writing novel in first person

Putting the “I” in your novel–writing in first person

writing novel in first person

People seem to have a lot of opinions when it comes to first-person narrative in novels. There are people who abhor the very idea and some who even go so far as to say they won’t read a book written in the first person.

But here is a newsflash: those people are both wrong and boring. 

Listen, don’t shoot the messenger. 

Okay, I might be a touch biased because I personally love first person. In fact, it’s become the only POV I like to write in anymore. There is so much immediacy and emotion I can evoke from writing in first person. Personally, I think it’s more dynamic and captivating overall.  

But obviously not everyone is going to feel that way. It’s hard to say where the ire for first person derives (well, I have my theories, but we won’t go there), but the good news is you don’t have to listen to those people. Because for all the people who claim they don’t like first person, there are just as many who do. 

writing novel in first person

What is first person narrative? 

First person narrative is when you write using the words “I”, “us”, or “we”. It’s when your story is told through the eyes of one person and we spend time in their head, hearing their thoughts and seeing what they see. 

Some well-known books that use first person include:

The Hunger Games

To Kill a Mockingbird

Bridget Jones's Diary

The Hate U Give

The Handmaid's Tale

Genre and POV

Like so many things, it’s important to consider your genre when you’re choosing your narrative point of view. There are specific genres where you’ll see first person a lot. Those include young adult, romance, thrillers, urban fantasy, and mysteries, for example. Why does it work so well for these genres? 

Limited POV

Because we only know what the narrator sees in a first-person story, this type of narrative works well for thrillers and mysteries where you don't want the clues to be revealed too soon. You can make use of what your narrator doesn’t know to help drive the story forward and bring your reader into the know at the same time as your protagonist.

There’s something about the depth you can get with a first-person perspective that works very well for YA. Since young adult stories center around a protagonist who’s finding their place in the world, it can be very powerful to be in their head, feeling and thinking through all their emotions. 

A similar theory applies to romance novels. During a romance arc, your characters are feeling some of the strongest things they might ever experience. By telling that story from right inside their heads, you can use the first-person narrative to hook your readers directly into their plight. When that third-act breakup inevitably comes, you can have your readers wallow in the same despair and, when they finally achieve their happily-ever-after, they can be cheering alongside your main character. 

A note: None of this is to say there aren’t countless thriller, mystery, romance, and YA novels written in third person that aren’t also amazing in different ways. Any book at any time can be written either way and be equally good. 

writing novel in first person

Other reasons first person works

Aside from the two things mentioned above, there are a couple other reasons you might choose to write in first person. 

Offers credibility and relatability

When your main character feels like they’re talking directly to readers, there’s a certain level of intimacy you can achieve that lends both credibility and relatability to your story. If you’re writing a protagonist that maybe isn’t super likable, you can make use of first person by getting into their heads and showing the reasons they act the way they do, for example. 

If it’s necessary for them to be an actual expert–maybe they’re a detective solving a crime–you can also increase their credibility using first person because their actions, thoughts, and knowledge aren’t diluted by anyone else’s perspective. 

A view through their lens

When you write from a first person perspective, the only opinion we get is that of your character. The only experience we feel is theirs. That includes all the things they choose to tell the reader and all the things they might choose not to tell. If you’re aiming for an unreliable narrator, using first person can work well because everything they’re seeing is filtered through their personal lens. It also makes it easy for them to leave out certain details that can trip a reader up and lead them in a direction they don’t anticipate. 

Personally, I find it much easier to incorporate humor into my stories when I’m writing them from the first person. There’s just something about using the candid, off-the-cuff thoughts of your protagonist that allows for a biting and sarcastic wit that just doesn’t seem to work as well for third person narration. Maybe that’s just me, though.

True story: I once had an editor tell me she didn’t actually care for my style of humor and, ouch… I think I’m funny. 

writing novel in first person

Types of first-person narration

Essentially, there are two types of first-person narration you might consider writing. 

The first is first-person central and is likely the type you’re most familiar with. This is where the main character is the central protagonist and the story is happening to them. 

The second type is first-person peripheral , and this is where your narrator is more of an observer in the story. They’re the ones offering background information and their own speculations as the story happens around them. 

Tips for writing first person

If you want to take the plunge into writing first person, here are a few tips to help get you started and ensure your narrative is on point: 

  • Be up front. Let your audience know right away that this is a first-person story. Your novel should lead with your character anyway, so this is actually pretty easy. Make use of that “I” somewhere in your first sentence and you’re golden. 
  • Avoid distancing verbs. It can be easy to fall into the trap of using phrases like “I thought” or “I felt” a little too often when writing in the first person. These are verbs that distance the reader from your writing, which is the exact opposite effect you want when choosing to write first person. Remember that you can simply state their thoughts because you’re already in their head. Instead of “I felt the tremors beneath my feet,” you can write, “Tremors rumbled beneath my feet.” 
  • Avoid using “I”. Similar to the above, many writers can fall into the trap of using the word “I” too often. Obviously, you can’t write first person without using it, but be mindful of how often this little word is popping up. Especially at the beginning of sentences. Mix up the way you introduce thoughts and ideas. “I nestled back on the cushions,” versus, “The cushions cradled me in a nest of warmth.”*^

*Listen, this is a good tip for all your writing regardless of what POV you’re writing.

^But when you're doing this, also be mindful you're not sliding into too much passive writing, kind of like I did there in my example. It can be easy to fall into that habit. For more on what active versus passive writing is, have a look at this article .

A word on using italics to convey internal thoughts: When writing in the first person, you can make use of italics to convey internal thoughts… but if it’s written in first person, aren’t they all internal thoughts? There are two schools of practice on this notion and you’re likely going to find people who disagree on both sides.

Modern practice in traditional publishing is to err on the side of not italicizing inner thoughts, but there are people who love them and are going to keep using them. 

Personally, I don’t care for them and am in the school that says, it’s first person–it’s all their thoughts so you don’t need it. I only use italics for thoughts when I really want to emphasize them. 

But it’s your story. You do what makes your heart happy. 

writing novel in first person

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Nisha J Tuli is a YA and adult fantasy and romance author who specializes in glitter-strewn settings and angst-filled kissing scenes. Give her a feisty heroine, a windswept castle, and a dash of true love and she’ll be lost in the pages forever. When Nisha isn’t writing, it’s probably because one of her two kids needs something (but she loves them anyway). After they’re finally asleep, she can be found curled up with her Kobo or knitting sweaters and scarves, perfect for surviving a Canadian winter.

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Writing in First Person: 4 Tricks and 6 Pitfalls

writing novel in first person

Although it seems natural to speak in the voice of a single character, since you’ve practiced all your life, there are some tricks to learn and pitfalls to avoid.

For instance, there isn’t only one kind of first person writing. There are actually four different ways to do first person point of view! (We’ll break down those types later).

Historically speaking, most books pre-1900 were written in the third person (with some notable exceptions). Now, if you look at the last five years of prizes like the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Man Booker, you’ll find about 30% of the finalists are written in the first person. If you look at genre and commercial fiction, you’ll find the percentage is even higher, at about 50%.

Which means that the first person POV has fully come into its own in the modern era. So celebrate the future by writing in first person! You’re part of a sweep of history that prizes the intimacy of a single voice, a single voice against the multitudes. 

Now let’s figure out how to write in first person.

4 Tricks for Writing in First Person

1. Show Some Attitude

Attitude is what literary agents call “voice driven.” Your characters need to be snarky, or witty, or funny, or droll.

Nothing is more dull than a first person narrator who speaks like a computer on the page. The more personality you can infuse into your narrator, the more fun the reader will have.

Which first person narrator is better?

1. “I went into the bar and decided to ask the bartender for a drink. Even though the bar was closed, the bartender was able to pour me a beer. I tried to read the newspaper but it was all the same stuff I read every day.”

2. “What about a teakettle? What if the spout opened and closed when the steam came out, so it would become a mouth, and it could whistle pretty melodies, or do Shakespeare, or just crack up with me? I could invent a teakettle that reads in Dad’s voice, so I could fall asleep, or maybe a set of kettles that sings the chorus of “Yellow Submarine,” which is a song by the Beatles, who I love.”

The first one isn’t terrible, but it’s not great either. It’s straightforward, like Hemingway. This is the voice of a private eye or a recent divorcee or some other hardscrabble character. But it doesn’t tell you very much about the character through the voice alone.

incredibly-close-938x960

Your characters need personality, and that personality should be embedded in every sentence of your manuscript. It should especially come through in the dialogue, where you have a wonderful opportunity to fly your character’s freak flag (do they speak in dialect? What’s their catch phrase or filler words?).

Advice : Start a manuscript in first person when you hear a voice talking inside your head. I mean actually hear, like a gravelly timbre of a truck driver or the screech of an elderly woman or the plaintive innocent bleat of a child. The voice will be the voice of your character, and it will be telling you a story verbatim.

2. Highlight Your Character’s Self-Deception

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For instance, they could believe that they’re Casanova or Helena of Troy, but we’ll see, as person after person in bars turns them down, that their self-perception is incorrect. They could believe they’re amazing at their job as a detective, but after they bumble one case after another, we the readers understand that they’re terrible.

Three Examples:

In  J.M. Coetzee’s “Disgrace,” we can see that the narrating professor David Lurie is sexually exploiting his young college student, even though he defends his action and believes he has done nothing wrong. Later on in the story, we see the underlying tension is that the professor is racist, even though he doesn’t believe himself to be racist.

In “ The Remains of the Day ” by Kazuo Ishiguro, a butler uses high language and formal manners to hide from everyone, including himself, that he’s in love, even though the reader recognizes it at once.

Ignatius J. Reilly in “ A Confederacy of Dunces ” believes himself to be of high moral standing, intelligent, and brave. The reader knows he is none of these.

If you can help the reader understand that the character lacks self-knowledge, it’ll create tension between what the reader knows and what the character knows, and the reader will keep reading to see if the character ever arrives at self-discovery. Every writing teacher talks about creating tension through the drama of plot and conflict between characters, but this creating of conflict between the reader and the character– the technical literary term is called Dramatic Irony —  is one of the most underrated ways of creating tension in a manuscript.

In third person narrating the dramatic irony comes from a character not knowing that someone behind the door is about to jump out with a knife (but the reader knows), while in first person the dramatic irony comes from the audience realizing something about the character that the character doesn’t realize herself.

The more blind spots you can give your narrator, the more the audience will be invested in the complexity of the character.

Danger : If you have your narrator have too many blind spots, they’ll come off as naive or half-witted, which will sabotage the reader’s respect for them.

3. Figure Out Your Narrator’s Level of Unreliability

It’s not a choice between writing a first person reliable narrator or an unreliable narrator. That’s far too easy.

The truth is that every first person narrator is unreliable to some extent . Your decision as an author is where to place them on that spectrum.

Does your character only lie in small, understandable ways , like believing they didn’t mean to be mean to someone they hated? This is routine self-deception, and virtually every character will have this to some extent.

Or does your character fundamentally misrepresent the world, the truth,  and other characters? This is pathological, and your character will be revealed as mentally unstable.

Every first person narrator is unreliable to some extent. But some are more unreliable than others. If you don’t decide as an author how much the reader will be able to trust your character, and in what part of the narrative they are lying (even if it’s a small lie, or a lie to themselves), then you’re missing one of the best parts about first person narration.

Unreliable Narrators in First Person

4. Shine Light on More Interesting Characters

sherlock-holmes-931897_960_720

No, it’s essential that the bumbling Watson narrates the story, because he can shine a light on the brilliance of Holmes.

Every first person narrator has the unique opportunity to direct all the attention onto another character. So what should you do? Populate your novel with eccentric weirdos, people that pop and dance when seen by your narrator.

And describe all these people through the unique lens of your character. What makes Watson the perfect narrator is that he’s methodical and direct. What might make your character the perfect narrator is that he keeps on describing dangerous freaks as souls full of light and goodness.

6 Dangers to Avoid

1. reader is trapped with one character.

girl-in-the-elevator-1382908_960_720

First person characters have to have some redeemable characteristics , or else they’ll just be hated by a reader. Even if they have terrible faults, make them interesting faults. Alcoholism, for instance, is overused as a character fault of protagonists, especially in the hardboiled genres of detective and mystery stories. Don’t give your character cliched faults.

One last bit of advice: Populate your book with a lively cast of supporting characters , so your reader has plenty of opportunities to interact with the dialogue and actions of characters other than the central character. This will keep them from feeling claustrophobic inside the brain of your protagonist.

2. Make Sure Your Character Isn’t Just Yourself

The most important thing to remember when you’re writing first person is that you’re not yourself. Scrape away your personal voice and replace it with another person’s voice, a person you’ve created. It’s probably going to be some small part of you, but it’s not identical to you.

First person is the closest writers get to actors. You’re essentially acting when you’re writing first person. You’re pretending to be another human being, mimicking their every thought and expression and word. So feel free to invent someone!

3. Avoid Filter Words

There are some great articles out there on avoiding filter words .

