One of the biggest problems writers have is point of view (POV) errors. Every story is narrated from a perspective. It can be an uninvolved narrator, the main character, or several characters; but POV must be consistent throughout the book. There are three main POVs: first person, third person omniscient, and third person limited. Other POVs do exist, but they are uncommon so I am focusing on these main three. This week, we are going to tackle first person POV.
First Person POV
First person point of view narration is when you pick one character to tell the whole story from his viewpoint. It can be your main character or a side character (like how Watson tells the story of Sherlock Holmes). First person narration only allows you to tell what happened when your narrator is present—so pick someone who is at every big event.
Once you have chosen your narrator, you’ll tell the story from his perspective. That means the narration has to have his sense of humor, vocabulary, and attitude. The narrator will only notice things important to him. If the character is a doctor, he’ll notice people’s health or old injuries. If the character is an activist, he’ll focus on injustices and opportunities to improve society. Don’t make the mistake of making your narrator sound like you. The narration should be a slightly deluded version of your character’s dialogue within the story. The narrator will tell the story in a similar way to how he speaks with other characters.
Since there is one narrator the whole story, you need to be careful with how you characterize the narrator. Don’t make his voice too extreme with accents or an outrageous personality. A good question to ask is: would you want to spend the next 400 pages with this person? If they are annoying or deep in grief, the answer for a lot of readers might be no.
Unreliable Narrator
A perk to writing in first person is the ability to have an unreliable narrator—meaning they can lie to the reader. They can also misunderstand things or miss things entirely. The book Gone Girl is a good example of an unreliable narrator. We are purposely misled by one character, and the other character misunderstands a lot in the beginning. It’s a fun way for writers to surprise their readers.
You can also make it so the readers know it’s an unreliable narrator from the beginning. If you let the narrator get caught in a lie early on, the reader will know to distrust the narrator. This gives the book a layer of mystery and suspense. It will turn into a game to see if the reader can tell what’s real and what isn’t.
Withholding Information
When writing in first person, it’s tempting to withhold information to keep the reader in the dark. This is not the POV for that strategy. Since the narrator is telling the story, the reader should know everything the narrator knows when the narrator knows it. In real life, if someone is telling you a story and then skips over a key point, you’re going to get annoyed and stop them to ask about it. The readers can’t ask, but they can put the book down. If you want to withhold information, write in a different POV.
Intensifying First Person Narration
- First person narration allows the reader to know one thing for certain: the narrator doesn’t die. (Unless you cheat and have another narrator tell about the death at the end, but that’s not advised.) This does not mean that your book loses suspense. If you’re writing a thriller in first person, it can still make the readers’ hearts race. There are worse things than dying. I’ll let your imagination fill in what I mean.
- The thing to remember when writing in first person is to make sure you explain the why. Don’t just recount what the person does. The whole reason to write in first person is so you can get deep inside his head and know his reasonings. Focus on the character’s reactions to events and reasons for doing things. The reader will feel more connected to the narrator than if you just wrote a play-by-play.
Final Thoughts
First person POV is very hard to do well. Most new writers start with it thinking it will come naturally. I did, and I’m telling you it doesn’t work that way. You have to pay attention to more details and get into a character deeper than any other POV. First person isn’t the top choice for most writers, but it is popular in Young Adult books since their themes are mostly internal conflict. The deeper look into one person helps move internal themes along. If that’s your goal, make sure you do a lot of research on how to do this POV well.
Thanks for reading!
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