First person narrative vs Third person narrative

Which is your favorite and why?

I'm a fan of the first person narrative myself.

Personally, some story ideas feel more right with 1st person, while others feel better with 3rd person.

I seem to lean more toward 1st person though, unless I want a wider scope.

I use third-person more than anything; it lets me show off and interact with multiple characters and settings more easily. Still, I can see the appeal of first-person narratives. Used well, you can give the story a unique voice...so said a classmate of mine, at least. I'll get around to using first-person more, but for now I'll stick with third-person.

It depends, as both can be extremely effective in particular cases and thoroughly inappropriate in others. For longer, overarching narratives, I prefer the third person in that it allows for efficient transition between individual perceptions with a certain degree of ease; on the other hand, for vignettes or short stories, I must give an edge to the first person for the intimacy associated with it, not so much to the characters emotions as to that narrow frame of experience you get from hearing someone say "I."

Thinking about it, I might end up mixing up 1st person and 3rd person within my current project, if it becomes a series. Two characters (the main narrator and his former best friend) seem to shine in 1st person due to their voices (the latter has a kind of quirkiness that loses its impact in 3rd person).

On the other hand, a potential 3rd person POV (the other protagonist) might fare better with a little more distance. Although it might depend. Is it better to get close to all the emotions within him, or would it be better taking a step back?

I like third person mostly because of four main reasons:

1. The greats of history have often used this method. The Iliad, The Aeneid, The Epic Of Gilgamesh, The Lord Of The Rings, Call Of The Wild, among many others. They have good reason since they are telling a story, not a viewpoint biography.
2. It tells a story, not a viewpoint biography. YMMV on if first person is good or not but third person allows you to explore more characters (and more about said characters), delve deeper into a world and then put together the tale.
3. It's impersonal. There's nothing more jarring than reading (or listening) to a first person viewpoint and the character clashes with everything you are. Kinda hard to relate to being that person when you are nothing like it. (Again YMMV.)
4. Finally, it's simple. Regardless of how deep or complex the work is, third person narrative is simple to use, simple to write and simple for the reader to understand. (If you thought Neon Genesis Evangelion was bad enough a Mind Screw, just imagine how it would be if it were told in first person.)

I concur. Also, the usage of first person narrative has more risk of violating "show, don't tell".

This is generally how I feel on the subject; since I vastly prefer writing longer works myself, that translates to most of my writing being third person.

I prefer third-person because I'm forever afraid that my first-person protagonist will just get too boring after awhile. I would like to use it for something more psychological or mysterious, but since I mostly write action and cinematic battles, first-person just can't be used, especially if the action gets divided into personal fights.

I prefer writing in third person, which is weird because before I used to write in first person constantly.

Now I realize that most of my characters would make very interesting narrators based on the way some of them talk and think, but it probably wouldn't be something people could for long amounts of time.

I'm just gonna be a hipster here and say that second-person narration doesn't get nearly enough love.

That aside, am a fan of both third- and sequential first-person narration. Continual first-person narration begins to be constraining when used beyond short stories.

I agree with the second-person sediment.

Unfortunately, I only read one novella in second-person. Its POV was the least of its problems.

Don't text adventure games qualify as second person narration?

There's not really that much you can do with second person, though.

I usually prefer third person, since it gives the reader a chance to learn more about different characters. But I also read first person from time to time.

edited 21st May '12 5:21:16 PM by Masterofchaos

Yeah, second-person is really only good interactive stories and such. And those are more of a game than a good read, usually. You can't really define a universal character for "you," after all, unless you made it a note beforehand who "you" are.