Essentially, you don’t write:

I looked at the horde of political protestors racing down the street.

The horde of political protestors raced down the street.

Just cut out the action of your first person narrator looking, seeing, and acting. It’ll make the prose much more direct.

4. Too many sentences beginning with “I”

I went to the park. I saw a big duck. I loved watching all the people. I thought of how the clouds looked like anvils.

Please don’t start every sentence with “I.” It feels quite redundant.

Create sentences that have an implied “I”, or talk about things other than the narrator.

Of course, don’t go to the opposite side of the spectrum and try to avoid “I” completely. After all, it is the most important word when writing first person.

5. Too many internal monologues and introspection

Get your character outside his or her head. 

Quite frankly, it’s boring to read ideas after ideas, thoughts after thoughts. It’s boring to read about the main character pondering ideas better for an essay than for fiction.

Although access to a character’s head is the main strength of writing in first person, it can also turn into a liability if overused. So make sure to surround thoughts and introspection with wide padding of action, dialogue, and description.

6. Difficulty of Limited POV

Sometimes writing first person can be tricky when the reader needs to know about something happening in another storyline, or in another part of the world.

But this voluntary obstruction that the writer elects to take upon himself will eventually strength the story. It’s counter-intuitive, but if you make up obstacles for yourself, you’re going to force yourself to be more creative.

So don’t look at the limited first person POV as a hinderance but rather as an opportunity or a challenge.

Types of First Person Writing:

First person, this is the basic form of first person writing. the narrator is telling a story from their point of view..

At no point do we know something that the narrator does not know, and we do not go into the thoughts of anyone else in the story.

Plural First Person

Instead of an “i”, this story is told from the point of view of a “we” and “our.”.

Joshua Ferris’ “ Then We Came to the End ,”: “We were fractious and overpaid.”

From the first lines of Justin Torres’ “ We the Animals “: “We wanted more. We knocked the butt ends of our forks against the table, tapped our spoons against our empty bowls; we were hungry.”

The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides was also told in plural first person, from the perspective of the entire town watching a family deconstruct and try to commit suicide.

Ultimately, this is a great and flexible point of view to enable you to collect the judgment of a large group of people, a collective memory of what happened, and present multiple sides of a story.

Peripheral First Person

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  • Nick Caraway in “The Great Gatsby”
  • Ishmael in “Moby Dick”
  • Adso of Melk in “The Name of the Rose”

Multiple Narrator First Person

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But why would you choose first person for this type of technique rather than third person? The main reason is that you want the reader to be able to hear all these voices straight from the characters. The second main reason is that you want to expose the variations between the ways the multiple characters tell the same story.

For example, Judith Freeman’s “ Red Water ” tells the story of three different wives of the same man in Utah. Each wife gets the chance to tell their own story in her own words.

Common Questions

Can i have multiple narrators in first person.

Yes. This is called Multiple Viewpoint First Person . You get all the benefits of writing in a particular person’s voice and the intimate view inside their head, as well as the benefits of multiple perspectives.

A great example of this is Faulkner’s “ As I Lay Dying ,” in which many members of the Bundren clan (15 in all) tell their version of trying to transport a dead body across Mississippi.

A more modern example would be “ Gone Girl .” “Gone Girl” teaches us that the two first-person narrators must compliment each other — they must disagree, or layer in more information — in order to make this multiple narrator device work.

Why should I choose first person narrative? 

Two important reasons: Intimacy and Immediacy .

A first person narrator offers incredible intimacy. Some limited third person narrators accomplish this, but nothing can rival first person for access into a person’s brain.

What’s more, a first person narrator is the best advantage writing has over film. While third person narration is exactly the point of view that film uses, first person will allow you to delve deep into the characters mind in a way that film is ill equipped to do. Some films use voice-over to try to approximate the character’s thoughts, but this is widely frowned upon and often doesn’t work (except when it does: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Adaptation being the best examples).

The point is that first person is the only POV that will give you an edge over the dominant storytelling form of our time: film. Through the first person, you can give a direct line into human consciousness.

First person makes the reader feels confided in. The reader feels like they’re getting a special kind of access. The reader feels, for lack of a better word, loved.

And now for the second reason: Immediacy .

With third person, you are always aware of someone else telling you the story. There is a storyteller between you and the action. He did this, she did that: who is the person telling you about this “he” and “she”?

With first person, though, you are hearing it directly “from the horse’s mouth.” First person immerses the reader directly into the story. The only POV that could possibly be closer to the reader is second person, but it’s tiring to constantly read about “you” “you” “you.”

Is there a stigma around writing in the first person?

It’s true that some writers and readers are prejudiced against first person writing. They think that it’s lowbrow, employed mostly by genre writers, and that true literature is written in third person.

But that is foolishness.

Here’s a brief list of books that are in the first person:

  • Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
  • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  • Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Moby Dick by Herman Melville
  • Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov

Is that enough pedigree for you? If it isn’t, there are thousands of classic works of literature written in the first person.

Whatever stigma you imagine hanging around first person narration, erase it from your memory. First Person POV is a legitimate tool for any writer.

Additional Resources

First person narrative theory.

What is the difference between the narrator and the viewpoint character? Most of the time, nothing, but if the narrator is reflecting upon something that happened years before, they may now be a different person than their younger self.

7 Narrative Tips for First Person Narrators

A few of the highlights of this article: Beware of merely reporting the actions of the main character (I call this Frankenstein writing). Also, beware of describing the inner thought life of a character in shallow, repetitive or redundant terms.

Tips for Writing a First Person Narrative

“Keep the narrative simple and linear.” Not sure about the linear rule (many first person examples break that rule), but by simple I think they mean that you cannot go into many different storylines that your narrator doesn’t have access to, and neither can you explore the thoughts of many other characters.

If you’d like to watch the most thorough and awesome video ever created about point of view (including a wonderful section on writing first person), please watch this craft lecture by Justin Cronin. He gets started on point of view at the 4:00 minute mark.

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31 comments

I’m trying my hand in the mystery genre, which seems to thrive on First Person POV. These are very helpful points and I know they’ll improve my writing if I apply them. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.

Helpful tips! I’m currently rewriting/editing my fiction novel which is in first person POV.

Excellent, John, and very helpful. Thank you for sharing this.

I find some books come across are sounding ‘insincere’ when written in 1st POV. Highly possible that the writing is bad itself, but do you have any advice for this?

Quick Question, if you don’t mind helping me. I’m using first person singular. Can I describe a scene in which my first person protagonist is not present? This may be a silly question, but I can’t find the answer after searching online.

No, you can’t describe anything that your first person doesn’t know, especially anything where they aren’t present. Everything is filtered through their perspective.

Correct, but I come across stories and novels with this error quite often, even by famous writers like Somerset Maugham or widely praised recent books like Washington Black.

I can go pull a number of titles from my shelves right now that can…. and do. Quite naturally.

Elizabeth Peters uses a clever technique in her Egypt novels. The main story is told by the first-person narrator Amelia Peabody, but from time to time (when necessary to describe the actions of their son Ramses out of Amelia’s presence) a chapter entitled “Excerpt from Manuscript X” will appear, describing this other material. I have seen similar uses made of police reports, newspaper articles, and other “sources” to bridge the gap between a first-person narrator and events outside of the narrator’s personal knowledge.

I am new to writing, but have read a few books…. Yes you may. Mostly because it’s difficult to relay everything by a first person vehicle. He/she can’t always be involved personally in every relatable event. Think of books you’ve read. Often they dip out to view a scene. Ex: your first person is a husband and father. Say his family gets into a pivotal car accident. While he may be told a great deal about it, there are surely details you will need to relate…. some, perhaps you don’t want your guy to know or realize. I hope that helps. It’s how I remember.

The best way to do this is by using a frame story. If a character tells the 1st-P narrator a story (and this can be a story the narrator first mentions was told to them and is not shown in dialogue) then the narrator can tell it to the reader.

At this point, the narrator actually has limited omniscience (they know that story), and the pronouns revert to he/she rather than I, so it feels like 3rd-P limited omni, but that is completely legitimate. It technically never leaves 1st-P, and never is from a different narrator.

If that story is long, you can break it up with dialogue between the narrator/MC and the character who told the MC this story (implying the scene is the second character telling the MC the story, which the MC summarizes for the reader). It works just fine.

But surely there are some books which have some parts in first person, and other sections where the character isn’t present so it switches to 3rd person? Unless you guys mean explicitly 1st person singular? What if I was telling a story with two different views? One side in first person and another from a 3rd person perspective…

That type of POV switching is very, very rare, and it’s very difficult to pull off well. It’s best to keep the whole book in third person omniscient or in first person.

Yes, too difficult for me! I’ve tried. But others do it quite well. I think having a balance helps? And, of course…. talent (which I lack!)

Laurie R. King does this in her mystery ‘Locked Rooms’, masterfully. The first 8 chs are 1st-P from the MC, and the rest is 3rd-P limited, following her husband, Sherlock Holmes, as they solve the mystery together. There is no real jarring feeling at the switch point.

Hello-I am new to writing, could you clarify the voice between the author, narrator, and the protagonist. Example- as the author – I am creating the story, the narrator is describing, and the protagonist is experiencing. Is that correct? It’s unclear to me.

In first person, the narrator and protagonist is the same person.

There is only a different if you’re writing in 3rd person.

I notice that I have a lot of difficulty writing in 3rd person. When I read, I prefer first person, so maybe that’s why. I have written short stories in 3rd person (mostly assignments from high school) but when I write in first person, as the author I feel closer to my characters.

It’s like when I write in first person I can almost hear their voice and they come alive in my head. I feel more in touch with their feelings and thoughts, as if I can feel their emotions. It’s easier to put myself in their shoes, and know “what would my character do right now.

Whereas when I write in third person I feel a distance between me and the character and everything feels forced. I find that my words tend to flow more smoothly, and I don’t get as stumbled with the wording as I do in 3rd. Is that weird?

Well, anyway, I’m working on a book that was originally going to be told by one character in first person. Then I had the idea to change it all and have it in 3rd with different POV. Well, I am learning that it’s just not the same.

I personally just enjoy first person more. First person is fun to write in and I feel that I am a better story teller when I write that way. So now I’m back at square one, rewriting this story AGAIN, from the one person’s first person POV. I have a great story to tell, I just have struggled in finding the write way to show this particular story.

Destiny, I can relate. I’m currently working on my first novel as well. A lot of us believe we are great storytellers: only to find out, telling the story is another venture in itself; however, it sounds like you’re on the right track.

How do I write dialogue in first person??

I think you just need to write it as if it was a normal conversation, like, the narator in first person will hear his/her voice too, so you can write like almost like a dialog in the third person. For example: “We were taking a break, them I said: -Hey, do you wanna to try this new app that I saw from a friend? -Sure. – my friend says.

THis is just a random example I hope it helped. Also, sorry for my bad english.

Do we use past-tense to introduce the character in terms of their family status or occupation which are still the same in the present? I’m writing in a first-person POV. Thank you.

Do you have any advice to write in the third person?

How about first person present? Does writing in the present tense change anything? Also, when writing I seem to use the word “I” far too much, but don’t know how to change it. Here’s an example: He walks over to me and pulls me off the screw I’m perched on. His hands are warm and somewhat damp. I’m stunned, to say the least. I try to fight back, but since I don’t have any legs like humans do, he doesn’t notice my flailing clock hands darting from 4:00 to 2:19 to 11:55. Like a human heart, my gears pound in abject terror. I feel like I say the word “I” too many times, but don’t know how to cut them down. Thanks!

“He walks over to me and pulls me off the screw I’m perched on. His hands are warm and somewhat damp. It’s stunning, to say the least. Fighting back is impossible, since I don’t have any legs like humans do, and he doesn’t notice my flailing clock hands darting from 4:00 to 2:19 to 11:55. Like a human heart, my gears pound in abject terror.”

Thanks for the help! I know what POV I must write in now! Hm… but what would an Eagle think and describe a calico cat? QUESTIONS! Lol XD

Thank you for the coaching of how to write in first person. It really is going to make me a better writer for my business ethics class discussion, or replying to another persons discussion board.

I’m writing a story called Stray about a cat who’s family moves away. Is this a good idea or not? I’d love some feedback!

Thank you for all the good information, but I’m still looking for specifics re: non-fiction…tense and POV. I’ve written a spiritual book, based on my experiences. I have been told to re-write it in present tense, though much of my spiritual evolution was in the past which is why I used past tense. Any advice would be appreciated.

Loved the article! Thanks!

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First person narrative: 7 tips for writing great narrators

Telling a story using mainly first person narrative has both pros and cons. Here are 7 steps to creating a great ‘I’ narrator, but first:

  • Post author By Jordan
  • 57 Comments on First person narrative: 7 tips for writing great narrators

First person narrative - how to write great narrators

The pros and cons of writing a novel in first person

The benefit of telling a story in first person, from a single character’s perspective at a time, is that readers discover the voice and psychology of a character as expressed directly by the character. This gives immediacy, the sense of ‘being there’. There is also lots of opportunity to focus on the internal dialogue of one viewpoint character in these types of stories. The pronouns ‘he’ and ‘she’ in the third person make the reader more conscious of the narrating voice. It stands a little more apart from the characters whose stories are told.

