This is a far more important aspect of writing than many people consider. The "person" in which you write is, in layman's terms, who's telling the story. Here's a run-down:
Single First person --"I sat down at the table and looked around at my family, all smiling and chatting happily about their days." If you're telling a story in single first person, it means that one person is telling the reader the story through their own eyes. This means that whoever is telling the story can only tell what they themselves know, think, or observe. It's perfectly fine for your narrator to make an assumption about what another character is thinking, however you have to be careful that you don't overstep the line. Just think about yourself in every day interactions with people. I enjoy writing in single first person because, to me personally, it's the quickest and easiest method. I suppose the fact that it's less like you're writing and more like you're just listening to your character tell you what happens makes it quicker for me to hash out a story like this. However, to me first person is rarely as "maturely" written as, say, third person. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but because it's more personal and not as much about aboat details and generic observations (this is explained more in third person), it just seems more immature writing to me. Three things you have to be very careful of, though, are 1.) Because a character is telling the story, you have to work extra hard at letting your character tell the story, not you. For instance, if the narrator of your story is a little country girl, she must tell the story to the reader with the same accent, vocabulary, and expressions that she uses when talking to other characters in the story. If a character has a certain phrase or expression that they use a lot, that needs to show in their narrative. 2.) Be careful that you don't overdo the details. It might be part of your character to explain the lighting in a room, the age of the curtains, the smells in the carpet, any stains on the couch, and the general feel of the room, but usually it's not. Most people don't observe minute details like that, so be careful that you, as the writer, aren't forcing your narrator to share details that they never would notice on their own. 3.) When writing Single First Person, you must go out of your way to develop other characters in the story. As hard as you try, the reader is not going to be as familiar with other characters as they are with the narrator, but you want to keep the gap as small as possible. Also keep in mind, that the narrator of your story doesn't have to be the main character of your story. The narrator of your story doesn't ever even have to be given a name or explain who they are or how they know the story. By writing with "I", it determines that you are in first person.
Multiple First Person --A perfect example of this is my story Hush, Little One. That story is told in first person, but it alternates between the narratives of October and Orlando. The same rules and warnings apply with multiple first person, but now you must be careful of several more things. 1.) That your characters are different. You are telling the story from the points of view of two (or however many) different characters. There needs to be an obvious contrast in the way the different characters speak, the expressions or language they use, what they decide is important enough to tell the reader, and how they view things. Your narrators don't have to be complete opposites, but you want them to be different enough that they're believable people. No two people are going to see/feel/experience something the exact same way, and you need to make sure this comes across because ~> 2.) You have to be careful that your reader can understand at all times who is narrating. If they get confused, it detracts from the story, and can even ruin the story for them if they have to keep backtracking to find who is narrating. 3.) And, just as importantly, make sure you don't confuse yourself! I've accidentally done it, too, where I'm writing from the POV of October and all of a sudden realize that Orlando has become the person saying "I" and October is now "she". Overall, I usually don't recommend writing in this MFP. If you're comfortable, and watch closely that you don't confuse anyone, then it's okay, but usually sticking to one narrator is your safest bet.
Second Person Familiar --I'm going to say right off the bat that I do not like second person. It's just a personal preference of mine, because I think it's the absolute hardest person to write well. "You walk to the table and pick up the magazine. After casually flipping through a couple pages, you throw it back down disinterestedly." Second person can be the most poetic of the forms, but, like I said, it's the hardest to write well. Too many people slip into the habit of just telling the reader what they're doing in a simple, shallow observation. Though it's possible to write a story in second person, and I suppose a good story if you really work at it, I usually think second person should be saved for poetic prose. My major problem with it is that --okay, say I'm reading a story that someone has written in second person. The author is telling me what I see, what I feel, how I react to things. Well, they could be wrong, in which case they've lost me. In second person, you can't really develop a character, because the reader is already their own person, and you don't know them, so any development you do is a conflict of interests. This means your story will have a very distant, unfamiliar feel to it. Because I don't write in second person (and, to be honest, will usually stop reading someone else's story if it's in second person and they're not doing poetric prose), I don't have any examples on my site, but if you ever read the Choose Your Own Adventure books, those were in second person familiar. That's really the only example I can think of; most writers avoid it. I do recomment you trying to write in second person, just for fun, because it will definitely make you stretch as a writer, but otherwise my suggestion is that you avoid it. The idea behind it is to make the reader feel involved in the story, but, at least in my opinion, it just leaves the reader feeling aloof and out of sync with the story, except in the case of poetic prose, where the reader goes into it with the knowledge that you are assigning them a character and that for the time they are reading the story, that is their persona.
Second Person Infamiliar --With this, you can disregard some of the negative things that are associated with Second Person Familiar. This "Infamiliar" form is still best used in poetric prose or short stories, but it's much easier for the reader to get familiar with (ironically), because it's not directed at them. The first example I can think of occurs in pieces of my story 3 A.M., when Faith is crazy and writing in her diary; she's narrating in first person, but in several parts she starts narrating to Andrew what he is doing ("You go to the kitchen to get some water, but the water has been turned off for a month now, remember?" or whatever it is.) I don't want you getting the wrong idea --the diary entries as a whole are first person. Just those small sections are a good example of what Second Person Infamiliar is. It's when the "removed narrator" (that is, not the narrator saying, "I watch you do this", which is why Faith's entries all togehter are first person, not SPI) is telling "you" what "you" are doing, however "you" is not the reader, it's another character. In the case of SPI, the narrator is not narrating to the reader, he or she is narrating to another character; the reader is just a bystander or an onlooker. This is still a difficult form to write well. Sometimes you'll see authors writing characters' letters in SPI (though often it's a mix of first person and SPI). Overall, I would still keep this one in the drawer to only be used for poetic prose, maybe a short story here or there.
