It's interesting - because every writing teacher I've had has told their students not to write in first person. They also tell them not to write sci-fi or fantasy stories - because they'll spend all their time with the world/mythology and forget to build any interesting characters. (Personally I think this can happen in anything, Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code comes to mind.)
Yet, I know writers who write best in first person. Jim Butcher certainly does. And their third person just doesn't quite work. So I think it depends on the writer. Also you can just as easily over-identify and write about yourself in third person. The style doesn't necessarily prevent this.
So, like all things...I think it may well depend on the writer.
As an aside - so agree on Anne Rice and Laurell K. Hamilton - they were doing fine until they started over-identifying.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2010-09-06 03:48 am (UTC)Yet, I know writers who write best in first person. Jim Butcher certainly does. And their third person just doesn't quite work.
So I think it depends on the writer. Also you can just as easily over-identify and write about yourself in third person. The style doesn't necessarily prevent this.
So, like all things...I think it may well depend on the writer.
As an aside - so agree on Anne Rice and Laurell K. Hamilton - they were doing fine until they started over-identifying.