Unlike third-person point of view, the reader is drawn right into the story through this device. There is no ‘distancing’ through the use of third-person pronouns in omniscient perspective. This type of narration is extremely popular, from literary fiction to genre, to memoirs and so on. Famous authors have been doing this for years, examples include Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and  Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn.

On the minus side, first-person perspective can restrict your readers’ access to the inner worlds of your other characters, it’s a a limited perspective. The entire story is narrated from a single character’s perspective, with all the limitations that fixed perspective involves. A first person limited POV means that they cannot be everywhere all at once (as with the third-person omniscient narrator). They are telling their story not the story.

There are ways to get around this however (you can use multiple first person narrators to tell your story, for example). If your narrating ‘I’ character is an anti-hero, keep in mind that some readers may also balk at being asked to see through the eyes of an unpleasant or unethical person. This is why it’s often wise to give anti-hero’s some likeable qualities (just as it is wise to give likeable protagonists flaws ).

An example of this is that of narrator Holden Caulfield in JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye. He’s a fun, amusing and interesting narrator. Holden’s cynicism, rebellion against societal norms, and moral ambiguity fit the mold of an anti-hero. Another example is that of Randle McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey. McMurphy’s rebellious nature and defiance against authority, while admirable in some respects, also lead to destructive consequences.

The other minus is that a first-person narrator can be an unreliable narrator. You can tell a narrator is unreliable if they tell contradicting stories or there’s no or little logic in their stories, or omits to provide all the facts, for example. The purpose of one in a story may be to subvert readers’ expectations or mystify the reader, or force the reader to solve the puzzle of the story. 

Examples of unreliable narration can be found in Gone, Girl by Gillian Flynn which has two unreliable narrators, the husband and wife Nick and Amy Dunne, each telling their version of events. Humbert Humbert in Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is another one. He portrays himself as a sympathetic man, while, at heart, he is a paedophile, and yet he justifies his experiences.  Another example of an unreliable narrator is in Paul Bowles’ controversial story ‘Pages from Cold Point’ where a father seduces his son.

An interesting point is that the central character, the protagonist, in a story is not necessarily the main narrator. This is called first person peripheral. This can be found in Breakfast at Tiffany’s by Truman Capote, where a contemporary writer recalls his early days in New York City.

Note too that point of view is sometimes called narrative mode or narrative perspective.

Regardless of the strengths and drawbacks of first person narrators, it’s crucial to write compelling, effective ones. Here are 7 ways to do this:

1. Evoke the senses, not only the narrator’s inner world

Writing a novel or story in the first person makes it tempting to let your narrator dwell on their thoughts and feelings extensively. Often characters can feel lacking if all the focus is on their mental and emotional processes, though. Have your character describe not only thoughts but also sights, sounds, smells and tastes where appropriate. When you use a first person narrator, ask:

  • What senses are strongest in this particular character and what does that say about them?
  • How can I give the reader a greater sense of an embodied narrator and not just a disembodied, storytelling ‘I’?

Remember to ground your narrator’s observations in the material world. Because this will add colour and depth to your story.

Focusing on all aspects of your narrating ‘I’ character’s experience, physical and otherwise, is one way to write a great narrator. It is also important to let readers see through your narrator’s eyes actively:

2. Avoid overusing words that place distance between the narrator and your reader

a house for a story setting

Because the narrator uses the first person pronoun(s) ‘I’ (and sometimes the plural ‘we’) to tell the bulk of the story in first person narration, you may be tempted to begin sentences with ‘I’ a lot. Take this sentence for example:

‘I saw that the door was closed and I heard a faint scratching noise coming from within the house. I thought it sounded like someone trying to dig a tunnel out.’

The words ‘I saw’, ‘I heard’ and ‘I thought’ all place the reader at one remove to the unfolding events. The reader isn’t seeing, hearing or thinking these things through the narrator. The reader is being told about the narrator’s experiences. The scene could be more vivid if the narrator didn’t ‘report’ her or his experience. The snippet could be rewritten as follows:

‘The door was closed and a faint scratching noise came from within the house. It sounded like someone trying to dig a tunnel out, I thought.’

The reader is placed at the scene, seeing the door and hearing the scratching. The intrusive ‘I’ can come later in the sentence or only in a subsequent paragraph. Ruthanne Reid, writing for The Write Practice , discusses these ‘filter words’ that can place distance between readers and the experiences of the first person narrator. It should be said that in some cases you might want this distance for creative reasons. You might want the reader to not see the scene so vividly in their mind’s eye. Yet become conscious, at least, of how you use filter words (such as ‘I saw that x was so’) and remember to be sparing with them, particularly if you want readers to experience a scene through your narrator’s eyes.

One way to make your narrator great and to let the reader see what they see:

3. Avoid merely reporting in first person narrative

A first person narrator gets to share their lived experience and take the reader along with them through every surprise, challenge or victory. Describing things that happen to your narrator in passive voice is a common mistake. You may want to emphasize your character’s passive response to a specific situation, so there are exceptions. However, compare:

‘As I was trying the door to the house, a sudden voice behind me told me it was locked.’

As a reader, you’re not placed in the scene, trying the handle and hearing the voice.

A stronger alternative:

‘The handle turned but the door would not budge. ‘It’s locked.’ I spun round, surprised by this sudden voice.’

This is stronger because speaking voices appearing in the text give readers a sense of immediacy, of the present moment in which the action unfolds.

Need help getting POV right?

Get constructive feedback:

The Editor’s Blog describes the difference between the first kind of first person narration and the second as the difference between ‘exposition’ (setting the story up and telling the reader the sequence of events) and ‘scene’ (the actual unfolding action as experienced by characters).

Now that we have some clarity about the things to avoid when writing first person narrative, here are four ways to ensure you use first person narrative well:

4. Use either expository or scene narration for the right reasons

The truth is that sometimes you will need to put the reader in a scene with your ‘I’ narrator, and at other times you will need your narrator to simply retell events as a report back. Use the impersonal, ‘I did this and then that happened’ narration for:

  • Narrating transitions between scenes (e.g. ‘After I found the mysterious house I was a little spooked. I returned home and…’)
  • Catching the reader up on important backstory that doesn’t require its own scenes (e.g. ‘I was born on a smallholding just south of the border. We moved around a lot ’til I was 14.’)

Remember that your narrator should express themself with all the variety of language that real people use:

5. Vary the way your narrator expresses feelings, thoughts and experiences

This might seem obvious, but many beginning writers in particular make this mistake. If your character is a sensitive or emotional type, they might describe feelings often throughout your story. But avoid repetitive descriptions:

‘I felt perturbed by the scratching sound that came from within the house. I felt more anxious still when I tried the door and it was locked’.

Instead of repeating ‘I felt’, vary descriptions with words such as ‘my’, articles (‘a’ or ‘the’) and other alternatives. The previous example could be rewritten as:

‘My sense of foreboding grew as I noticed a scratching sound coming from within the house. Fear surged when I tried the door and found it locked.’

Maintaining variety in your first person narrator’s self-expression is important because it increases the sense that the character is real. It also helps to prevent repetitive word choice from distracting the reader and rather lets the reader stay immersed in your unfolding story.

To write a great first person narrator, also make sure that the narrator’s voice is consistent with what the reader knows or learns about the narrator:

6. Make the narrating voice consistent with the narrator’s backstory

first person narrative - where is the narrator from

One common trap with writing first person stories is that the narrator sounds a lot like the voice of the author, pegged onto a series of events. To give your narrator real personality, make sure that their voice is consistent with what you tell the reader about their backstory and ongoing development.

Pay attention to:

  • Background: Where is your character from? Think about things like accent, regional slang or idioms that they would likely use
  • Class: What is your narrator’s level of education and economic privilege? How might this impact on elements such as vocabulary and whether they use formal vs. informal speech predominantly?
  • Personality: Is your narrating ‘I’ a character who is brash and coarse? Or elegant and refined?

Make sure that your ‘I’ narrator uses language in way that is fitting with her background, class and personality. If you’re writing about a poor 14-year-old girl who runs away from home, these details of her life story should feel compatible with the words she uses to tell her story.

To really hone your skill at writing first person narration:

7. Learn from how the greats use first person narrative:

As with any aspect of craft you want to develop, it’s always a good idea to take notes from the writing of your favourite authors. Many novels widely taught as classics use the intimacy of first person narration. From Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (‘Call me Ishmael’, says the narrator at the start) to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird , examples of the above suggestions can be found.

Harper Lee’s first person narrator doesn’t open Mockingbird with ‘I thought’, ‘I felt’ or ‘I saw’. The novel begins:

‘When he was nearly thirteen, my brother Jem got his arm badly broken at the elbow. When it healed, and Jem’s fears of never being able to play football again were assuaged, he was seldom self-conscious about his injury.’

Some thoughts on this opening and why it is an example of effective first person narration:

  • The opening fits the character of the narrator, Scout (her compassion towards and focus on others emerges as well as the importance of family in her life)
  • The POV character asserts a strong voice but does so without over-relying on ‘I’
  • The narrator’s process of remembering is set up from the start, continuing throughout the novel as she recalls social inclusions and exclusions in her hometown

Similarly, when reading a new novel written in first person make notes on how the narrator expresses herself and why this is (or isn’t) fitting for her characterization and story. Conscious observation will continuously improve your own narration skills .

Come read how Now Novel’s members use first person narrative and share your own writing for constructive feedback from others .

Related Posts:

  • Strong first person narrative: Engaging narrators
  • Writing third person limited POV: Tips and examples
  • What is narrative? 5 narrative types and examples
  • Tags first person , narration , POV

writing novel in first person

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

57 replies on “First person narrative: 7 tips for writing great narrators”

Excellent! My WIP is written in the first person, and keeping a consistent voice has been a struggle. These tips will definitely help. Thank you as always! 🙂

It’s a pleasure, Adrian. I’m glad you found some value in the suggestions. Great posts on your writing blog, keep them coming.

Great points, which I’ll share with my creative writing class. I prefer first person, reading it as well as writing it.

Thank you for the kind words. I hope your creative writing class enjoys reading it. First person does have an engaging immediacy.

This was a great Blog! Thank you for sharing.

But to add to anyone interested, the filter you should look at in your draft are like these: I see/look/hear/think/feel/seem/touch/watch/wonder/can/decide/sound/realize And like Miss Bridget said, you don’t have to delete them all the time.

this may be a really stupid question but I have yet to find someone who can explain and illustrate the diff between active and passive voice…help

Hi MC – it is a tricky one. Think of it this way: In active voice, the subject of the sentence ‘acts’ on the verb. So ‘The boy kicks the ball’ is in the active voice because the boy is acting on the ball. The same sentence in passive voice would be ‘The ball is kicked by the boy.’ Here, the ball is the subject and the action of kicking is something that passively happens to the ball. Hope that helps!

great blog! thanks for sharing

Thanks, FP! It’s a pleasure, thanks for reading.

thanks for the tips. I’m a beginner writer and was definitely wondering about the expository vs. scene dilemma.

It’s a pleasure, I’m glad you found this helpful.

Writing in the 1st person: Question; the 1st person character dialogue in a novel [telling of the story; separated by chapter topic and purpose] … Chapters that do not have the 1st person’s character in the storyline [i.e. a different time and/or a location]… is that permitted? If so, how should it be formatted? [Italics?] I was told it was not allowed! It would seem strange not to be able to describe 3rd person characters in conversations in other locations, time periods, and time zones without the 1st person being involved..Any, guidance on the rules would be much appreciated…

I don’t see why you can’t have a multi-character novel with other secondary characters’ parts in alternating chapters. Let clarity and cohesion be your guides. If, for example, the story shifts to a different time and place, preface that specific chapter with a title or subtitle identifying the time and place (e.g. ‘Paris, 1972’). That way the reader will know they’ve entered a different time frame or arc. Provided you don’t get the reader completely lost and signpost major shifts enough, there are no set-in-stone rules.

Thanks Bridget… Randy Ingermanson wrote back. and offered …”There are no rules. Fiction is about giving the reader a powerful emotional experience. You do whatever it takes to make that happen. That’s not a rule, that’s a meta-rule.”

That seems to be the general consensus out there… My 1st book was in written the 1st person and I used a WEB Griffin technique of sub-headings defining the changes in the people, places, and time… comments were very positive.

Thanks again for the feedback… much appreciated. Bill http://billfortin.com

OK, so I knew it had to be done – removing all the excess ‘I’ from my yarn. Nothing prepared me for the task. Nothing prepared me for the shame of the ‘I’ excess that needed to be excised.And it all came about almost accidentally. Dissatisfied with the start of my story, I – pardon me – revised the first three pages, reduced them to two. Then I sat back and wondered why those two pages were so much better than the three they were tested against. 90% of the ‘I’s’ had been removed. [Blame / credit Stephen King] From 11, the text now contains only two ‘I’s’ – one belonging to the narrator, one to the antagonist. 90% of ‘I’s’ removed – so much more reader friendly 🙂

i wish you could help me write my novel and i would split whatever earnings that comes with it. That would be so clutch.

