1st Person vs. 3rd Person

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A place to talk through and discuss our thoughts

Do you prefer 1st person, or 3rd person?

  • 1st Person

  • 3rd Person


Results are only viewable after voting.

MadameCroft

Queen of Queens
Member
Dec 14, 2022
19
7
3
As I am still learning how to navigate this place, I figured I would take a chance at starting some conversation. It's rare for me to see so many serious writers in one place so I'll take my oppurtunity~

I wanted to get some opinions on why or not you prefer your particular writing style? I understand some of the basic arguements for and against both.

Personally I much prefer writing in the first person. Other than being a mad egotistical beauty, I find it far more personal of a connection. I tend to prefer the messy choas of improve to more rigid but well-out together planned stories.

Now I tend to think the major difference in my case comes from the enjoyment of socializing with some many different kinds of people in so many different settings, rather the thrills of creating an interesting narative with someone.

I hope I've set this up properly, and I would love to hear opinions on both sides; though from what I've seen here I am most certainly in the minority when it comes writing prespectives.
 
I think the reason I like third person is the same reason you like it, I think it gives me some space away from the RP and makes it less personal. In first person, I feel, it diminishes the character doing things, and makes me feel like -I'm- the one doing it. I'd have less issues with some more neutral RP, but especially when it's violent, scary or erotic, I need some space between myself and my character to make me feel more comfortable to explore these themes.
 
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Oooh! That's so interesting! I tend to be very emotionally open and grounded. I allow myself to explore strange and dark things knowingly without fear of currupting myself. But I never would have thought about it otherwise. It's a safe distance for experimentation. I'll have to consider that from now on~
 
Well I see most people have a bias against 1st person just from it being far more common with beginners or lazier writers. You could say I mix in both in and out of character things; but it's more so that I never want my words to come across as hollow, I mean what most of the time, in or out character. Though I understand when someone is playing and character and when they are not.

I always love getting insight on these sorts of things~ It always gets me excited to learn other peoples perspectives!
 
I do think that there is some bias that says 1st person writer = beginner, for sure.

My reasoning is a bit more complicated. I don't RP with people who write in 1st person at all, and I have a few reasons for that:
  1. Since I don't write in 1st person, I would find it very jarring to go back and forth from first to third while reading each post. I often read back on RPs for enjoyment, and I feel that the flow of reading would be interrupted when the perspective is constantly changing.
  2. I'm not my character and I don't want my partner to project themselves onto their character either. Blurring the line between OOC and IC is something that worries me, and first person writing seems to invite that. I don't *want* the RP to feel personal for either of us- we should be able to get into our characters' heads, of course, but not to the extent that our characters are representations of ourselves. Just my opinion on that!
  3. I don't want to be limited in my ability to describe only the things that my character would see, feel, hear, etc. I want to be able to write from a more omniscient point of view when it is necessary. For example, I am currently in a RP where a character was about to open a door, not realizing there are enemies on the other side. I'm not sure how one would indicate that in first person, since from the character's perspective, they are unaware that anything is amiss. I assume that a first person writer would need to leave that a surprise, with the enemies being revealed to their character in the next post.
  4. I don't want to have to write in my character's voice, except obviously for dialogue. I have my own literary voice and way of describing things which not every character would comply with. I write in a detailed and admittedly somewhat flowery way, and if I were writing a gruff and blunt sort of person, they'd never describe things the way that I do. I'd need to change my style to suit them, which might be a fun exercise, but would limit how enjoyable I find it to write my posts in the long run.
 
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I write in 3rd person because that's how most books are written. I'm thinking of how I want it to look to someone else who's reading it. Although some books out there are written in 1st person, I have a hard time imagining how that would work with two writers going back and forth. Either it works like cybersex, where they both use 1st person to say what they're doing now, or it works like a roleplaying game where the other person acts as DM and uses the second person: "You must gather your party before venturing forth" - "You have been waylaid by enemies and must defend yourself" *battle music* That's all well and good for just passing the time, but the end result is less readable to others. That is, it would read more like a transcript of a conversation than a proper story (or I suppose, it becomes a novel in epistolary format, like Dracula).
 
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I do think that there is some bias that says 1st person writer = beginner, for sure.

You put it into such detail, I love it! I think you're saying something similar to miss Merra as to why you don't like 1st person. Though honestly I've never really had an issue between mixing the two. As long as I can under who is doing what I can follow along.

Nor would I really have a problem with more omniseant first person writing. Though it could get a little strange if someone was just holding my hand through a story they were telling me.

