It's time for a topic that has been giving me a headache for a while.

As you know, stories can be told in multiple "styles".

If we ignore some of the more weird styles (like 2nd person, WTF?), most stories are told in two narrative styles: 1st person narration and 3rd person narration.

There are more distinctions, like present tense and past tense narration or omniscient vs limited narration (and epistolary narration, and script speak), but we won't concern ourselves with that today.

First-person narration has the story being narrated by a character who refers to themselves as "I". Third-person, instead, uses a pronoun ("he", "she", etc.) or the character's name.

Simply put, first-person: I woke up and got out of my bed. In the mirror, I saw my blue eyes. I tied my blonde hair into a messy bun and went to school.

Third-person: Serenity woke up and got out of her bed. In the mirror, she saw her blue eyes. She tied her blonde hair into a messy bun and went to school.

What really sucks is that, once you have chosen one of those styles, you can't switch it anymore.

So, what are the pros and cons of each method?

Well, first, you need to decide if you like writing "I" or the name of your character a lot.

With third-person, you can sometimes use a pronoun and sometimes the name of your character which makes it easier to keep sentences varied. In first-person, however, you get an extra pronoun. This can be helpful if you have multiple characters of the same gender and it's confusing who is meant by "he" or "she".

If it was that simple though, I won't be here. Readers have different expectations of a first-person and a third-person story (that is unless you're writing on Wattpad, but I'll get to that later). Broadly speaking, a first-person story feels more visceral and closer to the heart of the character. Meanwhile, a third-person story allows more flexibility.

What do I mean by "flexibility"? In a first-person story, the narration is covered by the character's voice. The readers don't just want to know what happens, they want to see the character of the narrator reflected.

Here's an example of how this can look (from the popular Wattpad story Subway by Jae-Jae):

"There was never anywhere to sit, and if all the seats were taken by the time I got on, and they usually were, then I was forced to stand among the crowd of swaying bodies, where perverts would "accidentally" rub up against me. It was like a game of musical chairs where the loser gets felt up by a bunch of strange old men as punishment."

https://www.wattpad.com/story/11276442-the-subway

If maintaining that sort of narration over a whole story sounds hard, it is. I think I did fine with my protagonist's narration in the first few chapters of Starsnatcher, but it became increasingly bland over time. It's especially hard once the action scenes come. Action scenes have a lot happening at once and your protagonist's brain is unlikely to process everything.

If you have a complicated sci-fi or fantasy world that needs a lot of explanation, first-person narration can be another hurdle. Do you think about how a car works every day? If not, good luck explaining a spaceship drive in first-person narration. Most adult science fiction and fantasy books stick to third-person for this reason. 

Also, first-person makes it hard to switch perspectives. A lot of Wattpad authors know this which is why they announce POV switches in very jarring ways. In the worst cases, it looks like this:

*Serenity's POV*

I walked through the hallway until I ran into Ryder.

"Where do you think you're going?" I asked.

*Ryder's POV*

"I could ask you the same," I retorted.

*Serenity's POV*

"Well, I was just going to class!" I countered.

I admit I've never seen anything this extreme, but such examples show up a lot in lists of Wattpad clichés, so, apparently, it's fairly common.

More experienced writers know that you shouldn't switch perspectives within a single chapter unless you're writing omniscient. In first-person, however, even that creates difficulties.

In my story Starsnatcher, most chapters are narrated by the protagonist. However, I had several bonus chapters being narrated by a minor character and I was dumb enough to give her the same narrative voice as the protagonist. Needless to say, readers weren't pleased. I edited the chapters, but I'm not sure if the problem got any better.

Even traditionally published books sometimes ignore this problem. The popular YA fantasy novel Children of Blood and Bone has multiple first-person POV characters and, to me at least, they all sound the same. That was probably part of why I, at first, didn't see it as a big deal...

To avoid repeating my mistakes, try if you can tell who narrates what chapter even if all the names and everything are removed. If you can't do that, at least put the name of the narrator in the title.

