: Re: What are the advantages and disadvantages of writing in first person? A lot of people are either on the side of first person or the side of third person. But what are the advantages and disadvantages

@Deb2945533

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One's disadvantages are another's advantages.

Immersion - First person is the most immersive of perspectives, even more so than the rare, "elusive" second person (which is specifically aimed at maximizing immersion). You live the adventures of the protagonist through his own eyes. Second-person narration is still someone telling me to do something or see something. First person is me doing or seeing something. I know what I know, I see what I see, no deus-ex knowledge, if I have shortcomings, they affect the way I see the world. No immersion-breaking superpowers of a 3rd person narrator. This will be a disadvantage if you want to detach the reader from the protagonist - all parables are 3rd person and giving very simple descriptions, so that we concentrate on events, not on people.
Lack of reflection - while for "colorful" protagonists this is a disadvantage - it takes jumping through hoops to describe them for the reader, if your protagonist is more generic, you can freely skimp on details. Leave the protagonist nameless, faceless, maybe even in extreme cases genderless - and let the reader fill in the blanks with their own face and name. This does wonders to immersion. Instead of making your own, cherry-picked protagonist, you put your generic reader in the centre of events in person. They don't follow - they live these events! Of course this leaves you without your own cherry-picked protagonist.
Surprising perspective - Do cherry-pick the protagonist. Take a story that would be generic at best but tell it from perspective of a dog. Or the villain. Take a common trope: time traveller stuck with cave people. Yawn? Not if told by a caveman! Humans discovered an alien civilization? Tell that from perspective of the alien tasked with organizing their welcome! You'll never get this done so thoroughly with 3rd person.
Unreliable narrator - There is simply no way to excuse the 3rd person narrator skipping/skimping/falsifying details. It will always feel cheap or wrong - or may cause reasonable doubt in case it's merely reported as told by others. Only first-person will let you lie to the reader with impunity and then make them jump with surprise at "The protagonist is schizophrenic!" - OTOH, you'll have a hard time to ascertain things are true that way. Also, hiding things behind scenes is easier. You Were Elsewhere Then. But then, you can't be everywhere!
Natural - This is the fundamental way people tell their own stories. It's the classic of centuries. A war veteran will usually tell in first person!

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