Writing Advice: First Person

This question I got from @ChidChud last month and did not answer it, though I meant to.

What tips and tricks do you have for writing first person PoV? Specifically, I noticed you're able to put your characters voice and personality into descriptions of scenes and events from their persepctive. What way can writers better bring the reader into the character's head?

I’m gonna back up to start and talk a little bit about the process whereby I choose what POV to use in a story. Often this comes down to feel: do I feel close enough to the character to write in first person? Sometimes first feels natural and sometimes third does. Functionally, tight third person (as opposed to omniscient third person where you are a distant narrator who knows and tells the reader things that the characters are unaware of) function pretty much the same in terms of bringing the reader into the character’s head, but first gives you more of a chance to make the story depend a lot more on what the narrating character thinks and perceives, such that you can make the story appear to be about one thing and then reveal (to the character and the reader simultaneously) that there’s more going on, or something different. This is one way to create what is known as an unreliable narrator, someone who tells a story that relies on their perceptions and is therefore not what the reader might think of as the “whole truth.” In some cases, the narrator is deliberately misleading the reader (there is an Agatha Christie mystery like this, although to tell you which one would be to spoil it; you can click the above link if you want to know); in other cases the narrator is unaware they are misleading the reader (as in Kazuo Ishiguro’s When We Were Orphans).

But let’s say we’ve decided on our first person POV. Bringing the reader into the character’s head comes down to the way we have the character describe the world they see, and the way they react to it. So there are three areas to focus on.

First: word choice. The words a character uses to relate the story to the reader are important. Some characters talk formally, others casually, some with flowery language and some with barebones. As an extreme example you have the beginning of A Clockwork Orange:

“What's it going to be then, eh?”

There was me, that is Alex, and my three droogs, that is Pete, Georgie, and Dim, Dim being really dim, and we sat in the Korova Milkbar making up our rassoodocks what to do with the evening, a flip dark chill winter bastard though dry.

But not all of us are Anthony Burgess (nor necessarily want to be). Here’s Moby Dick:

Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world.

You can already see how, even though we know nothing of the story, just the first sentences give us an idea of who the narrator is in each case, and how they differ.

Second: What details of the world does the character notice? Two characters sitting in the same cafe might notice very different details. One might tell the reader about the warmth, the smell of coffee, the paintings on the walls from local artists and how could anyone charge $100 for that picture of a bee? The other might tell the reader that the barista has slumped shoulders, the person waiting for their order can’t stand still, the lady with the flowery hat is obviously breaking up with the lady in the business suit. What your character notices tells the reader a lot about them.

Third: Reactions. The way your character interacts with the world reveals their nature best. This is true in any story, by the way, not just first person ones—make your character interact with other characters or with the world and you’ll show the reader their nature. With first person, you have a chance to build on that, though: you can tell the reader what the character thinks, and show them what they do. For example (this one I’m just making up):

“Hey Frank!”

I turned to see Jerry the cacomistle waving, a broad smile on his face. Shit.

“Hey, Jerry. Good to see you.” I raised my paw slightly in return, my mind racing for an excuse to get me out of here.

We know that your character doesn’t dislike Jerry, but finds him annoying (or maybe just doesn’t want to talk to him at this point in time). We also know that your character is polite enough to not want Jerry to know this.

Also note that the narration doesn’t say: “Jerry was annoying but a nice guy, so I couldn’t bring myself to be mean to him.” The reactions and actions do all that work. If you want to add more depth, you could have the thoughts go into why Jerry is annoying, but otherwise you’re just telling the reader what they can already get from the rest of the scene. For example:

I turned to see Jerry the cacomistle waving, a broad smile on his face. Shit. I absolutely did not have time for an extended discourse on whatever the latest fucking conspiracy theory to come out of the Internet was.

Now we know a little more about Jerry, too, filtered through Frank’s first person.

Those are basically the tips I’ve got for bringing the reader into the character’s head! A lot of it comes down to thinking as the character and writing the way the character would relate their own story, which is something you can do with practice.