Which is Better: First Person or Third Person POV?

[Rebecca8]

I would suggest you to go for the first person especially if you have something related to a suspense, horror or adventure.

[OnionPickle]

I believe this depends on your amount of talent and the style of writing. In general, I prefer third person and I believe it is safer. It is also easier to write third person, but that might just be me.

[hiluhriehope]

I generally prefer third person.
The only thing I have ever written in first person is the book I'm working on now, and it actually started out as third person. I just had this feeling, as I was writing, that I should write it in first person POV, and it, surprisingly, works much better.

I guess it's really what you think your story needs, and how many major characters there are.

First person POV does lend you more intimacy in your storytelling, and it has a tendency to create a more casual feel, but it's limited, of course, to one character at a time. You can switch between characters in first person, with proper separation, but it's more difficult to get multiple characters' POV that way, unless you're going to retell or summarize whatever just happened every time you switch characters. The more major characters you have, the harder it will be to pull off first person POV.

Third person encompasses all of your characters, usually, and everything going on at once, which can be handy. It's also, I think, a little easier to write in third person - although, this may just be personal opinion. Third person POV's drawbacks are first person's upsides: Third person can leave you with a lack of intimacy with your characters, and doesn't always give you the personal, casual tone often found in first person POV stories.

[onourporch]

I always prefer to write in the first person. I just started writing for a different online publishing platform that prefers articles written in third person because it sounds more professional. It sounds more like a researched topic. I'm having a very difficult time switching my writing style.

[booksbycourtney]

For me it depends what type of story I want to tell. Most of the time I will write in Third Person POV but if I want the story to be extremely emotional I will write in First person. Though I am not the good at writing in the First Person if I want to tell a good eventful story. I suggest Third Person just because you can do more things with it than first person. In my opinion

[shameca120]

I would have to say first person pov but only because I don't remember ever reading a third person pov type of book before.

[John Macgregor]

I don't think that there is a 'better'. It may be more beneficial to look to the audience that you are writing for. For instance, children's books always use first person as this is what most young kids can identify with. To a certain extent, the same can be said about romance where knowing the intimate feelings of the protagonist is important. This may not be the case in other genera where the reader may be more open to other perspectives. My personal preference is to use 3rd POV. Pick a character for the scene and stick with it. As most books have many scenes (even in the same chapter) this allows you to more easily explore multiple characters and their own POV's. I would like to add that this approach will also allow you to use multiple POV conventions. Just stick with one convention per scene and make sure that there is a separation of the scenes so that you don't confuse the reader.

[JennaNicole]

To me, it depends on the story being told. It is easier for me to write in first person, but more difficult to read in first person if it isn't written well.

-- 16 Oct 2014, 13:36 --

To me, it depends on the story being told. It is easier for me to write in first person, but more difficult to read in first person if it isn't written well.

[Morgan Jones]

Third person because it is more fluid and less restricting compared to first person. Jumping from one POV to another is much easier.

[PlanetHauth]

I personally prefer third person. I don't know why, but I have an easier time putting myself in the story when it's third person. Very rarely do I think a first person novel is great, but there are some out there. However, there really is no better choice. Some stories work better in first person, some work better in third, and then there's your audience who may prefer one or the other (like me).

[Sushan Ekanayake]

If you want to concentrate much on thinking, emotions like things, first person is better. But if you are more into describing environment and actions, third person will be much better

[clint_csperry-org]

It all depends on what you are trying to do, the experience you are trying to convey. There is also the genre you are writing for to consider. Some seem to favor First Person, in others it really doesn't matter much.

[rubinelli]

I generally like third-person better, but in third-person, you have to work a lot harder to get into the heads of your characters.

[DD129]

Personally, I like third-person more than first-person. I think it's easier to write in third-person POV because it's less limiting. However, if done right, first-person POV can be just as good. It really depends on the story you want to tell. The POV should fit your story.

[Aditi Sapate]

I think third person is always better. This is because sometimes our characters have biases. If we write in the first person then the reader might feel that the writer is supporting those biases. But if we write in the third person then writers have plenty of scope to explain the situation and the place from which the character's biases stem.