First person seems to be ALL the rage these days. It almost feels like the default narration style for everything.
Before I go into why I personally don’t like first person narration, I want to lay down a couple of caveats:
- This is a personal preference I’m discussing, and I’m not claiming it to be anything more than that: my preference.
- I am NOT saying that third person is objectively superior to first person
- There are indisputably classics and brilliant books written in a first person narrative style
That said, why do I not like first person? I think it comes down to this:
I get distracted by thoughts of “How could this character possibly remember all this?”
Now, this issue can be the whole POINT of writing in first person. The issue of whether a particular first person narrator is reliable and trustworthy can be a lot of fun and very powerful.
It can create suspense.
It can engage critical thinking skills.
It can work really well for an outlandish or especially unique narrator.
But personally, in the vast majority of instances, I just don’t like first person narration. I certainly couldn’t ever write in first person. Maybe it just doesn’t fit my style or way of thinking.
Maybe I’m just not talented enough to create an engaging first person narrator who tells their own story in an engaging way. Again, there are LOTS of fabulous first person narratives (and lots of poorly written third person narratives).
Agatha Christie’s first person narrative The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is GENIUS, for example. Then there’s Moby Dick (“Call me Ishmael.”)
I suppose I get the impression that, first person being so prevalent nowadays, sometimes people aren’t choosing first person with thoughts to use that narrative style creatively.
They aren’t thinking about how reliable their narrator is or isn’t, or how much sense it makes that a narrator would remember a book-length narrative in that much detail.
They’re not always asking, “Why is my character telling his or own story? What does this desire say about them?”
I think some people choose first person narrative on default because it is SO popular. Why is it so popular?
I think this is partly because, as a culture, the Western world is incredibly ego-driven, narcissistic, and self-focused. In that kind of environment, first person narratives are just a given.
Everything has to be all about ME ME ME nowadays. I hate that this is so, and I imagine that I (unjustly, in many cases) make assumptions about contemporary first person fiction reflecting this cultural mindset.
Again, this is NOT knocking anyone who writes in first person. I’m absolutely NOT saying that if you write fiction in first person, you’re a narcissist. That is clearly not the case, and I’m sure I miss out on a ton of great fiction not really liking first person, and that’s totally my loss and my problem.
However, I’m curious as to what you think about my points here. I would love a respectful and thoughtful conversation about first person narratives. What do you think of them?
(For a limited time, my YA fantasy new release The Crimson League: The Fight for Hope will have a 99 cent Kindle edition. This is only through today, Sunday 4/18, so make sure you check it out!)
Creative Writing with the Crimson League 
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