First vs. third person

Use this forum to discuss the April 2019 Book of the month, "Adrift" by Charlie Sheldon
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Charlie Sheldon
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Re: First vs. third person

Post by Charlie Sheldon »

Someone asked me about these choices in the "Ask the Author" section and because a number of you have weighed in I will answer this here in the hope that a wider answer may be useful to all the commenters. The choice of point of view or approach is stylistic, I suppose, and as some of you said, the first person enables a different character development than first person, in that the author can be more "internal" with the character. For some reason I don't like to write such that I have to say "she thought," and in first person you are in the character's thoughts. It is easier than third person, where to avoid the "he thought" phrase you have to get the reader to be in the character even in third person so you know what that person is thinking without being told, this is what he/she is thinking. I find for the storyline and plot some times the first person is better than third for backstory, etc. It is a choice, and some readers like it, others don't. I have learned it is impossible to please everyone.

A much bigger issue though is the overall story structure, and here I have tried something I dont think is used often, but which is easier if I use both third and first person. Usually tradition says you have one or at most two or "main" characters. So, if you have a single main character, or point of view, then you have to tell the whole tale from their eyes. This is very hard with stories with several plot threads, which I enjoy doing. For some reason, I have always told tales from several points of view, different plot lines intermingling throughout or at the end. The choice for first or third person is a judgement, and I know it may confuse or irritate readers, but some come to like it, and others don't. Tradition in writing, an unwritten rule, seems to be, no more than a single first person thread in a tale being told, and this becomes the reader's expectation, but I ask, why? In the case of Adrift you could say I don't have a "main" character but many equal characters, all tied to the ship, with their own story. The ship is the main force, or character, perhaps. This structure breaks traditions, and standards, I know, but I like working with it and I think it works. I am using the same structure with the next book in the series, which will be a much longer tale, twice as long, wrapping all up, again from the point of view of several characters. And, when the series is done, readers will have come to know not just Sarah and Myra and Sergei but many others, an entire world, many lives, all different, just like in the real world....

And, with several characters, it seems to me third person always would become difficult and boring, just as first person for all of them feels a bit self involved and difficult. I'd like to think a mixture might be more interesting, more creative, and eventually readers will come to understand the structure, and the flow. The story is told with a linear timeline, ie each chapter lies at the same time or after the one before it, but each has a different point of view. The reader should come to see and trust that the flow of the tale is linear, and the heading with the names makes it easier (I would like to be able to write without naming the points of view, that is, write well enough so it is very clear to the reader anyway, and I may try that, but then the reader will spend a bit of energy trying to place who is speaking and this take the reader out of the flow of the tale), so they know that the tale will continue and the various threads will tell the story but from different perspectives. And, in the end, hopefully, when all is done the story is meatier, richer, more detailed, that way. Imagine blindfolded people feeling an elephant, the story about many people having their own perspective of one thing. The one thing is the overall arc of the tale, in Adrift, in the next book, but each character has their own arc, too. In my opinion, each character needs to have their own challenge, or dilemma, or story arc, linked or separate from the overall tale. In Adrift, it is Pete's dilemma with Sam, or Louise's belief Larry is having an affair - neither linked to the burned ship but key. If a character doesn't have an arc, the reader won't care about that character, all the character will be is a vehicle to "tell" the tale, and that is deadly. It's more complicated, and may require more work from the reader, but many characters can be much more interesting if each character has an arc that is interesting, such that a reader will want, when they see that character's name on the chapter, to know what will happen with that person, and will see that shift from one point of view to another not as an unhappy change but as a return to another story line they are carrying too....not sure this very long note makes sense, but it's the best I can do....
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Post by Smiley 25 »

Thank you for explaining this. I honestly didn’t notice it until closer to the end of the book. When I did notice it, it didn’t take away from my enjoyment. I was just a little confused about why this was done. Now I have my answer.
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Post by danielleamy »

I think using both 1st and 3rd person is an effective tool in gaining insight into a character's feelings. Yet it also gives a wider perspective when there are multiple points of view to a story. When done well, it creates a whole multi-dimensional approach. This can be difficult to achieve when only using 1st person for example
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Post by lisalynn »

