Why (Why Not) First Person?

[sknox]

My brain's autocomplete here put "you don't give a rat's ass".

If I did have a rat's ass, I rather think I'd be eager to give it away. <g>

 

[tinkerdan]

I had a rat ass the other day and couldn't even give it away--had to bury it.
Pretty soon the ground will be frozen; I don't know what I'll do then.

 

[JunkMonkey]

If I did have a rat's ass, I rather think I'd be eager to give it away. <g>

Would be cool to have a tail though.

 

[The Big Peat]

Re Rules - As Terry Rosso puts it, great art is often great art because it breaks rules.

Think of rules as guidelines to balancing your equations, that's what I say.

However the real problem with first person--what can make it worse--is using present tense because a lot of readers don't like present tense; or at least a large number of those who are vocal about my books. Of course, I was rather new in writing and that might have something to do with it; though through discussion I don't think it's that.

*raises hand*

I'm slowly getting over it but I loathe present tense.

In my case, it's because when reading fast, I rely on my brain to auto-fill a few words, and present tense means my brain fills them in wrong and I get jerked out of the reading trance. When that happens, I put the book down.

Technically first person limits your view point, but you can write different parts of the book from different view points. Tricky things happen if a first person character dies or becomes unconscious. Even then, you can get around it (Look he's a ghost! Or I was semi-conscious).

This can also be a blessing, as some books try to show too much and benefit from being forced to show less. Compare the effectiveness of GRR Martin skipping battles early on in SoIaF, compared to the bloat of showing everything now.

To me, first person works best when going with the flow rather than cutting against the grain - pick stories where everything that happens without the protag present doesn't matter, or can be recounted. I think it's why it's such a good PoV for mysteries.

In third, I like that it can be used to create cliffhangers and keep multiple storylines moving forwards. I'd also argue that close third can be very close to the emotions etc of first - it's just the storytelling perspective that's a little different.

Fwiw, the most emotional I've been with stories has all been with third, sometimes even omniscient.