Just out of curiosity ...

[sholio]

Yeah, I'm using radio buttons so you have to pick one. *g* This doesn't mean that you'd never read something written in first, or rotating third -- just what you're most comfortable reading, or what might tip the balance if you had to choose between two very similar-looking books or stories. (I'm leaving off second entirely ...)

[Poll #1600796]

Feel free to elaborate on your answer in comments, if you like!

Comments

[villainny.livejournal.com]

For me I think there's a - it's odd, but it feels like arrogance to write in first person, like that person just has the character so very down pat.

It's a bizarre mindset, I totally admit that, but it is way more likely to chuck me out of a fanfic if the characterisation is even slightly not meshing with mine.

[friendshipper.livejournal.com]

No, that makes sense! (Although I agree with Zillah, below, that OCs and 1st-person canons don't strike me the same way, which is interesting ...)

I wonder if part of the problem is that it's a lot more challenging to write different, identifiable "voices" in first person -- that is, most people who write first person tend to write a very similar first person no matter which character they're writing. This is fine for original fiction -- I'm thinking here of mystery writers, who have multiple series about hard-boiled PI's who all sound pretty similar, and readers who pick up a book of the Lance Manpole series are expecting a similar reading experience to the Dick Magnum series, or, you know, whatever. But in fanfic, we already have a pretty clear idea of what John or Rodney or Teyla sounds like, and having their narrative voices sound just like the author's inner monologue voice throws you right out of a story.

(I'm not saying it's impossible to distinguish first-person voice. I've read authors who could do it really well. But I don't think you get that in fanfic much, unless they're emulating an established first-person voice, like with Dresden Files or Sherlock Holmes fic...)