If these two explanations of second person didn't make sense, it's because it is the most confusing person, and almost impossible to write well. So if you didn't understand them, just ignore second person, do not attempt to write in it, and pretend it doesn't exist.
Third Person Limited- The two forms of Third Person are very closely related, and yet there is still a fine line dividing them that it's important for you the writer to understand and choose. In Third Person Limited you, as the author, are telling the story, as the author, not the narrator. This means that you do not use the word "I" unless a character is speaking --you use "he" or "she" or "it" to explain who is doing/experiencing/saying. The "limited" part comes in that you are telling the story following one single person in your story. Which means you can tell the reader what that person is thinking or feeling, but you only know as much about the other characters as the single character you're following does. Which means you can say, "Sally thought George looked awfully confused" or "Judging by the expression on his face, George felt very confused," but you cannot tell the reader, "George was very confused, and couldn't decide whether he approved of this or preferred that." You don't know what George is thinking and wondering any more than Sally does; you are limited to her feelings and her thoughts, however you are allowed to say what she observes, and you aren't confined, as with first person, to only saying what she actually does observe. If Sally walks into a room, since the story is in third person, you are more than free to go into detail about the carpet, the walls, etc. Technically, in TPL, you aren't suppose to share facts that Sally wouldn't be able to notice --for instance, she probably can't look at a random table and tell you the story of the people who made it, in which case you aren't supposed to share that with the reader. Doing so would shift the "person" of your story to "Third Person Limited Expanded". However, I think that's getting a little too nit-picky on the "person", so I refer to it all as Third Person Limited, and as long as you aren't telling the reader what other characters are thinking or feeling, I say go for it.
Third Person Omnipotent/Omniscious/Unlimited- This is perhaps the most common form of writing. It means that you are using "he", "she", "it" instead of "I", but you aren't confined to the thoughts, feelings, and actions of one single character. So if Sally gets her feelings hurt at something George yells at her, and so screams something back at him, you're free to clue the reader in on what each of them is thinking and feeling and how the fight affects both of them. TPO (some people refer to it as omnipotent [all present], others omniscious [all knowing], others as unlimited) means that you can tell the reader anything you want about anyone or anything you want, even if it has nothing to do with what your main character is going through. You can show the thoughts and concerns of every character on a committee, and you can share where they grew up and how their relationship was with their mother, and what they plan to do in the future. Keep in mind that this means your reader will know more than any of your characters, and be sure you don't get yourself confused and have a character know something that they didn't see, hear about, or in any way should know about. Other than that, though, you're free to say what you want, and you can put it in your own "voice" (there will be an essay on finding your voice), as long as you aren't in first person. This is what most classical authors write in, because it's the most formal. However, you have to be careful that you aren't over-formal. Since the characters themselves aren't telling the reader what they're thinking --you're acting as a third party and relaying this information-- you have to go an extra mile to develop the characters through their actions. It's easy to get so bogged down in details that you forget that the reader will only know your characters as much as you show/tell them. So while you aren't having to write every single sentence "in character", actions suddenly speak a lot louder in the absence of first-hand thoughts from the character.
The simplest overview of the three persons: 1st Person uses "I"; 2nd Person uses "You"; 3rd Person does not use "I" or "You".
A story will take on a different mood depending on which person you use, so it's important to choose one that fits your story. For instance, I use first person in Make A Joyful Noise because I want it to be light-hearted and friendly (as a reader commented, "It's like a good friend of mine telling me all about her weekend"), however I chose third person in Mademoiselle because I wanted it to be a little more formal, a little more reserved.
It's perfectly fine to use multiple persons in a story. F or instance, HLO is multiple first person, but there are flashbacks that are in third person, sometimes limited, sometimes omnipotent. 3 A.M. uses first person, third person, and sometimes even sort of slips into second person. Just be careful that you don't change so often you confuse the reader.
Also, make sure that you don't switch persons as you're writing. Just like with tenses, sometimes you'll realize halfway through writing a chapter that you've accidentally gone, say, from third person to first person. If you find yourself doing this a lot, perhaps you're trying to force a story to be in the wrong person.
I definitely suggest experimenting with all the different persons, if for nothing else, to get a feel for them each and see which you prefer --even if it's the dreaded 2nd person. Here are some suggestions for exercises:
For 1st person:
For 2nd person:
For 3rd person:
Any questions? Confused? Feel free to E-mail me.
Everything, unless otherwise stated, copyright Shiloh, 2005.
Write a diary. Write a diary from a character's point of view. Write a letter from a character's point of view. Write a story with a friend, each of you being different characters but describing the same event, and see how different your writing; descriptions; understanding of the event are.
Pick someone to watch, and write down on paper, narrating to them what they're doing, what you observe. Give directions to someone, either how to get somewhere or how to do something (directions are usually given in second person). Write a letter to your pet telling them what they feel, do, think (here you'll see what problems can arise when you're trying to develop the reader as a character while still not trying to force traits upon them.) Write a short story about how the reader reacts to something (perhaps how they feel about something in the media, something in the community, a person), and then show it to people, asking them if that's how they would react; here you'll see the problem with trying to lump all your readers into one person.
Observe a group of people and tell what they all are doing, saying; even decide what they are thinking or feeling. Write a description of someone watching a TV show, and explain what they think about it, what they like about it, what they don't, and why.