For the past several months I’ve been trying to force myself to write in first person. It fits the genre and I love my opening paragraph, which only works in first person. The trouble is that I find it difficult to tell a story in first person narration. And this is causing a lot of struggles.
Yes, I succeeded in completing a first draft in first person narration, but when I went back to read my writing, it felt stale. It was lacking the excitement and energy of things I’ve written in third person. Yet for some reason, I keep clinging to this idea that the story must be in first person. But why?
So what if a lot of books in the genre rely on first person narration? So what if I have to rewrite my first paragraph? If I’m not comfortable writing in that style, if I lack the talent to write in that style, none of the reasons to retain it will matter because no one will ever want to read my book, and that, after all, is what makes you a novelist – you need readers. And this leads me to my current dilemma – should I rewrite the entire first draft to fit within a form I’m comfortable writing in, or should I try to stretch myself and step outside of my comfort zone?
What would you do in my shoes? Do you prefer first person to third person? Or do you let the story dictate your plan of attack?
Hev you tried playing around with it in third person at all? I am facing the same problem right now. I started my book in third person, and then was hit with the perfect beginning sentence for the book — in first person. Now I am trying it that way and can’t decide which is best.
I tried playing around with it and came to the conclusion that first person worked best, not just for the first line, but for the flow of this particular story. So I sat down and read some more first person narration books to get the style back in my head, really focusing on their writing, and when I went back to the WIP, I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought. I think it really all depends on the actual story being told. Some stories flow better with third person and some flow best with first. The trick is figuring out which one you’ve got.
I would suggest two versions.. one in the first then one in the third (it should not be that hard to switch it out, right?) and then an impartial third party. You might need a couple of impartial third parties as you are likely to get one who likes each. Maybe two out of three? And then ignore them entirely and go with your gut…