First person

Jaycee

Jaycee

I have been analysing short stories in the hope of improving my own efforts.  I note that many, possibly the majority, of stories about 1500-2000 words are written in the first person.  Is there a reason for this?  I feel more comfortable with third person but wonder what other members think.

Bud

A couple of theories:

1. Many short stories begin life with the writer staring at a blank screen, wondering what to write. It's very easy to get a couple of paragraphs of first person stuff off in this situation, and once you have the embryo of a story out, it becomes easier to see it through. Third person stories tend to be thought out beforehand, before the first word is written.

2. The first person makes it easy to get into a character's head with the minimum of words. Given the limitations of short story writing, this is a useful way to save space.

Like I said, they're only theories. The only thing I'm certain of is that first person is no better suited to short story writing than third person, intrinsically. Whatever works for the story, is what you should go with.

Carol

Jaycee I prefer third person as well.
I've noticed the plethora of first person, but did read something somewhere earlier in the year. A magazine saying it wanted some third person stories, unfortunately I can't remember which it was, or where the info was.
Send them anyway. The fact that you have done a different viewpoint might help make them stand out. Good luck.

Viv

Womans weekly certainly wrote to their contributors a few months ago to say they had too many first person stories on file and needed third person.