What would you say the pros and cons of both are?

Which do you prefer?

Why?

 

Third person, but first person could be done well.

A lot of the time first person fails to capture the voice of the character, which just makes it a shittier third person perspective.

 

http://www.writersdigest.com/writin...at-point-of-view-should-you-use-in-your-novel

 

Okay then adding to that...When you're reading, does reading 1st person or 3rd person feel more natural.

For me, I prefer 3rd person limited so that you can view what's happening like a movie (outside perspective) while still having a solid main character.

 

I prefer third person, it makes it feel less self-indulgent.

 

Third person for sure. First person feels too masturbatory.

 

The only times that I prefer first person is reading and writing Dresden Files. I've found second person is fine for quests, and in all other case third person is ideal to me.

 

Third person. Reading everything in 'I, me, mine' becomes tiresome after awhile.

 

As Sesc said, it depends on what you want to do.

As I've read books, I've found mysteries and thrillers work best with first person. When it is narratively important that the reader has a "loose sense" of the truth around them, first person writing is perfect because of the unreliable narrator.

Third person is best for books which require world building and, of course, a larger cast of characters.

 

I rate both equally, but as sesc says it's often the case that I don't notice depending on the story's hook and quality. I've definitely struggled to recall a story's person choice looking back.

Second person is quite difficult when it's a story, and yet, when it's a quest it seems to work quite naturally.

Tense is much more jarring for me. When a story is present tense, regardless if its first or third, I can really struggle to get past it unless it's really well done.

 

Red Rising trilogy does first person present well. Takes a bit to get used to but it makes for some interesting prose.

Second person quests work because it is straight from a table-top roleplaying game. I think second person quests make it feel like you should write in an answer, but there's an argument to be made for Iimiting the choices allowed to better control the narrative when quest managing. First person also does that to a degree, while third person seems to allow for a better study of characters, whether it's making changes more apparent in the protoganist or just being free to study secondary characters without bias (or maybe with a bit of their own via third person limited).

Unreliable narratives can happen in first and third person limited. Pulling a fast one on your audience in third person objective sometimes feels like it boils down to overusage of fade to blacks.

 

When it comes to literature in general, I'm happy with either. First person works particularly well for stories like The Kite Runner and Remains of the Day where the story being told is so authentic and the characters so real that you forget that it's not an autobiography.

However, for fanfic I very much prefer third person. It always feels strange reading Harry from first person perspective.

 

This thread needs a poll! To that end, added. Go cast your votes.

Personally, I love first person the most. It can be really fun to follow a protagonist's actual thoughts through a story, and I think first-person lends itself well to a more lively story.

There are also two things that can really bug me that are far more common pitfalls in third-person: over-describing the setting, and too much changing perspective. It may be more of a personal thing, but I much prefer stories to be more linear, from one person's perspective if possible - and I like to get invested in that character. First-person is all the better for really establishing that character's voice and what matters to him. This actually leads to an interesting point about over-describing scenery... it's annoying in third-person prose. But if you do the exact same thing in first-person, now you're establishing something about the character. Perhaps they're preoccupied with their surroundings or take a special interest in nature. You can do so many clever things from that character's perspective that are completely unavailable in third-person.

It can take a bit of skill to pull off, but first-person is awesome. Mediocrity kicks in though when an author doesn't think of it differently than third-person.

 

Y'all keep on mentioning quests. What exactly are they?

 

It's basically another name for Choose Your Own Adventures.

 

And (sorry for being clueless) what is a choose your own adventure.

 

You open a book. That book gives a brief bit of narration and than says for action A, turn to page 3. For action B, turn to page 40. For action C, turn to page 139. On each of those pages you will find different outcomes from one another, some that end badly, some that simply continue, and others that end well.

Alternatively, you are a reading a fic and at the end of so many words the author gives a branching decision for what will happen next, offering at least two outcomes to be chosen from. You and other readers vote on the outcome you would like, and whichever wins after so much time is the chosen path and the author continues to write. This is more of a quest but it follows the same premise. On the note of quests, we have several under the Work By Author on here.

 

Interesting, I may write one when I need a break from the fic I'm currently working on. Thanks @Zenzao