First Person POV Violations

First person or third person, there is no "wrong" point of view for your story (provided, of course, you've made every effort to find the best point of view). There are pros and cons to each, though, and some things that should be taken into consideration if you do want to tackle that first person narrator.

The first is to remember that you don't have the same freedom with first person as you do third. Because you are speaking as I, me, we, our, etc., you are limited by what your narrator witnesses and experiences firsthand.

This also means there's a key feature you don't have access to as a writer:

The narrator's face.

Sure, you can describe what's happening if they're looking in a mirror, but we often consider that cheating.

Think about it:

She lined her plump, pink lips with a red pencil, brushed a few flecks of mascara off the high cheekbones she inherited from her grandmother.

And perhaps that's not awful. If you're going to use a mirror to describe a character, at least pick unusual features to discuss. That said, you can do better than giving us a basic blonde hair/blue-eyed summary of the girl we'll have to follow for the next two hundred pages just because she happens to be brushing her teeth.

But I digress.

Back to the face. In first person.

An expression of sadness crossed my face.

How do you know? You can't see your face. You can tell us you frowned, but describing a specific expression--something you would see on another character's face if you were standing in front of him or her--doesn't work in first person writing.

What about blushing?

My cheeks grew red with embarrassment. 

Again, how do you know they're red? The first person narrator, when thrust in an awkward situation, doesn't know what color his cheeks are, so a different way is needed to convey this. He can feel the heat in his cheeks or the warmth creeping up his neck and into his cheeks, but he Can't. See. The Actual Color.

Another thing to watch out for with the first person narrator: the phrase "to myself."

I said to myself.

I thought to myself.

There are more deft ways to characterize thinking or speaking to oneself, and this kind of phrasing is redundant. "I said" works perfectly fine. If you need to clarify that no one else can hear, then the character can "mutter" or "whisper." He can be speaking "so low she couldn't hear me" or "under my breath." And thoughts are just thoughts . . .  which brings me to my next point:

Avoid announcements.

My thoughts drifted. 

I remembered. 

A writer doesn't have to tell the reader the narrator is thinking. We're smart enough to discern action from dialogue and something that's currently happening in the narrative versus something that happened in the past, so go ahead and present the memory without labeling it.

I know not every reader feels the same way, but I love a first person narrator done well. There are some pitfalls, but these can easily be avoided with additional attention to detail.

Be Brilliant!

~Katie~ 

On Narrators

As a writer about to tackle a new project, it doesn't hurt to consider all the various points of view from which your story could be told.

Think about the perennial classic The Great Gatsby, for instance.

How would the story have been different had Jay Gatsby been the one to tell it? What if Daisy Buchanan had been given narrator privileges? What about her husband? What if Myrtle Wilson had been allowed to tell her side of the story?

Each of these tellings would have given us a very different--very unique--look at a moment in the lives of these characters. (And no single telling would have been more "right" or "wrong" than another.)

Despite experiencing the same events, no two characters will ever tell the same story. This is especially important to keep in mind if you plan to write in the first person, because not only will the story be different, but who tells your story determines what kind of tone it will adopt. 

So before you begin writing, it doesn't hurt to ask yourself what kind of story you want to tell.

Who will make the best narrator?

     -The person who has the most to gain or lose
     -The person who will be present at the climax 
     -The person who will appear in most of the major scenes of the story
     -The person who can provide an interesting outlook or a fresh perspective

If you're not sure, sit down and write a few pages from each character's perspective and go with the one that feels most compelling. (You could also decide that two POVs are in order, or that everyone should have their say.) After all, if you're going to string 75k coherent words together, the story needs to be riveting enough to keep you coming back to the page day after day, and choosing the right narrator is an important first step.

Be Brilliant!

~Katie~ 

On Finding the Best Way to Tell a Story

There's more than one way to tell a story, and a writer who doesn't consider every option--every character, style, point of view--is doing himself a disservice.

The solution? Try writing a few paragraphs or even a chapter from a variety of perspectives to find the most compelling possibility.

It's worth the time and effort to find the narrator and point of view that will bring out the best in your writing and storytelling skills.

Be Brilliant!

~Katie~