Hi Cambrielle! You can get free feedback and help from other members in our online writing groups. You can join here: https://www.nownovel.com/users/sign_up . Good luck with your novel 🙂

I could help you. I’m a freelance writer

What would you suggest for a story where the narrator isn’t the main character? I’m working on a story that is a hybrid of first and third person. I took inspiration for the writing style from World War Z. Do you have any suggestions on stories similar to this? Thank you!

Thank you for asking. Third person may work best in this instance, as the narrator’s ‘I’ wouldn’t be there to make them seem more involved in the narrative. Jeffrey Eugenides’ The Virgin Suicides is interesting from this perspective as the story is narrated by the boys who live opposite from the sisters who are the main characters in the story.

I just have to say that the first-person narrative (and its sense of immediacy) probably works better in present tense. I write everything in present tense now. First-person is something else again. The biggest danger is blathering on and on like you’re writing a letter home to Mom. Being self-indulgent in first person is the biggest curse. If a lot of other stuff is going on, first person doesn’t work well. If your story is about someone in grave peril who’s running for one’s life, then first person should be great.

Great comment, Adam. I agree with you re: self-indulgent first person being a pain (then again, it can have certain dramatic effects, e.g. Humbert Humbert’s narcissistic pomposity that comes across in Lolita precisely due to this in part). Thank you for sharing your perspective!

I’ll have to check out Lolita (the book, not the movie) again. It’s been a while.

It’s a disturbing read but an excellent use of unreliable narrator.

These tips did help a decent amount, but I am still unsure about something. Since I’m not that strong at writing stories in present tense, I usually write them in past tense. With my story, the protagonist describes in past tense instead of present, sort of like the protagonist had already lived through it and is now telling the story again. Since I am still early on, would it be wise to go back and edit the first few chapters to present tense, or keep it the same?

Hi LusciousBerri, thank you for your question. If it’s a first-person narrator using past tense, that should be fine (there’s no reason why they have to use present tense that I can discern from your question. Please feel free to ask anything else!

I wrote a story about five hundred pages. I submitted it to a writers contest and was told it stunk and they couldn’t get past the first twenty pages. But this was good because they were right. I started out in the present, went to the past and back to the present. This confused the reader. So now it begins leaving out the first part in the present. However, my concern is I used first person based on my own experience and it worked but I would have chapters where I was not present. My fellow writers said this was some form of cheating because the first person would not know this. It just worked for me, but if there is something wrong with this I would like advice so I can re write it in a total narrative voice. What is your viewpoint. Thanks

Hi James, Happy New Year! Thank you for sharing this.

I can see why some readers may struggle with a narrative which centres the first person POV first and then abandons this viewpoint to share another POV, however only if the chapters you described (‘chapters where I was not present’) were supposed to still be about your main character’s experiences.

As the reader pointed out, the first-person narrator preceding this section would not have a detailed understanding of events or scenes they were not present for, unless they had some sort of record (video/audio/another person’s account), omnisciet powers, etc.

However, if you simply shifted to another first-person narrator’s POV (and made this shift clear), it shouldn’t be an issue.

Many authors mix multiple first-person narrators effectively. To understand how effective multiple first-person narrators can be, I often recommend reading Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying which has more than 10 different narrators despite being novella-length (and it’s always clear who’s narrating).

It’s very difficult to advise on this properly without reading the story in question, as viewpoint is easier to talk about with full reading of the narration being discussed, to see where and why it becomes confusing. I’d recommend a manuscript evaluation as this would provide actionable feedback (you can find out more about our editing services here) .

Otherwise, I’d recommend writing the entire story in your single first-person narrator’s POV for simplicity’s sake. However you proceed, make sure any shifts to or away from a narrator are indicated clearly so the reader isn’t left wondering who’s telling the story. I hope this helps!

I have never written in first person narrative but am interested to give it a try. My question is how do you introduce events crucial to the plot if your character doesn’t witness them? For example, your protagonist leaves a shop and then the shop keeper makes a call about his visit. Thanks!

Hi Mrs Clare, thank you for sharing that. It’s great you’re willing and curious to try new things.

I would suggest either a POV switch to the shop keeper (with a clear scene break and signal in narration that the viewpoint has changed), or else to show the effects of said call (for example, if the shop keeper were to tip someone off about the visit, and your protagonist is alarmed when that person knows about their visit – i.e. exploit your first-person narrator’s ignorance of certain events and have them happen ‘out of frame’ or ‘offscreen’ to add mystery/suspense).

In this scenario, you may want to weigh using first person against the greater ease of moving between viewpoints in third person limited. In this case, the narrator is already a little more removed from the action, so it would not be as jarring as a sudden switch from one POV in first person to another.

I hope this helps!

Thanks for this article. I’m starting my first novel and have decided to go with a very familiar form of first person, almost conversational, similar to a journal. I’m curious if this is a mistake? Secondly, are there any good tips for not becoming too self-indulgent when writing in this style? Just how much confidence can an audience take before it becomes arrogance? Thanks in advance.

Hi Ari, a conversational first-person voice is lovely and accessible in most cases, so it’s unlikely it’s a mistake. If your narrator is supremely confident, I’d suggest perhaps giving them a struggle or flaw or two that are relatable. For example you could gradually reveal a tough situation which made them have to develop said confidence (so that the reader then understands the narrator’s confidence and its genesis). Ultimately empathy on the reader’s part grows out of understanding, out of seeing the cause and effect underneath behaviours. I hope this helps!

Hi Jodan, thanks for the article

I am writing something in first person perspective. same issues, how do I write something that I wasn’t not present. a third person’s feeling, accident. as such.

thanks Hong

Hi Hong, thank you for your question. It’s a little difficult to parse what you’re asking due to the double negative (wasn’t not) and the phrasing. If you’re asking how you present a third person’s experiences within first person there are a few options:

  • The third party in question could tell your 1st person narrator what happened in dialogue or your main narrator could share what they heard about the events via narration
  • Your 1st person narrator could guess/surmise what happened based on their limited knowledge of events
  • If it requires a detail description of the scene, you could have multiple first person narrators and have the situation described (an accident or other event through a new viewpoint, switching back to the first viewpoint when necessary

I hope this answers your question! Feel free to mail us at help at now novel dot com should you have further questions.

Thank you very much

[…] 7 Narrative Tips for First Person Narrators […]

In First person present tense, is it correct to italicise a character’s thoughts, or to use I think after an italicised thought.

Hi Michael, thank you for asking. I had to think about this. I would say you don’t need to use italics at all since a thought in first person present tense would be occurring in the same time as narration and in the same pronouns. Compare:

He was running late for court. This isn’t going to help my appeal , he thought.

I’m running late for court. This isn’t going to help my appeal …

If you’re still having trouble, feel free to email us your example paragraph at help at now novel dot com for feedback. You can also get feedback from our member community in our critique groups .

Hey Jordan, thanks for your article! It was great to read ? I wrote and published some Italian novels (my native language) using the first person POV (multiple POVs), and now I’m trying to write my first novel in English. Of course, the first step to writing something in any languages is to read, and I’m trying to adapt my writing style to the English language (for example, in Italian, the subject is very often not explicit).

I hope you don’t mind answering some questions:

1. In the novel I’m writing, I have two different POVs, the same person with two different personalities. In Italian, the style is completely different (one personality is a psychopath, the other is an actor), I’m trying to do the same in English. I’m using different tones (the psychopath says something like: “I wear my special gloves carefully, and she is so beautiful. *It must be her!* Where is my thin rope? Right, it’s in the back pocket of my jeans. *It’s not her.* I tight vigorously the ends of the noose around her neck, enjoying the sight of her life slipping away like a dewdrop upon a leaf under the burst of a morning breeze”, while the actor is more relaxed: “ There are few things in my life worse than this empty house during the night. Rooms are too big, ceils too high, and floors smell of loneliness”. English is not my first language, and I know it’s hard to judge from a few sentences, but, as a reader, is it clear that those two sentences are from different characters?

2. The psychopath style is more “here and now”, and I know this may be a silly question, but is it ok to use a progressive tense?

3. I’m critically reading a lot in this period, but I’m struggling a bit to find some thriller written in first person POV in the present tense. Do you have any suggestions?

Thank you for your feedback, I’m glad you found this helpful. Thank you for your interesting questions, too.

For 1), I would say the first voice does have an indulgent, flowery quality that would perhaps fit a psychopathic POV (it brings to mind the flowery language of Humbert Humbert in Nabokov’s Lolita , another sociopathic character). You are right that it is difficult to advise well based on short extracts, but the simpler, descriptive language of the actor that is less flowery and ‘insincere’ -sounding does create a different voice.

2) I would say the element that makes his voice read more unstable is more so the scattered quality and the personification of his rope. It is fine to use the progressive tense provided events in the same timeline use the same tense. Tecnically ‘I wear…’ is simple present, ‘I am wearing…’ would be progressive.

3) I am drawing a blank for a good example I can recommend, but One of Us is Lying by Karen M. McManus has a respectable 4/5 rating on Goodreads and is a YA Mystery/Thriller written in first-person.

I hope this helps! Good luck with your book further. Please feel free to chat to us in the Now Novel writing groups and get feedback on your tense usage there, too. You can read more about how our feedback system works here .

[…] don’t worry! We know the essential strategies that will help you write a credible first-person narrator who also happens to be a great storyteller […]

Thanks, i hope too be the youngest novelist ever

That’s great that you’re pursuing writing already, Rachel. Good luck with fulfilling your ambitions 🙂

‘The door was closed and a faint scratching noise came from within the house. It sounded like someone trying to dig a tunnel out, I thought.’

This would be better as:

‘The door was closed and a faint scratching noise came from within the house, like someone trying to dig a tunnel out.’

Hi Tom, this would be splitting hairs but you could argue that. Or, ‘The door was closed and a faint scratching noise came from within the house, as though someone was trying to dig a tunnel out.’ Technically ‘it sounded like someone’ is good because one is comparing a noun to a noun or noun phrase, which is when one would ordinarily use ‘like’. ‘As though’ is preferred when the comparison is followed by a clause, e.g. ‘It rained all day, as though the ark was being hauled out of storage.’ Hope this helps!

[…] “The benefit of telling a story in first person is that readers discover the voice and psychology of a character as expressed directly by the character. This gives immediacy, the sense of ‘being there’. … On the minus side, first person narration can restrict your readers’ access to the inner worlds of your other characters.” Now Novel […]

[…] “The benefit of telling a story in first person is that readers discover the voice and psychology of a character as expressed directly by the character. This gives immediacy, the sense of ‘being there’. … On the minus side, first person narration can restrict your readers’ access to the inner worlds of your other characters.” Now Novel […]

Okay i must admit this was good ( if not great ) and really helpfull. I’m 13 years old and i wan’t to write a novel. But i’m just afraid! maybe when i try to self publish my novel ‘to many rhymes,’ they may say i’m too young. Or should i just continue with the idea writing the first draft?

Hi Liam, thank you for your feedback. What would make it great? I’m curious what you’d have liked it to include as these articles can always be improved. It’s great that you want to write a novel at 13 already. Carry on with your idea and don’t worry what people say about your age. Many first novels aren’t published, it’s true, but the process itself is excellent practice – each project a stepping stone to greater knowledge and understanding of how to tell a story. Go for it.

“Thankyou for the encouraging me.”

but i was wondering, can i start my novel with the first person point of view, and switch it into the third person point of view once i reach the first chapter?

That is my biggest problem right now. Do you maybe have something that can show me how i can switch from point of view to point of view?

Hi Liam, to be honest that could be quite confusing for the reader if it’s the same viewpoint narrator. What is the reason you want to have that switch? Generally it’s best to switch person type over a scene break or chapter break, provided that there’s a reason to mix persons. It’s much more common in a multi-viewpoint work for each viewpoint character to be in the same person (multiple first-person or multiple third-person narrators). Provided it’s clear who’s narrating at any given point, you could be more experimental. But it’s important to know the rules before you break them.

I didn’t create a clear sentence up there but to move on. The novel i’m working on ‘too many rhymes’ is a big deal to me ’cause it’s my first. Do you think this is a great opening scene to go with? It was raining in the middle of the night. A horrific scene was set before me back when i was six years old. i was crying, standing by the stairs staring at them. She was in pain, she was helplessly lying on the floor, blood coming out of her mouth as well as her stomatch, she was crying. “what do you want from me,” she cried out. His wore a black mask that covered his face, a long black coat and a pair of black boots.He was standing in front of her, smacking, a sword clutched in his right hand. “oh you know what i want darling. Infact you are what i wan’t,” he answerd her. He then turned his head at me. My heart hamered. “Oh you have a son?” he asked, smiling at me. He then stalked towards me and gazed at my mom. I couldn’t run i was completely frozen. He pointed his sword at me. “d… Don’t hurt my son,” she stumered, begging the man. The man stretched his sword up in the sky… I killed him! I told my best friend the story, she wants to know how i did it, how i killed him. Well i can’t tell her. It would be safe if it stays a mystrey. me and my mother are the only ones who know how i did it. Or maybe how it happened.

