: Re: Choosing between first and third person I'm not an author, but I often wonder if I was to write a novel would it be best in third person or first person? I like being able to delve into

@Pierce369

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I strongly prefer third-person limited in much of my own writing, but there are few cases where first-person stands out:

when your viewpoint character has a distinctive voice (e.g. Huckleberry Finn);
when you want to have an unreliable narrator (e.g. Holden Caulfield).

There are, of course, exceptions that define the rules. The Thirteenth Tale, includes a deceptive narrator telling her history to the viewpoint character.

From what I've read, you will find a lot of omniscient-view third person in older books, but it seems to have faded in popularity. The only times I've really noticed it myself, though, it had distracted me from the story, so examples of well-written omniscient perspective could have slipped by me.

Your market might also influence the choice of viewpoint. It appears [citation needed] that teen/YA SF stories these days favor first person, while adult SF favors third-person limited. I can't speak for other genres.

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