For the past several months I’ve been trying to force myself to write in first person. It fits the genre and I love my opening paragraph, which only works in first person. The trouble is that I find it difficult to tell a story in first person narration. And this is causing a lot of struggles.

Yes, I succeeded in completing a first draft in first person narration, but when I went back to read my writing, it felt stale. It was lacking the excitement and energy of things I’ve written in third person. Yet for some reason, I keep clinging to this idea that the story must be in first person. But why?

So what if a lot of books in the genre rely on first person narration? So what if I have to rewrite my first paragraph? If I’m not comfortable writing in that style, if I lack the talent to write in that style, none of the reasons to retain it will matter because no one will ever want to read my book, and that, after all, is what makes you a novelist – you need readers. And this leads me to my current dilemma – should I rewrite the entire first draft to fit within a form I’m comfortable writing in, or should I try to stretch myself and step outside of my comfort zone?

What would you do in my shoes? Do you prefer first person to third person? Or do you let the story dictate your plan of attack?