Tips on writing in first-person

Years ago, I made a significant change in my fiction writing. I switched from writing in third-person to first-person. My first two novels were written in third-person and were heavily plot-driven. By switching to first-person, I focused on character, which also helped me write better plots. I used this approach with Amiga and The Remainders. These are the first novels that have been selected by a publisher, and both got excellent reviews.

First-person isn’t for all novels. Some stories work better in third-person. Here are some tips to help you decide which point of view to use, how to use first-person effectively, and how to combine different points of view in the same book. (You can even combine first-person with third-person!)

Which point-of-view do I use?

You probably learned about first- and third-person in beginning literature class, but here’s a brief explanation: First-person is when a character tells the story. It doesn’t have to be the main character (think Ishmail in Moby Dick), but someone in the story describes what is happening. Third-person is when an outside narrator describes the story.

First-person works best for character-driven stories where you want readers to experience a person’s life first-hand. Readers get to see the world from that character’s point-of-view, which is…