Finding perspective

I recently started a story from the third person (he / she / they), and then decided half way through to change it to first person (I / Me /Us) because I thought the story would be stronger if my character told it. There are of course limitations - you can only rely on what your character knows, unless you use more than one voice or an omniscient narrator, but switching between them can become tricky to manage.

Deciding which person to use is fundamental to your writing, and will shape the story - it gives the perspective the reader will see. The omniscient all seeing narrator is the easiest perspective to use as you're not limited in what you can reveal or show - the reader is privy to the thoughts of any character, and different views can be shown, as well as how each character responds to the events.

Writing from the first person is more limited, and therefore more challenging, but it gives the opportunity to to inhabit your character, to become the 'I' who is telling the story. These characters are often the ones that stick in the mind at the end of the novel.

So how do you decide which person to use?

- Some short story markets specify a preference for writing in the third person, and won't accept first person stories. If you want to be published by them, you have to follow their rules.

- For me, the answer is whichever works best to tell your story. Usually when I start a story, I start it as either first or third person, and then stick with it, as that is the way the story is unfolding in my mind. It's rare for me to go back and change the perspective, but in this instance, I think it works well. The short story was a competition entry, so we'll see if it paid off.

- If in doubt, try changing the voice of the story from third person to first, and see what happens. Is the story better for it? Or does it work the way originally written? If you save it as a version 2 you still have the original to go back to

- Look at some of your favourite novels, and see which person is used - would the story have worked if it were different?

Whatever the story, tell it from the perspective that you think will do the story justice.