On the Inside Looking Out - Writing in the First Person

The first person is a difficult gift for a writer, it's a complex knot of challenges and benefits that can sometimes take several attempts to untangle.  It's a brilliant conduit right to the heart of the narrator of your story -- you can monitor every breath she takes (should you want to), every thought that flickers through her mind, her joys, her pain, her preoccupations -- all of them are up for grabs. It's a chance to build an intense, absorbing relationship between the narrator and reader, offering unparalleled intimacy.

All this comes at a price, of course, as today's shed analogy will show...

One day soon, I hope, this will be the view I'll look out on when I'm working: the remains of an old orchard  sloping away to some houses further down the hill.  I'm sure it's an outlook I will come to love, in spite of the fact that it is rather restricted -  I can't see round the corner, or up the hill behind me.  The same is true of the first person -- if you're using it, you'll find it's very difficult to leap into the interior world of another character, so you can only reveal what other people in your story are thinking and feeling through what they say, what others say about them, and how they behave -- useful, but limiting tools.

Another thing that strikes me about this interior perspective is that it is a little dark, a little claustrophobic, possibly even a little oppressive, and you may find that when you are writing in the first person, the inside of your narrator's head may start to feel that way as well. So when you are deciding how to tell your story and from which point of view, weigh your options carefully, so that you know exactly what you're letting yourself in for.

Graham Swift Puts Himself under Pressure

I seem to be in quotation mode at the moment, moving seamlessly from Scott Fitzgerald yesterday to Graham Swift today, but with good reason, because where can you learn to write except through the work of other writers?

Swift says, "I favour the first person.  The reason I do so is that I do not simply want to tell, out of the blue, a story.  I want to show the pressure and the need for the telling.  I am as interested in the narrator as the narrative.  I want to explore the urgency of the relationship between the two."

I think that the third person (a story told from the point of view of he or she) can work brilliantly if you are doing a pacy, plot-driven book where the idea is to get from A to Z as dramatically as possible and so quickly that you hardly touch the sides. Fast food, if you like.

Graham Swift is opening up the possibility of something more complex and more subtle, which could add another dimension, almost a commentary, to your narrative. If you are writing in the first person (I), you automatically create a relationship between the teller and the tale.  You can, of course, ignore this opportunity and write a pacy, plot driven book even in the first person, but why not max out your potential?

Ask yourself why your central character is telling the story....

• Is it to right a wrong? 
• Is it to set the record straight?  
• Is it because they are in fear of their life?  
• Is it to try and come to terms with what has happened?  
• Is it to shaft an enemy?
• Is it to claim a reward?

Already you are starting to add some depth to what would otherwise be a straightforward plot.  This can lead on to other interesting questions...

• Is your narrator reliable, or are his motives suspect and if so why?
• Is he telling the whole story, or just edited highlights?
• Is it even his story to tell?

By considering all these possibilities, you can create amazing texture in your work. It's the difference between bowling a straight ball, or putting some spin on the delivery (it is the Ashes at the moment, after all), so that your book becomes unpredictable, harder to handle and more exciting.