Dilemma as an apsiring author...

As many of you know I wrote a novel in November 2013 during the NaNoWriMo. After which I edited it and wrote the 2nd draft. Now I am currently reading it through before handing it out to beta-readers. Everything seems to be going well, right? ... not exactly...

It all happened a couple of days ago. I was writing a story for a writing competition I'm participating in. That story is written in 3rd person limited. Actually... most of what I write is in 3rd person limited. Except for my current novel. This one is in 1st person. And I thought it worked really well when I first wrote it. But then, as I was reading it through, I realised something: My world is so empty.

Because it is in 1st person, there is no reason for the characters to talk about what happened to the world and therefore it is hard as a reader to understand why things are as they are. Beside that I found that writing description is so much easier in 3rd person limited than 1st person, because in 1st person you can only describe what the character sees. That is not a problem in 3rd person limited; here I could describe the world as much as I liked without breaking the viewpoint. That option I currently do not have.

On top of the fact that I write better in 3rd person limited, I have also found that I enjoy reading in that perspective more as well. It's kinda stupid, but I feel like, when reading 1st person, that the author is telling me what to do. I know... I'm a freak. 

So this is kind of a dilemma. I have already finished the 2nd draft in 1st person, so wouldn't it be kind of a waste throwing that away just to write it all over in 3rd person... well no. I know it will be much better in 3rd person, or at least I hope so. I'll write the 1st chapter in 3rd person later tonight just to get a feel of where the story could go in that perspective. 

So yes. I will probably have to rewrite the entire novel once again, but it is okay. It just means that I am dedicated to my work and want it to be the best possible thing I can craft at the current moment in time.

Now I understand how it can take years for authors to write their books. 

Keep Calm and Write On.

- Nanna.