First vs. Third

This weekend I've been working on two writing projects. The first is, of course, the fourth draft of my WIP (all the writing in it will be finished Tuesday, then I just have to give it the old once over to make sure its drawers aren't hanging out), and the second is typing up a new short story I wrote. I'm really excited about the short story, which will be available to read on www.writerscafe.org within the next couple of days, and I'm really excited about the novel, but who knows when that monkey will be ready to read?

The main difference between these two projects is, the short story is in First Person Present tense, and the novel has a majority of its scenes in the Third Person Past tense.

I like all styles of writing, and I do try to switch up tenses for different projects so I don't get bored. It is very hard to use the Second Person viewpoint in a novel without making it gimmicky, so I haven't used that one, yet. My point is, there are different strengths and weaknesses inherent to each viewpoint.

I've found that First Person viewpoint works really well in short stories, because it allows me to quickly get inside the character's head. In a short story, there's not that much time to work with, and I can't focus on too many characters, so it levels the playing field a bit. In contrast, the Third Person viewpoint works well in longer works- works that by their nature tend to want to focus on more characters, and different aspects of the story.

In the Third Person, you can be omniscient, which is an amazing tool. In a short story, I guess you could be omniscient, too, but believability is key when it comes to length. You have at most 15,000 words to get your point across, and you're going to waste that by spreading yourself so thin on characterization? In my view, be omniscient in a book whose concept is worthy of that omniscience, not a small story.

In the FP, you can tell, and you can rejoice in the telling. This is my absolute favorite part of writing in the FP. Not only can you tell, but you should tell. Telling is different in the First Person. It's not about just giving the reader an easy out and not making them think- it's about perspective. A person, by their nature, is going to tell you what they think. People are opinionated, that's what they do. Why would a story narrated from a first person perspective be any different? But here's the great great thing about telling from a FPV- who's to say that it's the truth? Opinion can be truth, or it can just be opinion. It's the reader's job to sort out the fact from the fraud, so the reader still has to think. A First Person narrator cannot help but tell the reader what's going on in his mind, but it doesn't necessarily mean it's true. That is what I love most about the FPV.

Now, try get away with telling in the 3PV. I still have problems with this because I love to tell people something- bash them over the head with the information, if you will. You can still tell in the 3P, but it won't be good writing. It will be a cop-out. It will be giving the reader license to not have to think about what they're reading. Arguably, there's a place for this kind of writing. People on vacation might just want to relax and have something to do with their time. That's the whole reason Danielle Steel exists, to give bored people something to do.

Here's the crazy thing about telling in the 3PV. It can be done, and it can be done well. Look at Hemingway. He brought home point after point by just putting it out there- telling it to the reader. Remember when he called the bull fighter a coward in "The Capital of the World"? That was used to great effect.

I guess in a Third Person narration, you can tell if you have a point to make, and if you only use it rarely so as not to dilute its meaning. If possible, it should not be as it appears. It could be deeper- essentially an ironic twist on what you're presenting on the face of it. (Think the Cowardly Lion in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz- his very name said what he was, and yet he was anything but. Also, the Scarecrow was the smartest one, and the Tin Man was the most caring. Do you think this happened on accident? No. It was there to be ironic.)

Tell if it means something. If it's just lazy, don't tell. You as the writer have to make that determination, and you have to trust what you write even if some stupid critic says 'Show don't tell' without even thinking of what it means.

That's all I have for now. Peace.