Why Write In First-Person

This article about why you and I should write in first-person is likely my shortest blog post ever… but still very important because it talks about how to build our influence and credibility.

I learned early in my career that in order to write in first person use the pronouns ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘my’ and ‘mine’. And then, when talking of many people use ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’ and ‘ours’.

When writing in first-person I’m able to help readers get a stronger feeling of being part of the story / part of the action. The action feels much more like a real experience or opinion which builds credibility for me and the information I’m sharing. Doing this also is also more likely to build a stronger relationship and greater trust. This helps my audience believe the story because they feel I am sharing information and experiences directly and intentionally with them.

Building a strong sense of connection and trust developed through writing in first-person gives greater opportunity / likelihood for readers to not only be informed but also for their point of view influenced by my experiences and my story.

A word of caution, avoid starting every sentence with the word ‘I’. It is far too easy to overuse the word ‘I’ when writing in first-person, like starting sentences with ‘I went’ or ‘I did’ or ‘I felt’ or ‘I thought’. Watch out for this bad habit. When I started caring more about my writing I found that with a little practice this became easier. For example, instead of writing “I felt overwhelmed by all of the activity” perhaps write “There was so much activity it was impossible to concentrate”.

Please know that this is not a complete guide to writing in the first-person, but I do hope it has provided encouragement and some useful how to and why to information.

Be well and happy communicating.