Writing Tips & Guidance

General: Magic of First Person

The first person POV is perhaps the most comfortable to write in and the easiest for readers to become attached to. It is uncomplicated in nature because we humans think in the first person. It also lacks the multitude of stylistic and mechanical options that the third person has, making it a simple, single choice to roll with. Of course, writing is still hard no matter what, so let's talk a little about working with the first person POV.

The basic method is to use the pronouns I, me, and my in terms of the narrator, who is also the perspective main character. Theoretically, they should also be the protagonist, but that is not necessarily always the case. Regardless, that character would refer to other characters in the third person or by name most often.

Problems with the First Person

- You're limited to one POV at all times. There is no easy way to convey what other characters feel, and even showing it can be challenging depending on how observant and empathetic the POV character is. You will have to be vigilant in keeping the one character perspective rule, which can make certain types of scenes tedious to write and (moreover) edit. However, if you do it right, you won't confuse readers as to who is speaking from chapter to chapter like the third person can.

- Those sweeping descriptions and setting-orienting opening lines that the third person is known for don't work in the first person. If your character isn't directly looking at or thinking about something, it as good as doesn't exist. In terms of description, you get around this by having the character interact with the setting. This does depend on the situation though. In a high adrenaline action scene, you wouldn't want to layer in much description with this method, as it would be chunky and slow things down.

- You can't every sentence with 'I' but there's only that one 'I' character doing the talking and describing. Annoying, right? Still, starting sentences in the same way gets stale fast and you don't really want that. You can try to be clever about it during drafting and hope you get the hang of it quick, or you can just rush right past it and make it your problem during editing.

- There's nothing worse than a stream of consciousness character. Readers can tell when you've inserted yourself into a story instead of a well-rounded, interesting character. Here on Wattpad, there is the self-insertion fanfiction community and all, but no work not stated to be as such should have a self-insertion character. Character creation is one of the most beautiful and sacred aspects of writing, don't neglect it.

- Pinning the right voice down can be tricky. You will probably need a character bible to make it work. During edits, you should scour every sentence to make absolutely sure the character you've made and developed would say whatever they said in the way they said it. If your character sounds a little like you, make extensive notes of the differences and make sure those differences are present throughout the story. Again, never make a character into yourself (unless you are writing self-insert, specifically), but it isn't a horrible idea to use elements from your own experiences. Write about what you know and all. The general rule is that you should be able to turn to any page and read any line and know if that character is the one speaking or not.

Perks of the First Person

- A close emotional understanding of a single character can be established in this POV, which is solid gold for making readers cry and buy books. Take advantage of that. Write characters with emotional capability and humanly understandable problems, not stone cold gods incapable of expression. Hopefully that makes sense. Simply forcing a reader into the mind of a character does NOT mean the reader will vibe with an asshole or an emotionless machine. Pick someone with personality and interesting morality.

- The character's voice and personality can really shine. You've made a character, a person for this story and they matter to you. They should matter to the reader too. Let those quirks and personality traits shine, give them a powerful and interesting voice. They can be snarky, quick of wit, aloof and droll, or anything really. They can have endless knowledge or not have a single damn clue what is happening. They could know how to fight or have to learn during the story, they could hate it or love it, they could be horribly scarred and have nightmares about the first person they killed. The possibilities are endless and the ones you pick matter.