Different voices
Look at the characteristics of first and third person narrators mixed up in the box below. Drag each of the descriptions into the appropriate column.
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Look at the characteristics of first and third person narrators mixed up in the box below. Drag each of the descriptions into the appropriate column.
Now you know about the main differences between different narrative perspectives, let’s look at some practical examples. Highlight the differences.
I don’t know what to do. What am I supposed to do when the stupid person organising the event is such an idiot?
He didn’t know what to do. He wondered what he was supposed to do when the organiser had been so incompetent.
The differences here are focused on the subjects (I/he) and the verb tenses (is/had been). This is easy to understand and they otherwise seem quite similar apart from the use of the words stupid/idiot (more informal) and incompetent (more formal). The third person voice could have used the less formal words in this way: he had thought of him as a ‘stupid idiot’ instead so it is not just a case of one being more formal than the other.
I don’t know what to do. What am I supposed to do when the stupid person organising the event is such an idiot?
He didn’t know what to do. He wondered what he was supposed to do when the organiser had been so incompetent.
Now let’s look at a longer piece of third person narrative. Working with a partner, turn this into the first person. Decide which sections that you think you need to change and then rewrite it together.
When you have finished, note what you have changed and why you have changed it.
The ice crunched on the frozen gravel as I walked up that long familiar pathway to the front door. I struggled to rehearse my words - I didn’t know how I was going to talk to her. It had been such a long time. Ten years. Ten years ago it was that I stormed out of that house. Now, I couldn’t even remember what it was all about. All I could see as I approached the house and thought back to that time were my reasons for leaving – not my reasons for returning.
The ice crunches on the frozen gravel as I walk up that long familiar pathway to the front door. I struggle to rehearse my words - I don’t know how I am going to talk to her. It has been such a long time. Ten years. Ten years ago it was that I stormed out of that house. Now, I can’t even remember what it was all about. All I can see as I approach the house and think back to that time are my reasons for leaving – not my reasons for returning.
The third person version clearly explains the character’s feelings and his anxieties through a detached observer – unaffected by the narrative. The first person version explains the same feelings and anxieties but the reader feels closer to the moment as if they were by the side of the character. It is not an exact science! In the end the writer chooses whether to use the first or third person because one or the other works bests for their narrative. Hopefully, this exercise will have helped you to understand more about the advantages of both perspectives.
Using the first person in the present tense has the effect of making the reader even closer to the action – more involved. It is difficult to complete a whole narrative in the present tense – though it can be very effective for reliving flashbacks or recounting dreams. The present tense is very rarely used in the third person.
Practise writing a narrative extract in the first and then the third person. Note how your thinking changes and how you have to think about your use of language – especially verb tenses.
Check your writing with a partner to make sure that everything makes sense from the perspective you have chosen.
Here are some ideas to try: