How to Write a Novel in the First Person

During the early stages of writing a novel, one key decision to make is choosing the narrator's point of view. If you have chosen the first person perspective, you will write the novel directly from the narrator's point of view. The narrator is the storyteller who shares an experience with his or her audience. Typically, the narrator is the main character of the story. First person perspective could also account for a bystander who might not be directly associated with the storyline.

Things You'll Need

• Pen
• Pencil
• Paper
• Computer
• Word Processing Software

Instructions

Instructions

1. Decide your genre. First person is popular in the following styles: ghost stories, suspense novels, gothics, and novels in a journal style format.

2. Pick your characters. If you want to write a book with multiple characters that need to tell a story, then first person point-of-view may not be appropriate.

3. Know your first person pronouns. Use words like I, myself, me, mine, my, we, ourselves, us, our and ours.

4. Get personal. By choosing first person, you are also picking the most intimate perspective that displays a character's values, thoughts, innermost feelings and interaction with the external world.

5. Stay in first person. One of the restrictions of using first person is that the author is limited to one point of view. A good rule of thumb to follow is that the first person perspective acts as a filter. All accounts and experiences run through the character in order to be told in the story.

Resources

• English Plus: Person
• Owl At Purdue: Using Pronouns Clearly
• Duke Writing Studio: Because I Said So