Growing Baby Bunny
35 PostsKarma: +1/-0
04:23pm Wed, Jul 28, 2010
The most common persons in writing are either first or third, although there are certain smaller and less common persons used if necessary.
All of you know what the different persons are, because it is the basic level of language, both spoken and written:
Singular:
1st person: I go
2nd person: You go
3rd Person: He goes/She goes
Plural:
1st person: We go
2nd person: You go
3rd person: They go
First person is used as a kind of eyewitness report, as something one saw and experienced.
“I woke up. It wasn’t the most pleasant awakening I ever had. My head reacted to a beat only it could hear, but it was definitely some fast rhythm. I couldn’t remember a lot of the last night and the sickness within my guts made me almost throw up, but I hoped that Kerry slept beside me. Nonetheless the bed was empty aside from a small note.”
Here is the same story only this time it’s in third person…
“Steven woke up with a head drumming like a Brazilian beat combo. The state of his body and memory made it difficult to understand what happened last night. He hoped that his wife Kerry would be lying next to him, but there was nothing aside from a note, which has been put there by the taxi driver who earned his money that night by actually helping Steven’s ass in his empty bed.”
As you can see, the views have clear differences while the story remains the same. Note that third person can show two different attitudes: Steven’s and the narrator’s. In first person only Steven’s attitude can be shown, as he is the narrator.
By choosing an overall person, you are not forced to stick with it throughout the whole story.
You can have parts of first person within a third person story and vice versa.
“And then came Thomas,” she said. “He had this scary look in his eyes that I can’t really explain. It wasn’t as if he did anything, but I couldn’t pull my keys out of my trousers without nearly dropping them. Fortunately he just went by.”
“Stephanie told me about her ex, Thomas, and how she nearly panicked when they met last time. Something about his scary look. She even fumbled with her keys like he was going to hit her, but of course nothing happened.”
Second person in narration usually only happens in orders like recipes or the Ten Commandments, for example.
“(You) Take three eggs and the other listed ingredients and mix them together.”
“(You) Put piece A into angle B and connect it via cross-tie C.”
There is even the possibility to include second person into a first person story, which would be something like the following:
“I know you don’t believe me. You think you would have acted like a hero? Brave and upright? I'll tell you something: You lie to yourself. When the guy holds a knife in his hands and his two friends grab the man’s arms, so he can’t move, you wouldn’t do anything else than I did. You would try to run, perhaps. So, stop this nonsense and don’t give me that look!”
Although addressing the reader, this piece is still first person.
How to choose between the different persons
Choose what feels "right" to you is our advice, here is one way of working out the "right" way: write down a paragraph, then write it down in another person, now read both paragraphs, one of them will be "right" to you. Write out some more and read it again, if it still feels "right" then let nothing deter you from using that person as you continue.
ALWAYS know the "right" way before you start. Some people don't need this test since when they come up with the story, it plays out in a specific person to them. Nevertheless, they are ALWAYS certain that it is the "right" way to write it. If you are uncertain then become certain, the more you write the more difficult it can become to change the person.
What can you choose?
Any form of person can be chosen. You could go 100% first person, as if the characters are experiencing it there and then. It could be 100% third person, like your characters are being observed or you could hop between them, sometimes it's better to be watching and sometimes it's better to be experiencing.
The rules of first and third person
The rules of first and third person are not strict; they are a guide that stops you from straying in to a perspective crisis
* You can have half a dozen main characters, but to use first person you must choose who you are going to be and stick to him/her until you switch to someone else.
* If you go with third person then you are capable of seeing everything anytime anywhere, but don’t forget that your characters can’t.
* Each character's experiences will be different depending on their characteristics, and you must think of each character as their own story--they see it differently, they react differently, etc.
Novelist Bunnies: Do you write in order? 
