May 6, 2011

"First Person" writing

The first time I ever even heard of "first person" writing was when I read Suzanne Collins book The Hunger Games. It inspired me to look at how I write and how to approach a character. Because you will never get the same perspective of a character when it comes from the character itself. But what exactly is writing in "first person"? To explain I will show you an example of both "first person" and "third person" writing. I would include "second person" but it's pretty much impossible to write in. The two examples:
Third Person

This kind of writing is the most common in books. It looks at the characters from an outside view as if you are looking into the story. The main character is referred to as (he, his, her, she, it, and they) outside of when characters are talking with each other. And it looks like this:

"Carefully, Aidan untied the lace around the first scroll. As he unrolled it specks of parchment fell to the bed. He caught his breath, fearing the scrolls might be so ancient and brittle that they would crumble to dust if opened.
(taken from "The Door Within" by Wayne Thomas Batson.)


First Person

This kind of writing is not as common but just as fun. First person, sort of, allows you to dwell in the main characters body throughout the book. It takes a look at the problems and situations in the books from the main characters perspective, and looks something like this:

"My dearest friend decided to arrive at the exact moment I was swallowing my sugar cookies down the wrong tube.
COUGH!
"OH, dear, oh dear, dear me. Are you alright?" This was the question my friend decided to insult me with. For anyone who is on her three thousand dollar couch and coughing up numerous amounts of cookie is most likely not, all right! But for the sake of my dignity I put on a smile and swept the cookie mush onto my carpet (the one from India).
(taken from "Nothing of Consequences" by yours truly and my friend, Libby. This short story is not finished)

Both of these styles are so fun to write. And I encourage you to try both of them out.

Any comments or questions? I'd LOVE to hear them

1 comment:

Jenn Noelle said...

I prefer reading books in third person, but I tend to write in both. It depends. The only book I can think of that I seriously LOVE in first person is To Kill a Mockingbird. I couldn't be anything other than first. ;)