1st vs 3rd

[Sir Huron Stone]

I'm having trouble deciding how to write my story. It's easier for me to write in first person, but I like being able to bounce around in 3rd person. Any way to combine the two?

[LDWriter2]

I'm having trouble deciding how to write my story. It's easier for me to write in first person, but I like being able to bounce around in 3rd person. Any way to combine the two?

I think only if you change POVs every so often. Some writers have done that.  Usually it's 3rd but every so often they throw in a 1st POV for a certain character.

But stretching yourself is suppose to be good.

[Sir Huron Stone]

Mh. True.

[OZ]

I have read some that were mostly first person but would use third person to talk about things that were happening away from the first person narrator. One way that this could work is that the first person narrator is writing the story far enough in the future that they are now aware of some of the things that happened in other places even though they did not know about them at the time they were happening.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

I have read some that were mostly first person but would use third person to talk about things that were happening away from the first person narrator.

Doing that pretty much always feels sloppy to me, fwiw.  Far better to get the information in around the first-person narrator somehow, as indeed the novels of the DF do well, and better as they go along.

[Quantus]

Ive seen Multiple 1st POV work well.  You just need to make the POV shifts as clear as possible (only on chapter breaks can work well).  Ive also seen it where they do a Part 1 from one POV, and then at some milestone point switch and do a Part Two from another POV that overlaps the timeline quite a bit.  Like telling the story of how two different Heroes fought their way to teh Mountain of Doom, and the eruption is the common anchor point that brings them together in the Reader's mind.  Then you can jump a little more during the climax, since its multiple POVs on the same scene.  It gives you the flexibility of 3rd, but the intuitive ease of 1st.  But it complicates the pacing and transitions, making them more jarring if you are not careful.

Also, keep it to a small, set number of POV's.  You are effectively creating multiple MCs at that point, so it does add complication. 

[Dresdenus Prime]

I'm always a fan of first person over third when it's written well. Sure, you have limitations due to the fact that you know only what the character knows, but you also have a more intimate connection with the book IMO.

If I were to write a book in third person, I would most likely take the route of George RR Martin in his Song of Ice and Fire series. Each chapter, while in third POV, is still dedicated to one characters viewpoint.

[Quantus]

If I were to write a book in third person, I would most likely take the route of George RR Martin in his Song of Ice and Fire series. Each chapter, while in third POV, is still dedicated to one characters viewpoint.

Wheel of Time went so far as to have an identifying Icon at the beginning of each chapter that indicated which Character was the focus.  The Icons themselves would change over time and where nicely indicative of the character's state and role at the time. 

[OZ]

Doing that pretty much always feels sloppy to me, fwiw.  Far better to get the information in around the first-person narrator somehow, as indeed the novels of the DF do well, and better as they go along.

I would not disagree with this. I have in mind that I have somewhere read stories that have been successful using this style but I can't think of any off the top of my head.

[the neurovore of Zur-En-Aargh]

Wheel of Time went so far as to have an identifying Icon at the beginning of each chapter that indicated which Character was the focus.  The Icons themselves would change over time and where nicely indicative of the character's state and role at the time.

It's hard for me to see an icon like that, or a POV name given at the start of a chapter, and not think "this writer has given up on being good enough to make character voices distinct by themselves".

[Quantus]

It's hard for me to see an icon like that, or a POV name given at the start of a chapter, and not think "this writer has given up on being good enough to make character voices distinct by themselves".

Judging by the fact that his whole world had 2.5 female characters, just with different names and ages, Id say yes, probably so.

Honestly it most helpful because it made skipping through the books to the story-lines I cared about much easier 

[The Deposed King]

I'm having trouble deciding how to write my story. It's easier for me to write in first person, but I like being able to bounce around in 3rd person. Any way to combine the two?

In Admiral Who?  The MC was 1st person.  The limited number of main secondary character were 3rd person close.  Kind of like how C.J. Cherryh did with Bren Cameron, about half a step back 1st person.  We were totally inside the MC's head, slightly less so in the 2nd Characters and they gave some interesting perspective.  Thing was I didn't force overarching views and over analysis of the MC from the secondaries perspective.  They were the hero's of their own little piece of the pie and only as the MC impacted them or in some cases was confronted by them, did perspective on the MC from them flow.

It really all depends.  Whatever you do you need to do well.  My advice just do it, and start honing your craft.  I stared out my book jumping around from 1st to 3rd on the MC.  Settled on 3rd most of the way through the book, but when I sat down to edit, decided 1st person was the only way to go.  Had to nuke some cool discriptors of the MC when I converted from 'the battle scared young Admiral said' to 'I said' but on the whole, being that extra half step inside his head came out much cooler IMO.

I'm sure others have much better advice for you.  But you can see what I did, and decide if it has any bearing on what you're planning.

have a blast,

The Deposed King

[Nicodemus Carpenter]

People have been telling stories for a long time, and more importantly, people have been listening/reading/watching stories for a long time.  Audiences tend toward specific structures/devices/methods for a reason, and while the "why" of such tendencies are certainly open to interpretation and debate, "what" they are is a bit more concrete.  You can try to "mix things up" by switching tenses, point of view, etc. Lots of authors have done so, with varying degrees of success. Thing is, if you play with conventions, it's going to be jarring to audience immersion.  Shaking things up can be a good thing, but it must be handled delicately for it to have its intended effect. 

It's your book, and you can do anything you want with it.  The stories most often touted as "brilliant" often flout convention, but the reason there's so few of them is because it's very difficult to flout convention and still keep your audience at the same time.

I personally dislike books that switch between first and third PoV's, and I've yet to find an example where the same effect couldn't be achieved, and better, without resorting to that particular conceit, but that's only one person's opinion.

[cenwolfgirl]

its a very personal thing
but for me i hate writing 3rd person
so always now do 1st person
i can still do POV changes
actualy it can be easia
it depends on your style and your story

good luck

[Serack]

If you haven't you probably should read Jim's live journal post on first vs 3rd person
http://jimbutcher.livejournal.com/1262.html

The other thing I wanted to say is that I remember recently reading about an important literary workwhere the author split the book up into 3 or 4 sections that were each had a different perspective.

Dangit, I'm trying really hard to remember what the book was, but the best I can do is that one of the perspectives was from a mentaly defficient character.  It might have been set in the great depression but I'm not sure.  I hadn't read it, just the wikipedia article.  The point is there is an important literary book from the 20th centry that switched, but only as seperate sections of the book.