I have only ever written at length in the third person and so am new to the first person.  I'm about 7,000 words in and am finding though I really enjoy it, I feel like I'm talking too much.  Is that usual?  Am I lobbing in too much backstory?  I feel like I want to address the reader, but I don't think it's a good idea to do that as am not sure I could carry it off.  Or do I feel like this because it's the beginning of the book - it's me finding out who this character is.  What do you all think?    Which do you prefer and why?  Thanks so much for suggestions!

FV, I wonder if it's because you do have someone "talking" to you? It's very easy for everything to spill out, because that's the character sitting across the table from you, and slipping into explaining things out in full, in a way that maybe you've learnt not to do in third person.

But if this is your first try at it, FWIW, I'd be inclined to notice that, and just sort-of go with it. That sense of the voice - the direct connection - is one of the thigns which can make characters narrating their own story so likeable for readers, so enjoy the voice-y-ness!

And I'm sure you're right that it's also just, as it were, notes to yourself about who the character is. Not unlike how it's very easy, the first time a particular setting crops up in a story, to find yourself writing paragraphs about what it's like, just because you're imagination's working hard creating it ... It's process writing: good and necessary to do, but may (or may not) need a big cull later.

I rarely write in the first person, but I found myself doing this in a short story that I recently uploaded. Even when I'm writing in third-person, though, I often find myself writing far too much about what a character is thinking, as well as what they're doing. I think that probably is part of finding out who the character is and what their motivations/drives are. Much of the art of refining the story probably lies in working out what to trim and what to leave in.

In a way, it's an alternative to adding copious notes as you write the story. It feels more natural to put this level of detail within the body of the story, rather than remembering to note it all down separately. I know I would miss things out, probably important things, if I did the latter.

Hi funnyvalentine,

I read this an hour ago and have been musing on it ever since. You're a novel writer and I'm not however I can imagine the imperative need to get the voice right and the apprehension of doing something for the first time, especially on a major project. 

I would agree with EmmaD that it's okay to express the character, especially at the beginning, as the readers can discover this person for themselves. That rapport is crucial. It's okay to have backstory provided it's his or her backstory, seen through flawed memories or coloured by emotions.

I thought about my own writing and would say that it's one third, 3rd person and two thirds 1st with about the same split for publications. Some womag editors only want 3rd person, past. I think they're missing out on something but each to their own. All of my Children's stories are first as they are virtually all dramas testing the MC in some way or another.

If I  feel that the character is unique I always use 1st as that character, usually a woman, wants to tell us about her apprehensions, etc. My story in this month's (March) Take A Break is virtually a monologue from a woman scared about her future in becoming an overnight Mum. It wouldn't have worked in the 3rd at all. I was very conscious of getting the MC right as it would have been such an insult to women/mothers otherwise as it was very emotive. And, believe me, for a man to think like a woman is difficult as they are so much more emotive. That's what I enjoy about Womag writing.

For you to tackle 1st person, you must have something special to say about the character. It's like a diary but much more intense and the reader can only identify if you share thoughts, feelings, emotions, attitudes so I would go with what feels right to you. You're experienced enough to know when you're raving on too much as you would realise in real life. Always add the MC to any viewpoint. Make it funny, make it dramatic but, most of all, make it unique to your MC, whoever she, or he, might be.

Apologies if I sound like I'm preaching. Hope I've helped and not insulted your own intelligence or abilities. I simply enjoy using the 1st person so much. Good luck with it.

Thank you so very much chaps (Emma as always) - such great advice, as usual.  I think you are all right.  I think this character does have a lot to say and it's why it never occurred to me not to write her in the first person.  Having been ridgidly schooled in 'show not tell' and maintainting pov, I think I panicked to see myself talking too much - too much black ink and not enough white spaces - but actually I am talking about other characters, so the reader does meet other people and there are flashbacks etc with action.  I am going to enjoy the voice-y-ness of it. I am enjoying it - that might be the problem!!!!
Yes - Alex, so much of my editing after the first pass is taking out all the 'he thought' 'she thought' - I'm right with you there, but if you didn't write them, how else would you know?
Yes, Alan, I hope she keeps talking.  I think it's such a gift that sometimes (not always) these stories present themselves in the way they want to be told - like with your story.  You knew categorically it had to be 1st person, as did I.  Will rush out and buy Take A Break now!  I love writing as a man - am rubbish at it - but really like it!  Good for you - shows how good your writing is!  Did you ever see a very controversial piece Junot Diaz  wrote about men writing as women?  He got terribly yelled at I think - see if you can google it.
Thank you all again for the wisdom and support.  :)

