story that features one character, alone, first person narration can become stale quickly. Unless your plot has something going for it, or your writing is sufficiently emotive or compelling, first person narration brings along the risk of feeling too samey for a reader to continue on with the story.
In my own writing, this has come in the form of diving too deeply too often into the minutiae of what my protagonist is thinking.
Early on, I considered it ‘better’ to write a story featuring only one character in first person. I sat there smugly figuring that if I did this, it would be the best way to concentrate and hone in on what my character was thinking and feeling at any given time. But I soon realised I was confusing ‘better’ with ‘neater’. A lot of what I wrote during this time was easily the most boring writing I’ve ever produced.
Like imposing a certain desired structure onto a story, writers can hamstring themselves with a rule they themselves established.
But first person is also a wonderful way to create a feeling of isolation. Length has nothing to do with this, by the way. It’s how you use it (as the old innuendo goes).
Overall it’s a useful tool at the right time. But never feel like you have to stick with a tool if it’s not doing the job. Like a good chef, if I realise I have to make beetroot soup, I’m not going to use that pallet knife (I think. I’m not sure, my beetroot soup tastes awful, because all beetroot soup tastes awful).
Matthew D. Smith likes to overshare his views on writing whenever and wherever he can. Indulge him, and follow him on Twitter or listen to the podcast he co-hosts with Leslie Wai where they pitch their own ideas for movies and TV shows.