Hi Liam, no problem. This has some good elements, such as mystery and a good sense of tone and mood. I’d start with a few questions: – The man says ‘you are what I want’ but he’s also described as ‘smacking’ the woman. Maybe his statement of what he wants could reflect this violence. What is his motivation, why is he hurting the woman? – Does the scene need to be this visceral and violent (e.g. ‘blood coming out of her mouth as well as her stomach’)? If you start at 100 in intensity, it doesn’t give much higher of a peak to reach. If the mother figure wasn’t already injured, or the man’s wishes/desires were more mysterious, would this maybe make the story opening more teasing/intrigue-building?

I like the revelation that the narrator killed the man (and that he doesn’t reveal exactly how he did it) – this creates mystery. At the same time, I think you could end this segment before that revelation and possibly reveal it later, so that some of the dramatic content is deferred until the reader has gotten to know your characters more.

There are some minor spag issues (such as ‘stumered’ for ‘stammered’). I’d recommend joining our critique groups where you can get further feedback to develop what you have so far. Hope this was helpful!

Helpful! I think you’re good at the novel writing business! I understand what you said. And I’m not going to start with 100 % of intensity, and I think it would be better if the woman wasn’t injured. Thank you for your feedback. And do you think the narrator killing the man can create a story? Or do I have to find another element that could support the story?

I’m glad I could help, Liam. I think that is an intriguing plot point, definitely. Yet also brainstorm (or discover in drafting) the consequences of that act as therein lies the story, too. Where does it go from there?

Jordan ! I was wondering if you could help me out by giving a few tips, I’m currently writing a story in first person and I would like your opinion on a certain section.

Hi Jackson, if you join our free writing community you can get constructive feedback on story segments from other members (and weekly editorial feedback is included with our The Process membership ). Why not join up and get trading crits? If you have any first-person POV questions I’d be happy to try and answer them 🙂

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writing novel in first person

5 Tips to Mastering First-Person Point of View

From childhood you’ve been telling stories in the first-person, using I, me, and my. It’s the simplest way to relay an experience.

It can also be the best point of view for you as a beginning writer.

Read on for first-person point of view tips, tricks, and pitfalls.

  • Why Use the First-Person Point of View?

I recommend this approach because it forces you to limit yourself to the mind, the emotions, and the senses of a single character .

Limiting yourself to a single point of view character is a cardinal rule of writing.

The most common form of first-person storytelling is casting the narrator as the protagonist—the main character.

They’re telling their own story.

An option is a first-person telling of the story from the perspective of someone other than the main character. I did this with my very first novel (which became a 13-title series). It was titled Margo, and thus, she was the main character. But the first-person narrator was her love interest and eventual husband.

One advantage of an orbital character narrating in the first person is that it can highlight characteristics of the protagonist that he or she might not even be aware of, or might tend to hide if they were telling the story.

Writing in first person can contribute to strong character development.

Some famous novels rotate first-person narrators (such as with William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying) . This requires careful planning and practice.

You’ll want to master the fundamentals of writing from the first-person point of view before trying something that complex.

  • 5 Tips for Writing in First Person

1. Avoid head-hopping

This is one of the most common mistakes I see with new authors—switching perspective characters, sometimes within the same scene.

Writing in the first person should remind you that you’re limited to your narrator’s perspective. While you can have that character speculate on what someone else is thinking, you can’t unequivocally say what’s in the other other character’s mind.

Head-hopping requires an omniscient point of view, a style currently largely out of favor.

2. Craft a strong voice

Limiting yourself to one perspective character allows you to effect a unique voice.

Resist the urge to allow your narrator to simply tell the story rather than to show it. My bed was cold is telling. I huddled under the covers, trying to hide from the draft is showing . My coffee was warm is telling. The coffee burned my tongue is showing.

3. Don’t switch tenses

Naturally this tip applies to any writing point of view, but violating it can be especially jarring in first person.

Example: I ran to my car and find I forgot my keys.

Past tense is most common, but regardless, pick a tense and stick with it.

4. Show, don’t tell

Showing, as explained in point 2, triggers the theater of your reader’s mind, while telling merely spoon feeds them information.

Your first-person narrator should suggest just enough to give readers a role in the story experience. They want to be able to deduce what’s going on without simply being told everything.

Note how Suzanne Collins accomplishes this in The Hunger Games :

When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim’s warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. Of course, she did. This is the day of reaping.

An amateur might have written, “My sister Prim was scared because the day of reaping meant she could die.”

But Collins gives us enough to deduce this for ourselves.

5. Allow other characters to shine

Crafting a single believable, fleshed-out character doesn’t mean the supporting cast should be ignored. Others, especially important orbital characters, will be seen through the perspective of your first-person POV narrator, of course, but they should be no less compelling.

That might mean exposing them as liars or genuine, credible or otherwise. If you’re an Outliner, you may want to take the time to map out their motives and attributes, as this will give your protagonist more interesting people with whom to interact.

  • Try Using First-Person Point of View

If you need help mapping out your characters, try my character arc worksheet .

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Chip MacGregor

February 26, 2013

Should I use first-person or third-person in my novel?

by Chip MacGregor

Someone asked,  “In your opinion, is it better to see first-person or third-person POV novels for a first-time novelist?”


I’m not one who gets too worked up about first-or-third POV as the “answer” to great fiction. A good novelist can use either one. However, I can tell you from experience that many first-person novels from beginning writers suffer from an overuse of the “I-verb” syndrome. (“I started… I walked… I ate… I moved… I handed… I answered…”) That endless parade of I-verbs creates a really dull novel. First-person fiction can be great, and it’s certainly become much more common in recent years, but in my view it’s harder to master than third person.  


On a related note, someone asked,  “Is it true most publishers don’t want first-person novels?”


No, I don’t think that’s true at all. Again, writing an excellent first-person novel is simply harder to do well, so publishers probably have set the bar a bit higher. But some of the best fiction on the market is done in first person, and publishers still buy first-person novels. (Two favorite authors of mine, Ross Thomas and John D. MacDonald, wrote nearly everything from the first-person point of view.  Bridget Jones Diary  was a wildly successful first-person novel. I could give a bunch of other examples.)

One author sent in this:  “How many POV’s should a new novelist have in women’s contemporary fiction? I’ve heard we should use two for romance and one or two for general fiction. (I’m asking because my work in progress has one main character, but three other storylines that each require chapters from their POV. I’m wondering if that will make my novel harder to sell.)”


Interesting question, since it seems to suggest there are hard and fast rules to be followed in contemporary fiction. While there are certainly rules to follow in genre literature (for example, if you’re writing contemporary romance, you’ve got to have your heroine meet her hero early; if you’re writing a cozy mystery, the crime needs to take place early in the novel; etc.), in general fiction you don’t have all those same strictures. I’ve read contemporary fiction that had several POV’s working. However, let’s get real:  The more POV’s in the novel, the harder it is to make it work.  In my view, it will take an experienced hand to craft a great novel with multiple points of view. Having four POV’s in one novel might be a lot to ask a new novelist to do. So, yeah, in the big picture, that might make your novel harder to sell. That doesn’t mean I think you should give up on the idea (I haven’t seen your work, so I have no idea how well you handle it), it just means you should be aware that you’ve given yourself a tough task.

Another wrote to ask,  “At the beginning of many novels, I see the author often state ‘this is a work of fiction, and any similarities to real events is coincidental.’ Since writers don’t live in a vacuum, and often write about what they know, how important is this disclaimer? If I write about the donut shop in my hometown, am I in danger of being sued?”


You ever watch “Law and Order” on TV? At the beginning of every episode, they offer a warning that the story you’re about to see is a work of fiction, and any similarities to persons or events in the real world is strictly coincidental. The writers are clearly inspired by what they see in the newspaper headlines, but they take some basic plot ideas and weave a completely fictional story around them. If they simply stole someone else’s ideas, they would be violating the individual’s right to privacy, as well as possibly infringing on another’s copyright. Your novel has the same limitations. We’ve all written stories with people or places or events that had some connection to our past, and you’re free to include places and events that are genuine and bring a dose of reality to your book. But if you were to interview your friend, steal her story, and create a novelized account of her life, you would be in violation of the law. You need her expressed permission to tell her personal story. Instead you take that character and you reshape it a bit. You make sure not to slander anyone, or make a real person look bad. You change the details so that nobody could explore your story and know immediately who you were talking about. (I’m not a lawyer, so I’m not giving legal advice here, but I’ve had more than one lawyer explain the argument of reasonability in novels — i.e., If a reasonable person were to read the story, would they know who you were talking about? And would they assume you were trying to assassinate that individual’s character?) I doubt the donut shop is going to sue you, since you’re free to include such details in your novel. But I’d stay away from using the real names of the owners, and having them poison customers with cyanide-laced donuts. I’ve heard that’s the sort of thing donut-shop owners frown upon.

One author noted,  “I just read a nonfiction book that would make a fantastic novel. Must I contact the author to tell him I intend to dramatize the story? Or because it is a national story and a true event, do I not need to contact anyone? Can I simply consider the work reference material?”

You’re on dangerous ground here, so again let me begin by saying I’m not a lawyer, and I’m not giving legal advice. If you need legal help, by all means consult an attorney. I asked a lawyer informally about this question, and he said a writer should be aware of the source of his or her information. If the nonfiction book is basically your complete source for the novel you’re planning, then yes, you are legally obligated to talk with the author about your novel idea. But if this is, as you say, a national story that everyone knows about, you might have several sources that you rely on to create a story. The example he gave me: there have been a couple nonfiction books out on the Bernie Madoff scandal. If you base your novel on one of those books, so that it is the basis of the bulk of your research, then you could be sued for copyright infringement. But there have been thousands of stories written on the Madoff case, and there are hundreds of people who could be interviewed. If you spent time reading those, talked with people involved, and created a fictionalized account of a guy who created a Ponzi scheme and ripped off millions of dollars, you would not be violating that nonfiction author’s rights. Does that make sense?

28 Comments

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Wow! Thanks a lot, I am working on my very first work of fiction and was in a huge dilemma if my portrayal is decent enough. This post really helps!

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If you want to use a celebrities name or a band name as part of a conversation between two characters (not actually putting them in your novel), where are you in the eyes of the law- is that allowed or can they sue you?

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I’m currently writing a novel that has many POVs and a few main characters, I’m also writing it in first person. Having just read some previous questions you answered, I’m starting to doubt my work, I know it won’t be perfect on my first draft, but I have used the word ‘I’ quite a bit. Is it almost pointless continuing with this novel as it would have very low chances of doing well? Also, what would you say are upper limits to how many characters you should introduce and POVs you should write in? Thanks.

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One thing I can add here is that it seems to be “common knowledge” amongst editors and agents I’ve met or heard speak: young adult fiction = first person. Of course, it’s not like ALL YA fiction has to be, but…

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That’s certainly the trend, Donna Marie.

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My response to the person who wants to create a novel from a non-fiction book is an old saying: “To borrow from one source is plagiarism, to borrow from many is research.” Of course, I’m not a lawyer either so don’t come after me if you’re sued!

However, I think suing Dennis is a MUCH better idea than suing me. #sueDennisBrooksToday

Very interesting, Chip. I have one. I’m working on my first novel. It’s a supernatural romance, I would say…and you may have covered this the other day…but how many words should it be and how many words should I set for a daily goal?

A supernatural romance is probably going to run in the 85k to 95k range, Steve. As for a daily writing goal, a lot of part-time writers continue to strive for 1000 salable words per day. You can go up or down from there, but that’s a nice baseline.

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It could just be me; but I find that a third person narrative written really badly is—well, bad, but forgiveable if i like the plot or the characters; whereas a first person narrative written badly is completely intolerable. a first person narrative done badly in the present tense? — my least favourite thing of all time. I think this largely has to do with the strength of character voice as April mentions. Because the character is there to guide you and you are not given the omniscient support of an authorial voice, rather the musings of a character you are learning about, it is a bit of a double whammy if the character voice is weak. Not only are you striking out on the character voice front, then, but also on the narrative front as a whole. It’s harder, I feel, for a reader to forgive.

Ha! Well put, Rachel! Thanks very much. I agree with you.

In books for teens, first person is very common, to help the reader feel like he or she IS the main character. I once had an editor ask me to rewrite an entire novel from third to first. That being said, I think almost all of my recent teen novels are in third, to allow me to show more than one POV, and to heighten suspense by cutting back and forth.

i think the strongest argument for first person is if that character has a really strong voice.

Thanks, April. Appreciate your comment. (For those not in the know, April Henry is a bestselling novelist, with much good advice to share.)

