This an except from the article How to Get Out of Your Own Way When Writing. This is advice from an accomplished author named Elizabeth Knox
"I prefer reading, and writing, in the third person – “he walked along the shore,” rather than the first person, “I walked along the shore.” Many novice writers start writing in the first person. There are some very good reasons for that. For a start, we’re all used to telling stories with ourselves at their centers. Also, using a first-person voice can be a kind of playacting. They narrator is a “not-you” you’re pretending to be.
Why I like the third person is because it’s very flexible, particularly in the way it’s able to handle time in a story. But the handling of time in the third person is a subject for a longer blog post.
Something the third person does that you are going to want to do is to make it far easier to show your character from the outside. I get very impatient with first-person books that want to describe their characters by having them look at themselves in mirrors! Or, worse, there’s the description by humble-brag. For example:
I hate the way my hair never stays confined to its clips, but bursts out, a cloud of shameful, brilliant red, so unlike the hair of every other girl in my school.
Yuck.
Or:
I crossed the room to the window, my robe rippling against all the curves of my body.
Hmmmm. If she’s alone in the room then she’s being very lascivious about herself.
If you change the second example to the third person you’re still going to have to add someone else in the room for the passage to make any sense. And whoever that someone is, they become the story.
She slipped from between her warm sheets and went to the window. The cool breeze pushed her robe against her body, and the bedchamber guard, who had been at his post all night, moved his eyes to watch her, although for him to pay any attention to anything apart from black-clad assassins and choking fits was strictly disallowed, and punishable by death.
See – story.
The third person simply gives the story more places to go."
"I prefer reading, and writing, in the third person – “he walked along the shore,” rather than the first person, “I walked along the shore.” Many novice writers start writing in the first person. There are some very good reasons for that. For a start, we’re all used to telling stories with ourselves at their centers. Also, using a first-person voice can be a kind of playacting. They narrator is a “not-you” you’re pretending to be.
Why I like the third person is because it’s very flexible, particularly in the way it’s able to handle time in a story. But the handling of time in the third person is a subject for a longer blog post.
Something the third person does that you are going to want to do is to make it far easier to show your character from the outside. I get very impatient with first-person books that want to describe their characters by having them look at themselves in mirrors! Or, worse, there’s the description by humble-brag. For example:
I hate the way my hair never stays confined to its clips, but bursts out, a cloud of shameful, brilliant red, so unlike the hair of every other girl in my school.
Yuck.
Or:
I crossed the room to the window, my robe rippling against all the curves of my body.
Hmmmm. If she’s alone in the room then she’s being very lascivious about herself.
If you change the second example to the third person you’re still going to have to add someone else in the room for the passage to make any sense. And whoever that someone is, they become the story.
She slipped from between her warm sheets and went to the window. The cool breeze pushed her robe against her body, and the bedchamber guard, who had been at his post all night, moved his eyes to watch her, although for him to pay any attention to anything apart from black-clad assassins and choking fits was strictly disallowed, and punishable by death.
See – story.
The third person simply gives the story more places to go."
Thursday
Kyle is the worst boyfriend ever! The party ended with me in a coma. Apparently there was alcohol in my drink. I had an overdose and it almost killed me. Kyle swears he didn't do it. I want to believe him. I really want to. I know Kyle had done it because I know saw him poor something in there. At first I thought it was water or something to make it sweeter. It wasn't water. I couldn't go to school today because they were pumping the alcohol out of my system or something. I'm not entirely sure what happened. All I know is that for a couple if minutes I was pronounced dead. My heartbeat soon started thumping again but I was in a coma. My parents were so worried. I thought for sure they would be dead from shock. Kyle is banned from coming near me. My dad implied that rule. My mom kept crying whenever she talked to me. All she could manage to get out of her mouth besides whimpers were muffled words. I don't think I'll be seeing Kyle for a while now.
Kyle is the worst boyfriend ever! The party ended with me in a coma. Apparently there was alcohol in my drink. I had an overdose and it almost killed me. Kyle swears he didn't do it. I want to believe him. I really want to. I know Kyle had done it because I know saw him poor something in there. At first I thought it was water or something to make it sweeter. It wasn't water. I couldn't go to school today because they were pumping the alcohol out of my system or something. I'm not entirely sure what happened. All I know is that for a couple if minutes I was pronounced dead. My heartbeat soon started thumping again but I was in a coma. My parents were so worried. I thought for sure they would be dead from shock. Kyle is banned from coming near me. My dad implied that rule. My mom kept crying whenever she talked to me. All she could manage to get out of her mouth besides whimpers were muffled words. I don't think I'll be seeing Kyle for a while now.
What a change Such a dramatic change
Once I was small and ignored
Now I'm called when their bored
Or looking for a friend
To talk to till the end I use to be invisible
Now I feel invincible
They can't hurt me
Look at what I can be
This is new
Something almost true
That great feeling
Was somewhat appealing
But soon disappeared
Whenever I neared
Now I am small
No longer tall
Completely ignored
Always bored
It happened so fast Invisible in the past
Then became invincible
And immediately back to invisible
It changes everyday I don't know what to say
Maybe it won't stay the same
I'll be forever lame
Once I was small and ignored
Now I'm called when their bored
Or looking for a friend
To talk to till the end I use to be invisible
Now I feel invincible
They can't hurt me
Look at what I can be
This is new
Something almost true
That great feeling
Was somewhat appealing
But soon disappeared
Whenever I neared
Now I am small
No longer tall
Completely ignored
Always bored
It happened so fast Invisible in the past
Then became invincible
And immediately back to invisible
It changes everyday I don't know what to say
Maybe it won't stay the same
I'll be forever lame