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My personal preference is reading in 3rd. But I know it’s specifically because my brain wasn’t built to self-insert while reading.
So I process first person as if someone was sitting in front of me telling me about their life. Which is delightful, of course. But...
So I process first person as if someone was sitting in front of me telling me about their life. Which is delightful, of course. But...
...3rd person feels like a shadow box. Like being a witness. Like being close enough to eavesdrop, but far enough away to remain detached. Like being aware that you’re in love with the idea of someone rather than the whole of them.
It’s more comfortable, for a brain like mine.
It’s more comfortable, for a brain like mine.
I do think that if I grew more familiar with sitting across from a faceless friend, I could purposefully cultivate a preference for reading first person though.
But as for writing: writing third person feels to me like spying on a world through a keyhole and talking about what I’ve seen. Writing first person feels like the person sitting in front of me metaphor. But instead of a friend, it is a magic mirror.