It's very confusing to have more than one first-person character in a book. First-person is meant to show the reader the world through the eyes of the character, which includes all his biases, mistakes and misconceptions. It may not be an accurate representation of what's really going on in the world. Third-person close does much the same thing, although it's easier to track who is who in the story since the identity of the person using the "I" pronoun doesn't keep changing. Both are limited to what the one character sees, thinks, and experiences.
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Post by Lady-of-Literature »

First POV is when a character is speaking about themselves, more or less, and is telling what is happening to them and what they feel. To do so, the writer would have to use the pronouns "I" and /or "me", while third POV is the common narrative where the author dives into to each character as intimately or not as they want. Usually the pronouns used are "they", "them'', and ''she/he''.

Personally, I liked how the narrative is written. I didn't find it confusing because each chapter was dedicated to other characters and their dilemma. I can understand why Steve is given first person, he was there when the ship caught fire, and I get why Myra is first person, she leads the manhunt to find her father.

The change of POV really didn't bother at all, it sorta felt like a change of the scenes when you watch movies. I think what the author did was choose who had the most insight at the moment and depending on that, plus their character determined if they would get a chapter.
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Post by Stephanie Elizabeth »

I found this interesting as well. For me switching between first and third person didn't take away from the book. I do think one of the above commenters was correct in assuming third person was used to detail surrondings more, and the first person chapters were dedicated to the characters that had the most character development.
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Post by shaz1994 »

Perhaps it was the author's idea not to have a specific main character but to have multi-dimensional aspect to his narration. After all the book is more like a diary it doesn't really have chapters.Overall the story was interesting.
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Post by Katherine Smith »

This does sound very weird and I am at a loss as to why this was done in the book. I can agree with other commentators that maybe it was an editing mistake by the author. I also think that maybe it was done to focus on one particular character at that moment and make everyone else secondary.
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Post by janinewesterweel »

Great to hear your thoughts directly on this, thank you @Charlie Sheldon. Absolutely agree-you can't please all of the people all of the time! I did wonder, though, why you chose to use the first person for only two of the characters and not just one, or not all? And I see that I'm not the only one who was confused by this. I have to admit that it can be a little distracting. Now I have some insight into your thinking and I'm wondering...if you're going to push the boundaries, why not try it with the next one? That is, using the first person for each of the characters. As you say, you have many equal characters, not just one, or even two. So this method could work well and the fact that each chapter is headed by the character's name could make that flow easily. Would it really be "self-involved" or that difficult? It might be quite a refreshing take. Whichever way you decide to go, I'm looking forward to the next one, and I've decided that I have to go back and definitely read the first one so that I'm completely up to speed! Thank you for the opportunity to read and review Adrift :)
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Post by Nellbathory »

Personally, I get that the author maybe wanted to set the characters apart this way but I still do not get why some of them were "more worth it" than others. The inconsistency did bother me some.
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Post by NicholsC97 »

Oh good, it wasn't just me that noticed that. At first I had to go back and read to see if I was imagining it or not, but after I knew I wasn't it drove me crazy as I read.
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Post by Ekta Kumari »

I observed this too. I think the switch between first person and third person was according to the need of the narration. What I mean is I noticed that first person was used when the author wanted to communicate what the characters were feeling and third person was used when there was the need to portray the characters in relation to their surroundings as well as other characters. I think writers can use different perspectives to convey their story in a better way.
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Post by flaming_quills »

This is a really good question. I have no idea why one would have such an inconsistency in their book but I personally think the choice to write one character in 3rd person and another in 1st lay with the writer's perception of the character's importance. I can't think of any other reason why except maybe having minor characters written in 3rd person so as to drive the story forward.
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Post by Juliana_Isabella »

I'm not sure if this was purposeful, but even if it was, it seems not to have worked out in the author's favor since it left many readers confused.
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Post by Nyambura Githui »

I, personally, have never come a cross a book with both "third" and "first" person narration. I see it best authors to use only one narration style so that there is no confusion while reading. Maybe, the author wanted some of the characters to be more relatable.
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