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The POV comments and responses to fiction built on the real thing are enlightening – and inspiring of creativity. Thank you.

You’re welcome, Cherry.

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Some publishers might not care for first-person POV, but I’ll add another success story to your examples. Suzanne Collin wrote The Hunger Games in first-person and present tense, which jarred me in Chapter 1. But she makes it work.

Of course, the cinema version dramatizes the story in third person POV. I don’t think I’m ready to sit through a whole movie where the camera is the protagonist’s eyes and we “hear” her thinking. (Interesting idea, though.)

Thanks, Rick. I’ve had some people write to simply ask if I’d list some good first-person writers. Appreciate your note.

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Thanks again, Chip, for your great advice. A thought on POV. My first attempt at novel writing was a MG that had four POVs. I soon learned, thanks to my critique group and info gleaned from SCBWI conferences, that kids like/need a singular POV. Although I started writing in third person, I found first person so much easier for staying in my protagonist’s head. I now write in first person present for my ‘Tween novels and love the immediacy of it. Best advice I can give to novelists who write for kids–join the Society for Chidren’s Book Writers and Illustrators. It’s the best move I ever made as a writer. And join a critique group. The interaction with other writers is as valuable as their feedback.

Great! Thanks, Janet. Appreciate the advice.

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One more thought, on the “any similarities to real events is coincidental” or similar disclaimer. I recently saw this on a historical novel that was (partially) based on real historical events. In these cases, the disclaimer needs to be edited to allow for historical fact. On the other hand, the novel in question had a range of factual errors, so maybe the disclaimer was accurate (if unintentionally so).

“That endless parade of I-verbs creates a really dull novel”

Love the phrase! But you’re an agent. You must have read plenty of third-person novels with an endless parade of sentences beginning with ‘he’ or ‘she’. That’s just as bad.

And your comment on the number of POV characters is timely. As a reference, George RR Martin has nine POV characters in the first Game of Thrones book – but it’s almost 1000 pages long, and is the start of a seven-book series. That sheer scale gives him space to create characters that can’t be addressed in the 300 pages of the average novel.

Glad you liked it, Iola. Thanks for commenting.

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Good article, Chip. One misconception some writers have is that if they use a real character in a novel, that person can only sue if he or she is portrayed in a negative or defamatory light. Not so. There was a rather famous case a few decades ago where an author met a foreign dignitary at a Washington function and liked his name so much she used it in her novel and in a purely positive light. In fact, he was only in one small paragraph and the persona was completely positive. It was a scene where the protagonist was meeting and greeting dignitaries at a Washington function and that was the extent of the character’s role. He was introduced and moved on and disappeared from the story. The person sued and won–it didn’t matter if he was shown positively or negatively in the law’s eyes. He just plain didn’t want to be in her novel and the court agreed and he won substantial punitive damages. It’s a common misconception that the character be demeaned or portrayed negatively. Not the standard at all.

You’re right, Les. Thanks for this.

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Good stuff, Chip!

Appreciate that, Lee.

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Thanks for addressing these questions. I’ve experimented with first and third person POV before but never noticed the I-verb issue. Thank you. It’s something I’ll keep my eyes on to avoid.

Yeah, that’s a common problem, especially with newer writers, Jennifer.

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How to Write in First Person

Last Updated: October 17, 2022 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Stephanie Wong Ken, MFA . Stephanie Wong Ken is a writer based in Canada. Stephanie's writing has appeared in Joyland, Catapult, Pithead Chapel, Cosmonaut's Avenue, and other publications. She holds an MFA in Fiction and Creative Writing from Portland State University. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 111,101 times.

Writing in the first person can be a fun challenge, allowing you to explore a first person point of view on the page. You may write in the first person in a short story, novel, or opinion piece. Creating an effective first person narrative requires skill and consistency as well as a thorough revision of the writing once it is done.

Choosing a Tense for the First Person Narrative

Step 1 Use present tense to move the story forward.

  • For example, a first person present tense narrator would be, “I open the window and yell at him to leave me alone. I close the window and try to focus on the latest soap opera on television.”

Step 2 Try past tense to explore a character’s past.

  • For example, a first person past tense narrator would be, “I opened the window and yelled at him to leave me alone. I closed the window and tried to focus on the latest soap opera on television.”

Step 3 Go for present tense when discussing the work.

  • If you are using APA style, you can use the first person point of view to discuss your research steps in a research paper. For example, you may write, “I studied sample A” or “I interviewed subject B.” In general, you should avoid the first person point of view and only use it sparingly in your research paper.

Using the First Person to Build Character

Step 1 Give the narrator a distinct voice.

  • For example, if your narrator is a Latino teenager who lives in the Bronx, they will have a distinct narrative voice that may use Spanish phrases and teenage slang as well as standard English.

Step 2 Filter the actions of the story through the narrator.

  • For example, rather than say, “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A killer spider skittered towards me and I thought, I’m dead,” focus on describing the action straight from the viewpoint of the narrator. You may write, “This couldn’t be what I was seeing. A killer spider skittered towards me. I’m dead.”

Step 3 Use the “I” to keep the pace and action moving forward.

  • For example, rather than write, “I tried to talk to Sara about how I felt but she didn’t want to listen to what I had to say,” you may put this content in a scene with dialogue and action. You may write instead, “‘Sara, why won’t you talk to me?’ I was determined to get her to listen to what I had to say.”

Step 4 Read examples of first person narratives.

  • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  • Moby Dick by Herman Melville
  • The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
  • Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid
  • "Shooting an Elephant," an essay by George Orwell
  • "The Death of the Moth," an essay by Virginia Woolf

Avoiding the Pitfalls of First Person

Step 1 Avoid starting every sentence with “I.”

  • For example, rather than have two sentences like, “I ran down the stairs, my heart pounding. I could hear the killer spider skittering on the wall behind me,” you can write, “I ran down the stairs, my heart pounding. Behind me, the killer spider skittered on the wall.”

Step 2 Do not report on the action using the “I.”

  • For example, rather than write, “I bumped into Marsha and she told me she left her homework at home. I felt sorry for her and told her not to get so upset,” you may place the reader right in a scene.
  • You may write, “As I turned the corner of the gym, I bumped into Marsha. ‘I forgot my homework at home,’ she complained. I put my hand on her shoulder and tried to comfort her. ‘Don’t be too upset,’ I said to her.”

Step 3 Try not to place distance between the reader and the “I.”

  • For example, rather than write, “I felt sad about losing her as a friend,” you may write, “Sadness filled my body as I realized I was losing her as a friend.”
  • You can also often simply remove “I thought” or “I saw” in a sentence to make the first person point of view stronger. For example, rather than write, “I passed her in the hall and almost stopped to talk to her. Then, I thought, why bother, she’s just going to reject you anyway,” remove "I thought" and tighten up the action in the sentence.
  • You may write, “I passed her in the hall and almost stopped to talk to her. But I kept walking. Why bother, she’s just going to reject me anyway.”

Polishing the First Person Narrative

Step 1 Read the piece out loud.

  • You should also pay attention to the tense in the story. Make sure the story does not shift from present to past tense or vice versa. It should stay in the same tense the entire time.

Step 2 Tighten up the word choice and language.

  • You may also show the story to a writing group to get their criticisms and critiques. Be open to the feedback of others and use it to improve the first person narrator in your story.

Community Q&A

Donagan

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Abbreviate Years

  • ↑ https://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/grammar/verbtenses
  • ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/verb_tenses/verb_tense_consistency.html
  • ↑ https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar/writing/is-character-voice-different-from-author-voice.html
  • ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/first-second-and-third-person/
  • ↑ http://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-writing-in-first-person.html
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/reading-aloud/
  • ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/

About This Article

Stephanie Wong Ken, MFA

Writing in the first person means writing from the perspective of one person or character. When writing, you’ll want to use words like “I,” “we,” or “me” to demonstrate it’s the first-person perspective. For instance, if you’re writing a narrative, you might say, “I called Marissa on the phone.” Avoid starting every sentence with “I” since this can get repetitive. You can also pepper in dialogue, descriptions of the scene, and action sentences to keep things interesting. If you're writing a first-person narrative, you'll want to make sure everything is told from the perspective of 1 character. This means that everything your character says and does should be consistent with their worldview.  To learn how to polish your first person narrative, read more from our Writing co-author! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Writing a novel in first person.

January 31, 2018 by Randy Ingermanson 4 Comments

in Craft , Fiction Writing

Today I’ll answer two different readers who’ve asked questions on writing a novel in first person.

Crystal’s Question

Crystal posted this question  on my “ Ask A Question For My Blog ” page:

Hi, I am currently trying to write a first person chapter book and it’s going well, but I feel like I’m using “I” too much when I’m writing. Is it okay to use “I” over and over again?

Randy sez: Yes, that’s pretty much your only option.

Read a good novel written in first person. For example, The Hunger Games , by Suzanne Collins. The protagonist uses “I” all over the place. Did you notice? Neither did I. The pronoun “I” is pretty much invisible. Use it whenever you need it. If you don’t need it, don’t use it.

Deb’s Question

Deb posted this question  on my “ Ask A Question For My Blog ” page:

If I am writing in 1st person for my main protagonist, what do I do when that person isn’t in a particular chapter. Thank you.

Randy sez: That’s a problem, but only if it you let it be a problem. In scenes where your protagonist is missing, you’ll have to choose a different character to be your point-of-view character. (Because every scene needs a POV character.) The question is really how you handle those other POV characters—should you write them in first-person or third-person? You don’t want to confuse your reader.

Most novels are written in third person. Most of them have multiple characters who serve as POV characters in different scenes. Nobody gets confused by this.

So what prevents you from having more than one first-person POV character in different scenes of your novel?

If you do this , you need some way to let the reader know who the POV character is for each scene. An easy way to do that is to make a subtitle for each scene showing the name of the POV character. For example, “Luke” or “Leia” or “Darth Vader.” Center this in its own line and italicize it if that looks better to you. Then the reader knows who “I” is for every scene.

Or you can write in first-person in scenes where your protagonist is the POV character, and you can switch to third-person in scenes having other POV characters. Diana Gabaldon did that in her novel Dragonfly in Amber , and nobody got confused.

If you’ve got a question  you’d like me to answer in public on this blog, hop on over to my “ Ask A Question For My Blog ” page and submit your question. I’ll answer the ones I can, but no guarantees. There are only so many hours in the day.

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February 1, 2018 at 1:16 pm

I really enjoy the Q&A. Varied subjects about things that I may not have considered as a new writer.

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February 21, 2018 at 6:51 pm

Most of my books are in 3rd person, but I had one character who refused. She wouldn’t talk to me unless I wrote in 1st. That book switched between the two. Yes, I know, I’m the author and I control the story, but I know when to accept defeat.

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March 2, 2018 at 4:03 pm

I had too many 1st person POVs because I thought I had to either do 1st throughout or 3rd throughout, and my non-verbal character really needed to be in 1st. Tried a prologue in 3rd, then realized the mix of 1st and 3rd works, so I changed all my less important characters to 3rd. (And dropped the prologue because it was evil.)

Before the change I was able to try my first 10 pages in a contest. The judges were _very_ confused by my transitions, and didn’t realize the hero in the 1st chapter was a different person from the villain in the 2nd chapter. Bad transitions for one. And the genre is one where more than 2 POVs is rare. It wasn’t a matter of both men sounding the same: One judge wrote, “I thought he was a teenager and now he seems much older.”

I learned a valuable lesson from that contest: Transitions matter! A little mystery on page 1 is good: The the characters, location, and story goal unfold for the reader. But at a transition to a new scene or new chapter, the reader wants to orient within as few lines as possible. “Is this the same POV character?” “Where are we now?” “What day is it?” Having one each 1st person male and female characters is about the limit, unless you do as you suggest and make the character’s name part of the chapter’s metadata.

My old 1st sentence, chapter 2, chapter title _Dustin “Hunter” Holt_ They walked in the door and I froze, the plastic straw dangling from my lips.

My new 1st sentence, chapter 2, chapter title _Predator Among Prey_ Dustin Holt sat in the sandwich shop, wrapped in his man-shape. The rest of the short paragraph sets the scene and his state of mind before “they” walk in the door.

Point is: Transitions matter!

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Writing in First Person? Narrate Better With These Tips

When writing your novel, deciding on the point of view for your narration is an important choice. Depending on the genre you read, you may be more familiar with first person point of view than third, or vice versa. Maybe you’ve taken to more supposedly literary avenues and have read a few second person stories, where the narrator talks directly to you as the reader.

Telling a story from each of these points of view can have various impacts on your narrative. For instance, a third person point of view story has an easier time jumping between characters and detailing what’s going on in multiple locations.

A story told from second person might have the ability to immerse the reader more, given that they are so clearly addressed and almost become a character in the story.

Writing in first person has many benefits and a few drawbacks (as do all these other formats). In this article, we’ll discuss some of the reasons you might want to write in first person, some of the reasons you may not want to do so, and what tips you may need to get started in the rewarding process of telling a story from the “I” pronoun.