Thanks FV,
 I did Google him as you suggested. From what my little brain gathered from this deep arguments, I'd have to agree and I do value feedback from ladies if I have the viewpoint just right. Generally i find a lot of help here.
Glad you appreciated the comments, as did I. It's an interesting subject and I wonder if any other WWers have their own ideas they might wish to share as well.
Alan

I enjoyed that Junot Diaz piece - stuff that needs saying even if (as ever, with polemics) it's a bit OTT.

On treating the talking as notes to yourself, these two posts might help. The first is about taking out the notes-to-self:
http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2010/12/the-common-scaffold.html

and this is about taking out the "explaining" - the places where you've done too much ruminating in and around the central thought or action:

http://emmadarwin.typepad.com/thisitchofwriting/2014/07/filtering.html

I think the latter is a particular risk where you have the MC as the narrator: whatever happens, obviously, the character would be thinking about it, as well as experiencing it, and one's awfully inclined to pile all that in, so nothing happens without being thought about, explainined, deconstructed and ... having its teeth pulled, in other words. It's not, obviously, that your character should never reflect, but that you want to save it up for the moments when it's going to make a difference to what happens next...
 
Edited by EmmaD at 13:53:00 on 08 February 2015

That's really helpful Emma, thank you.  Off to have a look now, but yes, I seem to be ruminating - I'm hoping as I get used to it, I will do it less!

fv,
I didn't realise how impressive your previous writing successes were until I checked around on Google last night. Well done. Seems wierd me thinking I can possible give you advice that you don't alredy know.

LOL Alan!!!  There's just stuff on google because I self-publish - and to be honest EmmaD taught me how to write, so I always post when I'm stuck and rush off and read what she suggests!!!!

You have not insulted my intelligence or experience!!!  I loved what you said as it's very true.  No one can be objective about their own work, can they?  

I get stuck alot - especially with technique.  Also crises of confidence, which is why it is so brilliant to have people to talk to about it.  :):)  Thank you though.  :)

an agent once said to me that, in order to really get inside your character's head, it's helpful to write your first draft in the first person even if you intend to make it third person later. I think it's great that your character's voice is invading so much. I would say Let it!  And then you can cut chunks out later, which is immensely satisfying, and just leave in the stuff that really counts.

in order to really get inside your character's head, it's helpful to write your first draft in the first person even if you intend to make it third person later.

Yes, classic trick, and it really, really works. Or try it later: draft in third person, but use the into-first trick to get closer in and find their voice for at least some of it. Then switch back and re-draft having found that, and working hard to use that closer-in stuff in third.

It's that business of finding a character's voice that I still struggle with. My characters all seem to end up sounding the same, no matter how different their personalities. I have occasionally played with going into first-person, to bring a scene, or part of one, into very close focus, but it doesn't seem to affect how the person sounds.

The only time I really felt that I'd found distinctive voices, was with a story which I recently wrote, which came out completely in first-person. That experience suggests the advice to draft in first-person is sound, so perhaps I need to try it with more than just bits of scenes. But I do find it very difficult to imagine different voices for my characters.

It does take practice, if you don't have a natural bent for it (just as many of us aren't natural mimics in RL - one of several reasons I decided not to become an actor was because because I'm crap and accents and dialect).

But you can do some things cold-bloodedly, thinking about sentence length, structure, vocabulary, what sort of figurative language/similes/metaphors, tone etc. etc.

Do you think Alex, you might be worrying too much about 'voice' before you start?  It's a very tricky topic, which we are told to concentrate on, but I think I don't really know what it is.  Maybe if someone else were reading your work, they wouldn't feel everyone sounded the same?