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Guidelines for writing Poems, Stories and Tales

First person narrative – pros and cons

The advantage of first person is that you can immediately connect with the reader. The disadvantage is that the author is limited to writing from one perspective. There are several types of first person narrators: The Protagonist – This is the main character.

What are the cons of first person narrative?

Limited Viewpoint



This limits the amount of information or background in the story. The reader doesn’t get to see the action from any other character’s point of view. The story gives one main person’s experience and view on anything that happens. For this reason, the story can miss out on different angles.

What is the advantage of first person narrative?

The biggest advantage of first person point of view is how deeply it delves into the mind of the narrator. No other point of view is as close. In first person, the reader gets to see all of the narrator’s thoughts, feelings, and knowledge.

What is a limitation of the first-person narrator?

Perhaps the biggest limitation with first person point of view is that you don’t have access to anyone else’s interiority. In close third person, you don’t really, either, but in omniscient third person, you can “head hop” to your heart’s content and access any number of characters. First person POV limits you.

What is a con to first person point of view?

Your story is told through one person’s perspective.



This can limit your story, because your character might not have the vocabulary or skill set or experience to tell the story. Think of children, people with learning difficulties, or very naïve people.

Why is first person narrative unreliable?

To some extent, all first person narrators are unreliable. After all, they’re recounting events filtered through their own unique set of experiences, beliefs and biases. There isn’t just one absolute experience of reality.

Why should you avoid using the first person perspective?

The first person point of view is considered informal, and is not encouraged in academic writing. First person can appear to weaken the credibility of the writer in research and argument, as it reads as the writer’s personal opinion.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of narrative method?

The advantages of narrative text, which is defined by the presence of a narrator, are obvious: the author can create new voices, spin new worlds and indulge in what Stephen King calls the “fiction-writer’s purest delight, total fabrication.” The disadvantages include the blurred line between fantasy and reality that

What are the disadvantages of narrative method?

Some critics of narrative research emphasize the limitations of the place of stories in people’s lives, and in the social and political world. Stories can be comforting fictions that people tell themselves; they may divert us from deeper, more intractable and more important concerns.

What are the disadvantages of narrative writing?

The Disadvantage of Narrative: Too Much Truth, Too Soon



By contrast, the main disadvantage in narrative writing is the unspoken bargain between author and reader to stay true to both the truth and the fiction.