Disadvantages

Miscellaneous Tips

What 1st Person Does Well

Man above the clouds giving a thumbs up

Writing in first person point of view is a tradition that has long had a place in fiction. From classics like Gulliver’s Travels , (mostly) Moby Dick , and The Great Gatsby , to more modern novels like The Hunger Games , The Martian , and The Name of the Wind , first person narration has been a viable means of story telling.

One of the main reasons for writing in first person point of view is the amount of depth of character you can convey. When the entire story is told from a single perspective, you can reach characterizations unlike most other points of view.

With first person point of view, you let the reader live in the headspace of your character. You can definitely get across how someone thinks and views the world with another point of view, but when using a first person narrator, everything that you write down will come from that character.

Your prose style will characterize your narrator, the way you write descriptions of people and places will come as if from your narrator’s mind, and every interaction and reaction will come from your narrator’s personality and worldview.

This kind of depth is almost unattainable with the other points of view. Writing in third person will have the prose as a filter or will distance the reader by juggling multiple character’s thoughts.

Another benefit of writing in first person is that it often feels easier to do. That may sound subjective, and it definitely is. For a select few it might prove more difficult, but I say that it’s easier because telling a story in this way will feel the most natural to us.

Every thought we have, the way we react, and the experiences we have are filtered through the first person lens. When you tell someone about your day, you tell it from the first person perspective, and it feels totally natural to you. Writing in this way should feel familiar in the sense that you can basically pour out your thoughts.

But the fact that you’re writing fiction complicates this idea for a few reasons. You aren’t explaining the world from your own view; you’re doing that from a made up character whose experiences and personality you can’t fully call your own.

Despite this fact, however, using a first person narrator can be simple.

When developing a character and deciding how that person talks, thinks, and acts, most authors will try to assume that character’s headspace. They want to really figure out their character so as to create a fully developed and realized person.

When writing from your main character’s perspective, you essentially take this process and magnify it to a new level. Now, you won’t just be thinking from your character’s perspective during dialogue or moments when you want to explain their thoughts, you will write your entire story from this point of view.

You should know your character well enough to think as they do and imagine what they might imagine. Basically, as you are writing, you get to play act as this character, and that can be really fun.

If you have a cast of characters and aren’t sure which character you would like to tell your story, you could either choose which character you feel like you “know” best, or you could do a piece of micro-fiction from each of their perspectives and see which one you enjoy most.

Maybe you choose one character to write from because you’re certain they’ll be an unreliable narrator and that intrigues you. Maybe you like one of the more serious characters because they contrast the goofy world you’ve built. Maybe you just choose the character that is most like you.

No matter who you pick, the important thing here is to inhabit the headspace of this character and style the entire story in a way that relates to them.

Some Setbacks From 1st Person

Gray haired man giving a thumbs down

Every way of telling a story will have its pros and cons. Every narrator and form of narration is different, and choosing the method of storytelling that suits your story best is important.

Let’s examine some of the reasons writing in first person point of view might not suit your particular taste or style. You can definitely get around these setbacks, but knowing about them should help you determine if this means of fiction writing is the proper one for your particular tale.

The biggest disadvantage for the first person narrator is that its scope is severely limited. Unless you’ve constructed a narrator who can read minds or has impeccable knowledge, your narration won’t allow for an omniscient narrator.

Your story (theoretically) can only be told with the information your first person narrator has access to. In most cases, that means your main character and the few people they interact with and know about.

This limitation often removes the ability to tell an unbiased narrative, and the reader won’t be able to know what other characters are thinking or doing. First person narration gives way to some great subtext possibilities in order to develop and understand secondary and tertiary characters, but the reader won’t have access to their headspaces.

Another disadvantage to this style of writing is that if the reader doesn’t like your main character, they probably won’t like much of the book. Because everything will be told from the narrator’s perspective, the reader has to experience the main character with a level of proximity that most other methods of storytelling can bypass.

An example of a first person narrator driving away a potential audience comes from Catcher in the Rye . One of the largest and most prolific complaints for that book is that people just don’t like being in the head of Holden Caulfield, the main character.

He’s a difficult person to understand and his jaded personality can be frustrating. Many people have read the book with the lens of understanding his mental illnesses , and some people feel majorly uncomfortable reading such characters.

Now, whether or not this is a valid perspective is a different point, but the lesson here is that people may stray from your first person point of view if they feel that your character is difficult to read, unsettling, or contrary to their own worldview. (Reading fiction broadly to become more empathetic towards “the other” should help remedy this issue, but not everyone does this).

A Few Miscellaneous Tips

Person meditating on writing in first person

The previous section mentioned some drawbacks to writing in first person pronouns. We’ll go over some of the ways to mitigate those negatives and then talk about some other ways to get started with writing from the first person perspective.

Avoiding Limitation

I said that the first person narrative can be severely limited. While that may be fundamentally true, there are ways to broaden your story’s scope and overcome this issue. An example of this comes from The Name of the Wind .

I doubt that anyone who has read that novel would say that the scope of the story is small or limited, and there are many reasons for this line of thinking. Even though the story is told from the main character’s perspective, Patrick Rothfuss adds layers in a few ways.

First off, he uses a frame narrative style of writing that basically creates two versions of his first person narration. We have the Kvothe (main character) who tells the story from the inn, and then we have Kvothe from the story that the innkeeper is telling. This split perspective can be really intriguing and sets up a potentially unreliable narrator while having the ability to essentially bounce between two different characters.

Another way Rothfuss avoids limitation is by having the main character interact with lots of people and things. Because the narrator is experiencing people widely and talking with them, the narration remains fresh in that multiple voices are represented and keep the reader’s interest.

The final way Rothfuss bypasses narrative limitation (that we’ll talk about at least) is through having multiple layers of story going at a time. As mentioned, the story has a frame narrative and then the meat of the novel, but many times throughout the books, Rothfuss will have other characters tell stories.

By adding narratives that don’t come from the main narrator, Rothfuss is able to change up his narration style and keep the reader’s interest. Being three stories deep (or more) can ask a lot of the reader, but the end result is worth it in my eyes.

Narrator Likeability

A disclaimer, overcoming this problem isn’t always possible. Certain readers are drawn to a specific voice and won’t read anything other than that voice. Since this is the case, they may drop your book because you don’t fit their liking.

Obviously, you shouldn’t be trying to write for these people, but the notion extends to anyone who won’t read an unlikeable character. An easy fix to this problem is to make all your characters likeable (check out this article ). But maybe you want to write a first person narrative from someone who makes you uncomfortable.

This type of storytelling can really stretch your creative writing skills and has potential to be an important story. If you want to write that story, you can get around likeability from your narrator by having other likeable characters that your narrator interacts with often.

For example, Nick Carraway from The Great Gatsby isn’t an unlikeable character, per se, but he doesn’t really have a lot going for him. Fitzgerald fixes this problem by having him tell Gatsby’s story, a character who the reader can invest their interest in.

You can also fill your story with interesting characters and moments that the reader will hold onto in place of a beloved narrator. If your narrator is unlikeable and you want to keep them that way, let as many other parts of your story be as likeable as possible, and your reader could still enjoy your book.

Other Ideas

Experiment! The only confines to writing are the ones placed on us by ourselves and convention. The greatest novels typically break this mold, and you can take this opportunity in the first person to try something new.

Bring back writing in first person to tell someone else’s story! Like The Great Gatsby and Moby Dick , the first person narrator can be someone other than the main character. This style of story was pretty popular back in the day but hasn’t received much attention in our time. Bring this idea into fantasy and sci-fi.

Try different tenses! Writing in first person can feel strange at times, but it can be a matter of the tense you’re using. If you find that you don’t like writing in first person past tense, you may want to try first person present. Messing around with little things like this can really help you find what fits you best.

Try stream of consciousness ! This method of writing is something that can really help when drafting, but it can be a good way to get into the head of your character. You may even try writing a whole novel like this. This style of writing can feel very organic for readers and writers because it’s a natural way of speaking and thinking.

You've reached the end

Hopefully after reading these suggestions about first person narration you’ll feel more comfortable with what it can offer you. Just remember that every story needs a narrator, and different narrators and forms of narration have their strengths and weaknesses.

First person is great at detailing one character and offering a depth of character work, but that comes at the cost of your other characters receiving less focus.

Remember also that this can be one of the easiest forms of creative writing! If you haven’t written a book yet but really want to, try a first person narrator. It can be really fun and exciting to write, so this might be the key to finishing your first novel.

For more writing tricks and suggestions, check out the other articles in our blog !

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writing novel in first person

Barbara Dee on How She Got Her Writing 'Unstuck'

Barbara Dee is the author of 14 middle grade novels, including Violets Are Blue and Maybe He Just Likes You . In her essay for PW , Dee reflects on her creative process and her forthcoming book, Unstuck , about a girl who struggles with anxiety and writer’s block.

Every writer knows the feeling: you’re sitting at the computer, or your writing notebook, staring at the same blank page as the day before, and the day before that. So you force yourself to write a sentence, but it’s terrible, so you delete it. Then you write a single word and delete that too. Now your head is buzzing and your heart is racing. You’re starting to panic, because what if you never write anything again?

For me that sort of paralysis—writer’s block, to use the technical term—came as I was writing my second book. My debut middle grade novel had done reasonably well; PW had even given it a star! So I told myself that my next MG should be bigger, more literary, more ambitious.

To make a mental break with my debut, I decided to switch from the first person to the third. And, to give the story intellectual heft, I buried myself in research, reading book after book about all sorts of esoteric topics: secret codes, the Enigma machine, decoding Mayan hieroglyphics, amphibian ecosystems. The more I read, the more I realized how much I needed to know before I could even think about starting my story. And now, as I was finally ready to write... nothing.

One day my son asked me what my book was about. I launched into a description of all my research.

He blinked at me. “Okay,” he said. “But what’s it about?”

I couldn’t answer that question. All I knew by that point was that I felt like a complete imposter.

But then it hit me: I should use that —the feeling of being an imposter, a fake writer, convinced I had no real talent—as the way to connect to my main character, and to her story. So while I did use some of my research, Solving Zoe mostly ended up being about a kid who suspected she wasn’t as “gifted” as her peers, until eventually she discovers what makes her special.

My middle grade novels tend to be about tough topics like sexual harassment, mental illness, and climate anxiety. As background for these books I’ve researched a wide range of subjects, including special effects makeup, crayfish, and Greek mythology. I’ve just finished writing my 2025 novel, Tear This Down, about a seventh grader who wants to remove the statue of a local historical figure who didn’t believe women should vote. Because I didn’t know much about the suffragette movement, I needed to spend many hours in the library.

But these days I’m careful not to let myself go down bottomless rabbit holes of research. I also don’t wait to complete my research before I begin writing; I write and research simultaneously, figuring out what I need to know as I go along. This way I’m not merely procrastinating, or pressuring myself to do justice to the copious notes I’ve taken.

We often hear “write what you know”—but sometimes what you “know” is simply information, not the basis for a story. Writing tough topics means my focus should never stray from the protagonist’s emotions. I’ve found that staying in the first person helps me connect the character’s emotions to my own, and to go on a journey with her.

Of course, sometimes writing anxiety still flares up, and I end the day, or the week, with a negative word count. So it probably won’t surprise anyone to hear that I feel a strong connection to the protagonist of Unstuck, my 14th middle grade novel with S&S. Unstuck is about Lyla, who is struggling with writer’s block as she attempts to write a fantasy novel for her seventh grade ELA class.

Part of Lyla’s problem is that, as a voracious reader of fantasy fiction, she feels compelled to engage in overly detailed world-building. She tells herself she’s not writing to compete with Rick Riordan or Kelly Barnhill, but she desperately wants her story to be worthy of the genre, so she can’t stop drawing maps and lists and family trees. Fortunately, Lyla has Ms. Bowman, a fantastic teacher who supports her need to “gestate,” but also tells her: “Pre-writing can be helpful... but at a certain point it’s good to jump in with both feet. I always find that ideas come as you’re working. You really don’t have to have it all figured out before you begin.”

Another powerful bit of advice Ms. Bowman shares with Lyla: Write your feelings . At first Lyla is writing her story from her head, not from her heart—but as she comes to see parallels between her fantasy story and her real life, the words start to flow, and she discovers her own feelings, as well as her voice.

Whenever kids ask me for advice about how to get their own stories “unstuck,” I share some of my go-to strategies: I read screenplays of my favorite movies and TV shows (for example, Succession , which has some of the best dialogue ever written). Or I take my dog for a long walk and listen to a podcast. Or I eat cookies.

But I tell them those are just my strategies. In Unstuck , I suggest “Twenty-Five Ways to Get Unstuck,” which I collect in the back of the book (for example, writing a scene in verse, or as a play). As Ms. Bowman tells Lyla, not all of these strategies will work for every writer; the goal is to find the strategy that works for you.

