If someone is telling you a story, he’s not going to use dialogue tags after he says something. Well, think of it this way: In a first person story, the narrator is telling you the story. In a third person narrative, the common phrases “he said” and “she said” are fine to help with the pacing of the story or to clarify who is speaking, but not in a first person story. For example, the phrase “I said” should be used sparingly in a first person narrative.
When a story is told from the first person, you can’t write the dialogue the same way you’d write it if it is told from the third person. This problem is in the dialogue, or more specifically, the way the dialogue and thoughts are presented. It is important, however, to pay attention to some of the common pitfalls of writing in the first person.īut in this post, I’m looking at a different type of problem I see in first person narratives, both in my own fiction and at Theme of Absence.
I do find it easier than third person, and will often default to first person if there is only one point-of-view character. For others, it can be much easier than third person. For a lot of people, writing in the first person can be one of the most challenging ways to write. I’d say somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 of my short stories are as well. My first novel was written in the first person.
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