First person vs third person narrative for a novel

Hi everyone, During my childhood, I was accustomed to crafting stories in the third person. As I contemplate returning to writing, I've noticed a prevalent trend of books being written in the first person. Would a third person narrative be suitable for a sci-fi novel?
Thanks

 

I think first or third would both be fine. I like to write in first person, because it seems more personal, but it can also be limiting. Anything but second person which has never been done successfully in my experience.

 

Science fiction is a very broad category. There might be other factors that would make one POV or the other more approrpiate, but either can be used effectively in many sci-fi novels. Try writing a section of it in first and then change it to third and see which works better for the story.

 

Yeah, you're fine. There do seem to be more first person narratives these days, but plenty of books, I would guess a majority, are still written in third person. Third limited is especially popular, far more common than omniscient.

 

First of third is fine. I use third-limited exclusively, which I find suits my purposes and my genre. (I haven't seen many books in first person).

The only second-person narratives I remember reading were the old "Choose Your Own Adventure" books that were around in the 80s and 90s.

 

This does seem to be true. Offhand I can only think of two novels done in first—True Grit and Huckleberry Finn. Oh, and Great Expectations. I remember because in the 90's movie version, with Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow, it uses the opening lines from the story as voiceover. Something like: "I'm not going to write these events they way they happened, but the way I remember them." I think in each of those cases first was used to get a feel for the narrator's voice (dialect, slang, colloquialisms, local flavor etc) and their personality, and to ground the whole story in their perspective, through their eyes. In fact, the quote encapsulates exactly why—it isn't a detailing of events in a non-personal newslike form, but a specific person's experience related in their own voice.

 

I also just remembered, in the Conan movie (the good one) there's a similar first-person quote, that probably comes from the book. It's the little wizard guy. Something like "In those dark days Conan wandered lost and forlorn...". Which brings to mind stories like Sherlock Holmes. Were those in first, narrated by Watson? Seems likely.

EDIT—no, I checked the Sample on Amazon. That Conan quote is from a preface or whatever, a section from an ancient book called The Nemedian Chronicles. They just had the wizard say some of it in voiceover to get a little of that flavor and information into the movie. After that it's in third. Holmes is written in first by Watson, at least the one I checked.

 

I prefer limited 3rd, though I don't really experience a difference between the two once I'm a few pages in.

That said, I was reading Will Save the Galaxy for Food the other day, and it used first person POV to subtly avoid telling us the protagonist's name. The pilot hops from one pseudonym to another as far as the other characters are concerned, which would lead to a bit of noun confusion in 3rd person. And either I'm not very perceptive or Croshaw played a clever trick: I only realised I didn't know the character's real name about half way through the book. It made me feel like I had fallen for the pilot's charisma without realising it. Great moment.

I've changed names and pronouns in narration to make a point before (and a lot of my POVs are unreliable to some extent), but I've always started with something. In 3rd person, intentionally avoiding a name altogether will call attention to the reader with vague terms like 'the pilot' or 'the woman,' but in first person it's still I this and I that, so it can catch the reader off guard.

 

There are a lot, like a lot a lot. There are so many that I can't imagine how this conversation is happening. Google it. You'll find list after list, tons of famous novels on the first page alone. (It's possible you're forgetting some you've come across?)

 

Possibly. While reading Xoic's reply (where he lists True Grit, Huckleberry Finn, and Great Expectations), I remembered another -- Treasure Island. (I haven't read it myself, but I know it starts with Jim Hawkins describing the old sea captain and his chantey - yo ho ho, and a bottle of rum!)

After googling it, I found 9 more:

- The Hunger Games

- Catching Fire

- Divergent

- Mockingjay

- The Catcher in the Rye

- The Fault in Our Stars

- To Kill a Mockingbird

- The Bell Jar

- Jane Eyre

I haven't read any of these, though. They're not in the genre I write. (I remember trying to read Wuthering Heights and Crime and Punishment, and being bored senseless by them both).