Although for any writer struggling with writer’s block, it might help to start with this question: “Okay, but what’s your story about? ”

They might describe their topic or their research—but really, I think the answer is an emotion.

Unstuck by Barbara Dee. Aladdin, $17.99 Feb. 27 ISBN 978-1-534489-86-8

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Oprah Daily

How to Write a Novel in 7 Easy Steps

1. create a writing ritual.

There’s a reason we put art in quiet museums, why symphonies are played in grand concert halls, why we worship in soaring cathedrals: There’s something about silence and sanctity that prepares us for awe. We must create a space insulated from the everyday noise in order to experience something profound. I try to do the same thing when I start a new novel. I follow a ritual that, slowly, step-by-step, shepherds my mind into the mental space necessary for literature to happen. It begins in the morning, first thing, before checking email, before reading the news. I go into my office, close the door, light a candle, put on some soothing music, snuggle into a big comfy chair, turn on an overhead lamp, open my laptop and start a new Word document and title it “My Novel,” and this is the moment when having a ritual is really important, because as I stare at that demented blinking cursor amid all that ghastly barren space and I realize I don’t have the first clue where to begin or what to do and I doubt I’ll ever have a good idea ever again and I question whether I’m even a real writer at all, I can reassure myself that yes, I must be a real writer, because, after all, I have a writing ritual .

2. Write longhand

That blinking cursor being just far too horrible and disturbing (and also kind of needy, am I right?), I switch to writing by hand. I put away the laptop and write in a journal, a diary, a legal pad. That way maybe I’ll stop judgmentally deleting every sentence as soon as I write it, a habit that even gluing thumbtacks upside-down on the backspace key did not cure.

3. The first sentence should contain the whole novel in miniature

Here I am, in my comfiest chair, with my favorite pen (a kind of substantial-feeling metal pen where the ink flows darkly and freely but somehow never splotches), and I’m holding a blank journal (one that’s large enough to feel important but not so large that it’s cumbersome), a journal with pages that are lined (because unlined pages feel too sloppy, and grid paper feels too formal and fussy and maybe a little masochistic), with a perfectly curated playlist of instrumental music murmuring at a low volume in the background, with an overhead light tuned at exactly the same color temperature as the outside light according to the Kelvin scale—here I am, tranquil, organized, prepared for awe, ready to write a sentence worthy of great literature, a sentence that proves I am indeed a real writer, that this whole being-a-writer thing was indeed a good idea, that going into vast student-loan debt to study creative writing wasn’t an enormous waste of money, that my friends were wrong when they gave me that pinched-face look after reading one of my early stories, that my parents were wrong when I switched majors from engineering to English and they said, “How about you write as a hobby while working a job that actually makes money?”—I need to write a sentence that exonerates me, in other words, for possibly poor decision-making in my youth—and when this is all just way too much pressure to put on one sentence and the sentence unsurprisingly does not emerge and I can’t even excrete one single word and I stare at the blank lined journal for so long that my playlist runs out and the room plunges into grave-like silence, this is when I realize it’s actually important not to write that sentence but instead to do a prodigious amount of…

4. Research!

I spend literally days on Google Scholar. I find an interesting study from psychology and then look up all the citations listed in that study and then read those studies, too, and then those citations and so on and so forth, a quadratic explosion of material I absolutely must get through before I can even think about writing another word. And when my wife or friends or parents ask me what I’m doing with all those printouts fully neoned in yellow highlighter, all those cryptic notecards I’ve pinned to the huge new corkboard on the wall, when they ask what’s happening with that novel I promised I was writing, I can say something that’s both truthful and artfully oblique: “It’s marinating.”

5. Create an outline

After doing so much research that I now basically have the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in several new esoteric subjects (evolutionary psychology, say, or graph theory mathematics), and after putting so many notecards on the corkboard that it begins to resemble some kind of sprawling movie-bad-guy’s insane obsession-wall, I return to that still-empty notebook and, with all this newfound wisdom, I finally successfully write the first sentence of my new novel:

Both Chuck and Elizabeth were staring out their respective windows.

And then I immediately regret every single word.

I mean, what kind of name is Chuck ? And what’s with that word both , which I realize only after reading the sentence an embarrassing three or four times is completely redundant and unnecessary? And didn’t countless teachers in the creative writing education that I am still paying off warn me against passive constructions like were staring ? And would they be staring out the window or out of the window? Or maybe staring through the window? I suddenly don’t know. I am suddenly so unsure of the language, it’s as if I’ve just learned it.

And don’t even get me started on the multisyllabic horror that is respective .

6. Revise each word in this sentence several times, and then also do the same thing in every sentence thereafter, for, like, the next 600 pages

This should take roughly two to 10 years, during which time I regularly whine to my wife about how I should have gone into finance, or how I should have gone into advertising, or how I should have been a goddamn engineer like my goddamn parents wanted me to.

After which, violà ! I’ve finished my novel!

7. Do it all again

When people approach me at readings and say well-meaning things like “You have such natural talent” or “You’re so gifted” or “Writing must come so easy for you,” I just try to thank them. I don’t tell them that back home there is another intimidatingly blank journal, another empty corkboard, another unopened package of pens, that no matter how many novels I write, the steps always seem the same, that writing a novel seems completely impossible when you’re at the beginning. Instead, when people ask their inevitable follow-up question—“What are you writing next?”—I just smile tightly and say something vague: “It’s marinating.”

Wellness,  by Nathan Hill

IMAGES

  1. The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction in First Person

    writing novel in first person

  2. How to Start a Story in First Person: 8 Pointers

    writing novel in first person

  3. 4 Ways to Write in First Person

    writing novel in first person

  4. 4 Ways to Write in First Person

    writing novel in first person

  5. First Person Writer : Short Stories written in the First Person

    writing novel in first person

  6. 7 Essential Guidelines for Writing in First Person

    writing novel in first person

VIDEO

  1. Writing a novel

  2. best writing advice #book #novel #authortube

  3. 3 tips to help you start a novel. #amwriting #authortube #writer #writing

  4. what writing a novel is actually like

  5. THE MOST OBVIOUS WRITING ADVICE EVER!

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COMMENTS

  1. How to Write in First Person (Tips and Examples)

    The "I" is Sally. This means that in first person, the reader is locked inside the POV (point of view) character's mind. They see what the main character sees, and they don't see what the main character misses. The POV character is narrating the story to us as they experience it, basically, which can create a very personal and relatable experience.

  2. How to Write in First-Person Point of View: Dos and Don'ts

    Point of view is the eye through which you tell a story. First-person point of view gives readers an intimate view of a character's experience. [Point of view is the eye through which you tell a story] (https://www.masterclass.com/articles/complete-guide-to-point-of-view-in-writing-definitions-and-examples).

  3. 7 Essential Guidelines for Writing in First Person

    1. Decide if first person is right for your story Before you start writing, consider carefully whether first-person narration is the best style of narration for the story you want to tell. First-person narration is a great tool for many reasons.

  4. The Complete Guide to Writing Fiction in First Person

    1 In terms of point of view (POV), most authors either write in first person (using the pronoun "I") or third person (using the pronouns "he," "she," or "they"). Here, I'll cover the ins and...

  5. How to Start a Story in First Person: 8 Pointers

    1: Perfect your character introduction: Make the reader care Many novels now considered classics open with character introductions in first person. This type of opening, where the protagonist extends a friendly hand to the reader, can be very effective. Consider the opening of Dickens' David Copperfield:

  6. How to Start Writing a Story in First-Person Point of View

    Written by MasterClass Last updated: Aug 23, 2021 • 4 min read When starting a fictional creative writing project, you have to decide what point of view (or points of view) you want to use to convey your action.

  7. Putting the "I" in your novel-writing in first person

    Putting the "I" in your novel-writing in first person Nisha Tuli April 20, 2023 People seem to have a lot of opinions when it comes to first-person narrative in novels. There are people who abhor the very idea and some who even go so far as to say they won't read a book written in the first person.

  8. Writing in First Person: 4 Tricks and 6 Pitfalls

    4 Tricks for Writing in First Person. 1. Show Some Attitude. Attitude is what literary agents call "voice driven.". Your characters need to be snarky, or witty, or funny, or droll. Nothing is more dull than a first person narrator who speaks like a computer on the page.

  9. First Person Narrative: 7 Tips for Great Narrators

    Here are 7 steps to creating a great 'I' narrator, but first: The pros and cons of writing a novel in first person The benefit of telling a story in first person, from a single character's perspective at a time, is that readers discover the voice and psychology of a character as expressed directly by the character.

  10. Have Some Perspective! First Person Perspective Pros and Cons

    Some novels even switch between first person and third person perspective with each chapter. In this article, I'm going to focus on the pros and cons of novels written in first person perspective specifically. First person writing uses "I" as the subject, meaning the novel will be written in the character's internal voice.

  11. Can A Novel Be Written In First Person?

    The short and simple answer? Most definitely! Should I write my novel in first person point of view? First person POV has many advantages. The first person narrative can be recognised by use of the 'I' pronoun. For many writers, it's the easiest POV because of the natural flow of the writing that imitates our normal, everyday way of speaking.

  12. Should Your Novel be First Person?

    Any novel, no matter how complex, can be told in first person — if you're willing to have enough viewpoint characters. Yes, you can write in first person from more than one point of view. If that's what you want to do, then do so. Usually, of course, a first-person novel has only a single viewpoint character.

  13. How to Write in 1st Person POV

    1st person is a popular POV choice in contemporary literature and for good reason. It allows for an intimate scope, voice driven prose, and a sense of authen...

  14. POV: Choosing Between First-Person and Third-Person

    Famous first-person novels. If you naturally tend to write one way, I suggest you stick with that. Trust your "creative" gut. If the first-person comes more naturally to you and flows effortlessly, then that's your voice as an author and you should absolutely honor that.

  15. Writing a novel: First or third person?

    The famous F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, The Great Gatsby, is told from the writer Nick Carraway's first-person point of view. Carraway gives excellent insights into the life of the enigmatic Gatsby when he moves in next to him. Here's an excerpt from the poignant final paragraphs regarding the first person:

  16. Writing in First-Person

    Writing in First-Person - Jerry Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips 5 Tips to Mastering First-Person Point of View It's the simplest way to relay an experience. It can also be the best point of view for you as a beginning writer.

  17. What Is First Person Point of View in Writing? How to Write in First

    Written by MasterClass Last updated: Sep 3, 2021 • 4 min read Point of view is the "eye" through which you're telling a story. First person point of view gives readers an intimate view of the characters and a front row seat to the action. It is a popular writing approach in nonfiction, particularly autobiographies and memoirs.

  18. 10 Tips For Writing in First Person POV (Writing Advice)

    Learn how to write stories in 1st Person Point of View.Link to Consider This by Chuck Palahniuk: https://amzn.to/3cXvI0nGet Brandon's horror/thriller novel B...

  19. Writing In First Person Point Of View: Our Top Tips

    Many devices are in first person: text messages, social media posts, witness statements, diaries, letters, and so on. You can weave those together and have interesting juxtapositions in attitudes to events. If we want to use the more academic phrases, it's "heteroglossia" (many tongues) or "polyphony" (many tones).

  20. Should I use first-person or third-person in my novel?

    Bridget Jones Diary was a wildly successful first-person novel. I could give a bunch of other examples.) One author sent in this: "How many POV's should a new novelist have in women's contemporary fiction? I've heard we should use two for romance and one or two for general fiction.

  21. 4 Ways to Write in First Person

    Method 1 Choosing a Tense for the First Person Narrative Download Article 1 Use present tense to move the story forward. The first person point of view has two different tenses, present tense and past tense. Present tense "I" focuses on the actions and thoughts of the narrator as they unfold in the present.

  22. Writing a Novel in First Person

    For example, "Luke" or "Leia" or "Darth Vader.". Center this in its own line and italicize it if that looks better to you. Then the reader knows who "I" is for every scene. Or you can write in first-person in scenes where your protagonist is the POV character, and you can switch to third-person in scenes having other POV characters.

  23. Writing in First Person? Narrate Better With These Tips

    Writing in first person point of view is a tradition that has long had a place in fiction. From classics like Gulliver's Travels, (mostly) Moby Dick, and The Great Gatsby, to more modern novels like The Hunger Games, The Martian, and The Name of the Wind, first person narration has been a viable means of story telling.. One of the main reasons for writing in first person point of view is the ...

  24. Barbara Dee on How She Got Her Writing 'Unstuck'

    To make a mental break with my debut, I decided to switch from the first person to the third. And, to give the story intellectual heft, I buried myself in research, reading book after book about ...

  25. How to Write a Novel in 7 Easy Steps

    After which, violà!I've finished my novel! 7. Do it all again. When people approach me at readings and say well-meaning things like "You have such natural talent" or "You're so gifted ...

  26. In History: Toni Morrison on why 'writing for black people is tough'

    It was also here that she would write her first novel, The Bluest Eye in 1970. The book contains many of the themes that would come to define much of her writing. Set in her own hometown of Lorain ...