: Re: I have 97 pages in my book draft. Is it too late to swap to third person from first? I've been writing a One Piece fan fiction to improve my writing. I foolishly decided to write it in

@Sue2132873

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Change it now. Do it.

Working from a copy, start by searching the text for "I" and "me" and "my" words. Edit as necessary.

There is an important difference: "I" know everything about myself, and not much about anyone else. But the third-person author does not know everything about the main character, and knows a lot about others.

The issue is regarding scope of knowledge. A related issue is whether the narrator is telling the truth. A first-person narrator is truthful, or lying, or exaggerating, or mistaken. A third-person narrator is either truthful or uninformed. A first-person narrator cannot talk about something beyond direct experience. A third-person narrator may do that, although sometimes a third-person narrator only describes what the main character would be expected to know. Yes, there are gradations and exceptions, but those are useful guidelines.

First-person narration is quite useful when the narrator is exaggerating. A first-person narrator can say, "I walked into the bar, and all the patrons looked like bums from low end of town. The beer was swill, and the barmaid reminded me of the girl who dumped me in tenth grade." A third-person narrator wouldn't write that, not even using "he" or "she."

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