I suppose it does come down to a difference of socializing vs writing. Perhaps the question should be would you rather go through a terrible story with an interesting person, or a great story with a boring person?
 
I enjoy keeping touch with my partners outside the RP as well, plotting and sharing some flavour pics as we go, but now that you put it like that... I think I'd pick the latter, great story, boring person. As much as I like to keep in touch with my partners, if they would rather just keep things to the RP and not really communicate more than absolutely necessary... I wouldn't mind that either.
 
I write in 3rd person because that's how most books are written.

This was so direct and clear, thank you.

I think it comes down to whether roleplaying is a social or writing excerise for you. Personally I would rather guide or be guided through a story of a single person's making though. When I have done multi-paragraph long tern stories, I find they stagnate or end up with one person either moving the plot forward entirely, or someone trying to take things in a particular direction whether it is wanted or not. Although that all comes down to my own personal experiences more than anything.

This has all been very interesting though, I love this you all~
 
... I think I'd pick the latter, great story, boring person.

This is absolutely fascinating! Because would pick the opposite most everytime. If there isn't someone interesting to interact with, then it doesn't mstter how good the story around them is for me. I can enjoy a bad setting, if there is someone who can make it interesting. I feel good settings are common, but interesting people are much more rare.
 
I think the question is getting into the philosophy of roleplaying instead of just why you write in which person, it's more why you write in general. It's good to take a look at those things as well, makes you think what kind of RP you want in the future, what kinds of partners you want to write with, what you want to get out of the roleplaying.

Thank you once again, Madame, for starting this conversation!
 
I think the question is getting into the philosophy of roleplaying instead of just why you write in which person, it's more why you write in general. It's good to take a look at those things as well, makes you think what kind of RP you want in the future, what kinds of partners you want to write with, what you want to get out of the roleplaying.

Thank you once again, Madame, for starting this conversation!


Well I find no issues with getting into the philosophy behind decissions like these. It makes understanding them so much deeper in my opinion.

You have been very sweet and insightful miss Merra, I thank you for partaking in this so much. If we were in anyway compatiable, I would smother you in love for thanks~

But I guess I'll just have to say thank you for being so engaged with me~
 
I think 3rd person is better because it sets up a very important matter in the RP, I think it showes that WE understand we are not our characters and we will never will be them. I just thing that helps to draw the line
 
I think 3rd person is better because it sets up a very important matter in the RP, I think it showes that WE understand we are not our characters and we will never will be them. I just thing that helps to draw the line

I think that is the difference of opinion we're running into here. Personally the line between character or not is tather unimportant to me, as my personality is a bit... strong we'll say. But I can understand why some people would not want to identify fully with the characters they portray. It seems to be the difference between roleplaying being a social or writing experience for an individual.

Thank you very much for your input, this has been such an interesting discussion~
 
I always meant to comment on this.
So my thing is that I feel like first person makes it seem like you are your character. Which is why I prefer 3rd person writing always.
 
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I prefer first-person because it makes me feel like my character, allowing me to fully immerse myself in the story and speak and act exactly as I would if the story was real. I also get a much greater connection to my own and my partners' characters due to the emotional aspect of having them address me and not just someone I'm watching.

As for third-person, I use this perspective when the narrative is more important and I want the roleplay to be more of a novel with me as a bystander rather than part of it.

Many of my roleplays have been mixed-person, with me using first-person and my partner using third-person. It's not difficult to work with that as long as you keep in mind the transition. It's still immersive as I'm my character, and my partner's character is stating themselves as I would see them, so it works for me.
 
I can't do those "mixed person things". Third person is the only way and I can't stand to read anything in first person for roleplays because it creeps me out and I feel like you as the author can't distinguish yourself from your character, as if you are that person. That's why I hate first person.
 
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I can't do those "mixed person things". Third person is the only way and I can't stand to read anything in first person for roleplays because it creeps me out and I feel like you as the author can't distinguish yourself from your character, as if you are that person. That's why I hate first person.
That's why I like first-person more; it allows me to feel part of the story as my character, rather than just watching.
 
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I think everyone has their own styles, preferences, etc. I have tried both 1st and 3rd person pov and I agree with much of what I have seen, that I like the separation of myself personally from my characters, but I also found another reason why I prefer 3rd person and that is the ability to write multiple characters. When writing from the 1st person perspective it becomes vastly more difficult to write multiple characters, because rarely are just two people involved in a story, there are a plethora of side characters involved as well.

Now, with that said I do let my partner choose which perspective they write in. I have roleplays where I write in the 3rd person and the other person writes in the 1st person. It is what it is.