Which point of view should you choose for a novel: first person or third person? Each has pros and cons. Third person (omniscient) is the easiest to handle: you can move freely between characters’ thoughts with fewer bugs, and commercial publishers generally prefer it. First person offers the strongest immersion, but mixing viewpoints can confuse readers. Second person is rare and mostly used in essays or letters. Utsudo loved first person early on, rewrote her books at a publisher’s request, and has written her long novels in third person ever since.

Translated from Utsudo’s original Chinese column.

I used to struggle with this question too. To discuss it properly, I think it’s best to look at the pros and cons of each.

The three points of view in fiction

Points of view mainly come in three kinds: first person, second person and third person.

Third person: easiest to handle, preferred by publishers

Let’s start with third person, which is generally the easiest to get the hang of. Commercial publishers also tend to prefer third-person manuscripts, because there’s less chance of bugs and you have more freedom in how you describe things.

My experience rewriting first person into third person

When I first started writing, though, I especially loved telling stories in first person. Back then I simply wanted to write stories and experience becoming different people and living different lives, so I preferred a highly immersive style.

After signing with publishers a few times, one publisher asked me, while preparing a book, to change all the first person to third person. My works then were mainly first person, but when describing scenery or switching chapters, I’d sometimes jump to another character’s viewpoint to fill in the plot—and that turned into third person.

The request was to avoid confusing readers about whose viewpoint they were in. Using third person throughout avoids that problem.

Early on, I started with first person before my technique was mature, which is why I ended up mixing in third person. Rewriting from first to third person is a massive job. I rewrote several series and spent a huge amount of time (coughs blood).

Later, though, I noticed plenty of books from other publishers mixing viewpoints in first person the way I used to. So it seems to depend mainly on whether the publisher accepts it.

After that experience, I converted all my works in progress to third person. Apart from short stories, I haven’t used first person in a long time.

Pros and cons of first and third person

First person really is more immersive. You understand and feel the world through the character’s own eyes and senses, so their joys and sorrows come across directly.

Third person is the so-called “omniscient view.” You can move freely between characters’ inner thoughts and describe facts objectively without it feeling jarring. Of the three, third person is the easiest to handle, and I recommend beginners practice with it first.

The rare second person

Second person is much less common. I think I’ve only used it in essays or letters. Used well, it can create a very special effect, but it really is rare.

There are lots of articles about second person online, so I won’t go into detail here; people who study it can surely explain it better than I can. If you’re curious, search for articles on second person—it might open a new window for you.

So, which point of view are you best at?

FAQ

Further reading

• Previous: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #106: Only Now Do I Understand Why Literature Is a Cultural Asset
• Start from the beginning: Hey! I Heard You’re a Writer on Ghost Island #01: Utsudo’s Debut — A Road to the Dream Covered in Frost
• Utsudo’s books

About the author

Utsudo is a Taiwanese light novelist and novelist VTuber with more than ten years in the industry and 40 commercially published print books. Her novel 《遺失的情書》 received a 2022 Ministry of Culture youth creative award. The 《嘿！聽說妳在鬼島當作家》 series records her experiences as a novelist in Taiwan.