For example, a first person present tense narrator would be, “I open the window and yell at him to leave me alone. I close the window and try to focus on the latest soap opera on television. ”

For example, a first person past tense narrator would be, “I opened the window and yelled at him to leave me alone. I closed the window and tried to focus on the latest soap opera on television. ”

If you are using APA style, you can use the first person point of view to discuss your research steps in a research paper. For example, you may write, “I studied sample A” or “I interviewed subject B. ” In general, you should avoid the first person point of view and only use it sparingly in your research paper.

For example, if your narrator is a Latino teenager who lives in the Bronx, they will have a distinct narrative voice that may use Spanish phrases and teenage slang as well as standard English.

For example, rather than say, “I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. A killer spider skittered towards me and I thought, I’m dead,” focus on describing the action straight from the viewpoint of the narrator. You may write, “This couldn’t be what I was seeing. A killer spider skittered towards me. I’m dead. ”

For example, rather than write, “I tried to talk to Sara about how I felt but she didn’t want to listen to what I had to say,” you may put this content in a scene with dialogue and action. You may write instead, “‘Sara, why won’t you talk to me?’ I was determined to get her to listen to what I had to say. ”

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Moby Dick by Herman Melville The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Lucy by Jamaica Kincaid “Shooting an Elephant,” an essay by George Orwell “The Death of the Moth,” an essay by Virginia Woolf

For example, rather than have two sentences like, “I ran down the stairs, my heart pounding. I could hear the killer spider skittering on the wall behind me,” you can write, “I ran down the stairs, my heart pounding. Behind me, the killer spider skittered on the wall. ”

For example, rather than write, “I bumped into Marsha and she told me she left her homework at home. I felt sorry for her and told her not to get so upset,” you may place the reader right in a scene. You may write, “As I turned the corner of the gym, I bumped into Marsha. ‘I forgot my homework at home,’ she complained. I put my hand on her shoulder and tried to comfort her. ‘Don’t be too upset,’ I said to her. ”

For example, rather than write, “I felt sad about losing her as a friend,” you may write, “Sadness filled my body as I realized I was losing her as a friend. ” You can also often simply remove “I thought” or “I saw” in a sentence to make the first person point of view stronger. For example, rather than write, “I passed her in the hall and almost stopped to talk to her. Then, I thought, why bother, she’s just going to reject you anyway,” remove “I thought” and tighten up the action in the sentence. You may write, “I passed her in the hall and almost stopped to talk to her. But I kept walking. Why bother, she’s just going to reject me anyway. ”

You should also pay attention to the tense in the story. Make sure the story does not shift from present to past tense or vice versa. It should stay in the same tense the entire time.

You may also show the story to a writing group to get their criticisms and critiques. Be open to the feedback of others and use it to improve the first person narrator in your story.