Do you write in first person or third person?

There are varying ways to write fiction. You can either delve deep into the mind of the main character and perceive the entirety of the book from their perspective, or take a more indirect approach and look at the scenes from a more third person perspective; but which is better?

First person - When writing in first person, you as the writer have one major advantage. Your writing is not your own narrated language but rather that of the character themselves. This can make it much easier to understand and develop your characters conflicts and motivations more precisely but also provide them with their own individual voice.

This can quickly become a problem however because as the creator of the story, we usually have a wider perspective on how the story is going to pan out and to a lesser extent, the characters and environments our character is going to be flung upon. With this knowledge, it can be very tempting during the writing process to deviate from the first person rule. We may want to give other characters more depth for instance or tell the story in part from others perspective. This ofcourse being impossible under a first person persona.

Writing in first person has its advantages but it also has its restrictions.

Third person - The more commonly used writing style, third person writing gives the writer the freedom to write the story from multiple viewpoints and therefore this gives scope for branching story lines and more developed character profiles.

Whatever your choice, its important to choose a writing style and stick to it, no matter how tempting it may seem to deviate. Breaking this rule only opens the story up to confused, disjointed writing which can be hard to follow. Personally, i feel a writer chooses very early on what kind of writing they are better suited for and sticks to that for the majority. For me, it is third person, but ofcourse, it purely depends on the type of book you are writing.