First Person Point of View: Common Problems and Solutions

This blog post covers:

• The advantages and disadvantages of using a first-person point of view

• The two main types of first-person point of view – embedded and retrospective

• Common problems and how to fix them

• The use of first-person point of view in ethnography
  

First-person points of view have become increasingly popular in various fiction genres over the past few decades. The reason for this is that they are often highly immersive, and there has been increased appetite for immersive points of view in a world increasingly full of immersive media.

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A quick summary of first-person point of view

A first-person point of view narrates from an "I" perspective. I've given some examples below. But first-person point of view is about much more than pronouns. If you opt for a third-person point of view, you have more possible options: you can narrate the story from a distance, using an omniscient narrator, or you could narrate very close up, using something called deep third or close third.

If you are telling the story from a first-person point of view, the only variable is the when of the story. Are you telling it from the present, or from a future point looking back?

The most immersive way to tell the story would be from the present. Meanwhile, if you tell it from the future, the reader is "told" rather than "shown" the story more. This approach is ideal for creative nonfiction such as memoir, and it is common in cultural anthropology (ethnography), too.

Highly immersive first-person points of view are popular in romance and in young adult (YA) fiction.

Here's an example of an first-person embedded, highly immersive style:

When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim’s warmth, but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress.

The Hunger Games (2008)

And here's an example of a first-person retrospective (told from the present, looking back) approach in memoir:

I didn’t realize I was black until third grade. Although I was born in the predominantly black community of Harlem in 1947, I was raised in a multiethnic housing project in the Inwood section of Manhattan. Our project consisted of seven buildings, each fourteen stories tall, with twelve apartments on each floor. That totaled 1,176 apartments. Basically, a small, crowded city.

Becoming Kareem: Growing Up On and Off the Court (2017)

Disadvantages of using first-person narration in fiction

Using a first-person approach is highly limiting. As a storyteller, you cannot just hop into any character's perspective. The world becomes the narrator's world. In fiction, this works best when the narrator's mind and perception of the world is an interesting place to hang out! Watch out here for moany, irritating, bland, or whiny narrators. Literary agents see these a lot, and I know first-hand that they can emerge unintentionally (in my case, through trying to give a character a moody teenage vibe).

Another disadvantage is that a first-person POV can sound heavy handed if "I" is overused: "I do this, I do that, I think this, etc." Luckily, there are strategies you can use to remove these filter words. The line editor Louise Harnby writes about this.

Some readers refuse to read novels told in the first person. And that's OK – there are plenty of other readers who love this direct point of view!

That said, first person can become restrictive and even feel claustrophobic at times.

Advantages of using first-person narration in fiction

Some readers love a highly immersive read and first-person can deliver on this! As first-person is really a brain download, you don't need to italicize direct thoughts usually, which makes things a bit easier. And you're much less likely to head hop.

Finally, first person works especially well when the viewpoint character has an obvious flaw that forms a central part of the story. A great example of this is Shirley Jackson's wonderful opening to the novel We Have Always Lived in the Castle:

My name is Mary Katherine Blackwood. I am eighteen years old, and I live with my sister Constance. I have often thought that with any luck at all I could have been born a werewolf, because the two middle fingers on both my hands are the same length, but I have had to be content with what I had. I dislike washing myself, and dogs, and noise. I like my sister Constance, and Richard Plantagenet, and Amanita phalloides, the death- cup mushroom. Everyone else in my family is dead.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle (1962)

Embedded and retrospective first-person points of view: A deep dive

As already mentioned, when writing from a first-person point of view, you have two main options. You can look back from a future point on earlier experiences (a retrospective narration), or you can write from an embedded perspective, focused on the moment when the action is unfolding.

This is not just about choosing which tense to write in. It’s about the distance you establish between your narration of the events, and the events themselves.

The tense you use does offer some clues though. If you are writing in the present tense, then you are definitely embedded.

Confused? Don’t worry, I’ll use some examples to make it clearer.

Embedded first-person point of view (present tense):I reach out to stop myself falling

Embedded first-person point of view (past tense): I reached out to stop myself falling

Retrospective (past tense): When I was nearly thirteen, I almost fell over and dislocated my arm

The main difference here is that an embedded first-person point of view takes us straight into the action unfolding.

Framing devices

Meanwhile, retrospective first-person narration uses a framing device. Simple examples include:

• It was a hot July day …

• When I was nearly thirteen …

• When I first arrived in the field …

  
  

This framing is not about dating the action; rather, it is about directing the reader’s attention to specific features of the setting in which the narrative is about to unfold. (Ideally, these features should be relevant to what happens next – this is a common shortcoming with mentioning the weather as a cliched start to a chapter or scene!)

You may have a bigger framing device instead – a paragraph that takes the reader to "the story within the story."

Key characteristics of embedded and retrospective first-person point of view:

Embedded	Retrospective
In media res openings (in the middle of the action!) “I cut the rope and the boat pushed off …”	Uses a framing device “The summer of 2013 was unusually balmy …”
Hard cuts at the end of scenes.	Armchair, distanced accounts.
Past perfect used for backfill.
Insight as and when it occurs. (insight evaluates or judges.)	Reflections.
Moves in time and uses anchoring devices.	Fixed in time, telling the story from a later point.

Issues with embedded or retrospective first-person points of view

If writing from an embedded point of view, consider whether to use the present tense or not. The use of present tense in fiction can look unusual and conspicuous. This can break reader immersion as readers aren’t as used to it, and this can slow the narration down. If it is well-used, the reader won’t notice it as a problem, however.

If writing from a retrospective point of ivew, one obvious problem in fiction is that we usually know the narrator has not died (unless they are a ghost). Be careful not to include lots of exposition alongside the narration (this is not much of a problem in many ethnographies, which often include a lot more telling).

You can do this by using section breaks, chapter breaks, transition sentences and by using strong, distinct character voices to mark the shift.

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First published: 7/7/22

Updated 18/10/24