Putting it Into Perspective: 1st or 3rd

[Astian]

It has long been a question of mine, to myself, that I have not really openly addressed to others, or seen be answered on a larger scale than asking a singular friend. So I pose it here;

When reading or writing, do you prefer the written style to be first or third person?

I don't mind either, myself. There are pros and cons for each I guess.

First Person
You can actually get more of an insight into a singular character who becomes to protagonist for the whole of the book/series. The reader will thus read the book through the views and perspectives of this particular character and as such will gain a deeper understanding of the character in question.

Third Person:
It is far more generic and the story is told from the perspective of not one singular character. Thoughts can be denoted in italics, and the style is such that the reader becomes the spectator.

I could go further into analysing the two, however I do not believe that it's necessary.

I generally tend to write in third person, myself. What about you?

[Chirugal]

I voted first person, because a lot of my favourite books are written that way. I've also started to write in the first person over the past year, which I never did before. I think it's because of the sense of subjectivity (though this can be carried off in third-person narrative too).

Then again, I've probably written about 100,000 words of third-person fanfic, and read a lot of books written that way, which I found just as enjoyable to do as with the first-person. I think it might depend what mood I'm in...

[Astian]

I think third person can really captivate an audience with descriptives and narrative. Some first person books that I have read, have bored me very quickly. The only exceptions to this have thus far been Robin Hobb's series, and Marianne's books. XD

[Chirugal]

astian said:

I think third person can really captivate an audience with descriptives

Hee hee... thinking about that, I just realised why I chose first person - I really suck at description! My writing is usually so sparse... it's something I need to work on. XD

[JM]

It's a really difficult question to answer, because I read in both and write in both. There are some really great books that manage to look through the brain of the characters (Parrish books for example), so you get so deeply involved in what happens to them that you can't walk away.

On the other hand with a Third person perspective you can switch through a miriad of characters and plots without disrupting the storyline. Making the book seem faster paced and exciting.

I think it all depends on your attention span at the time. And also how much you want the readers getting involved with your characters. If you want them to get excited every time they turn the page go third person, if you want them to cry by the end because somebody special to the main character died choose first.