I've seen an interesting solution in the web-serial named Worm by John McCrae (he goes by Wildbow in online circles):

https://parahumans.wordpress.com/

Most of the chapters are told through the first-person narration of a teenage girl named Taylor Hebert. When she goes home after the fifth chapter, however (technically, the 1.5th chapter), we get a chapter told through the eyes of her Dad. It's written in third-person, which might be jarring to some, but at least Wildbow doesn't have to think up an original voice for the Dad. This is by no means a perfect solution, but the author makes it work fairly well.

(Amusingly, there is a later chapter told through the eyes of a dog and Wildbow does his best to make us understand how a dog thinks. It has to be seen to be believed: https://parahumans.wordpress.com/category/stories-arcs-1-10/arc-4-shell/4-x-interlude/ )

However, I can't recommend using this strategy outside of Wattpad. Very, very few published books have some chapters in first-person and others in third-person. The only "safe" way to have multiple first-person viewpoint characters is to give each of them a distinctive voice.

That is, unless you're writing on Wattpad, but I'll get to that later.

Now, I talked a lot about the downsides of first-person. However, there's a reason it's so popular on Wattpad: It just feels so immediate.

In third-person, it's sometimes tricky to describe what the POV character is thinking right now. Many beginner authors who write in third-person use a perspective called "film POV" where they don't describe thoughts at all. This sacrifices one of the greatest advantages prose has over film. If you write in third-person and need to describe what your character thinks, try to use a transition that feels natural.

If you can't, you can always use italics.

From the first chapter of the YA fantasy City of Bones.

"The fair-haired boy paced back and forth, his arms now crossed over his chest.

'So,' he said. 'You still haven't told me if there are any other of your kind with you.'

Your kind? Clary wondered what he was talking about. Maybe she'd stumbled into some kind of gang war."

The "your kind" is Clary's thoughts in italics. The "Maybe she'd stumbled into some kind of gang war" is also her thoughts, but it fits better with the rest of the sentences and thus is not italicized.

Plus, first-person narration is a good choice if your main character has an amusing thought process. Harry Dresden from The Dresden Files is an awesome narrator. I love this line of his from Fool Moon:

"Black wizards don't just grow up like toadstools, you know. Someone has to teach them complicated things like summoning demons, ritual magic, and clichéd villain dialogue."

Lastly, first-person can be helpful if the narrator is unreliable or doesn't know everything. Then, the audience can be confused along with the characters. Many old-school pulp detective novels are written in first-person for precisely this reason.

So, first-person narration is more immediate, but third-person narration is more flexible, isn't it?

It's not that simple. Because none of what I wrote is true if you're writing on Wattpad.

The reason why this whole "first-person narration is more restrictive" "rule" exists is because people aren't used to it. People who aren't used to it think it shouldn't be used except in specific cases (psychological stories, stories with engaging narrators, etc.).

However, look at genres or markets where first-person narration is the norm, like YA publishing or even here on Wattpad. You'll find highly popular first-person books where everyone has the same voice and where the narration could be easily switched to third-person with no problem.

Ultimately, it's because young readers really like first-person. It makes them feel like they're the character and they're willing to forgive a few goofs along the way. Older readers tend to prefer third-person, by contrast.

When readers are used to a certain style, it becomes invisible for them. That's why, for me, at least, the style only really matters at the start of the book when I'm still forming a first impression.

I think choosing first or third-person narration is in part a genre choice. I've considered writing my next book in third-person first but switching it to first-person when posting on Wattpad (it deals with both high school and with fantasy adventures, so, both POVs could theoretically work). Won't that be a lot of work? Yes, it will.

If your story deals with personal conflicts, focuses on a single character, and/or is for a YA/Wattpad audience, I recommend first-person. If your story deals with big adventures (maybe even in a sci-fi/fantasy world), has many POV characters, and/or is for the mainstream adult publishing market, third-person predominates.

That's my opinion at least. I have so much to learn about this myself.

Also, I think I've run out of topics for now, so, feel free to suggest more.