First person POV and better dialogue

I write in 3rd and 1st primarily, and every once in a while I'll play with others.  I'm well into a novel, a little over 40k words, and it seems to me that my dialogue is just on, it's sharper, more meaningful.  It also occurred to me that it might have something to do with writing in first person.  My last two books have been in 3rd. 

There is the notion that it's easier to get into a character in 1st, easier to play the role, easier to feel what the character's feeling, easier to find the voice, but does this have a positive influence on the dialogue you write? 

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Comments

[Carole McDonnell]

I find it very difficult to write in 3rd person. The story tends to feel as if I'm simply writing directions for a play. Very clunky. But if I make it a very stylized story or make it deep pov then it works better. I tend to avoid 3rd though. First is best for me...and I think it has to do with reading a lotta poetry when I was younger... the persona is already there. -C

[Chris Howard]

Hi Carole!

I'm just the opposite. I've always preferred 3rd, even in reading. But I like writing in 1st.

[Pam Phillips]

I've never liked wearings masks, so I find it much easier to write in third person.

[Sylvia]

I usually write in 1st, though I've never noticed if it has much impact on dialogue. But I write in it because I like wearing masks, heh. The 1st person narrator emphatically is NOT me. (Esp. if said narrator is male._
And I like the limits and constraints writing in 1st imposes on what the character sees, as opposed to what the reader sees. A 1st person narrator can, I think, be more vividly self-revelatory than 3rd person narration ever is.

S

[Chris Howard]

Pam: I don't see that much difference between 1st and 3rd if by masks you're saying play the role of the character. I do like omniscient 3rd, in that I'm not locked into someone's head, but I write 3rd from one or two characters views as well.

Hey Sylvia, I think that's what I'm liking about my current book--in 1st--the constraints the POV puts on the writer. I definitely have to challenge you on this one: "A 1st person narrator can, I think, be more vividly self-revelatory than 3rd person narration ever is." The reader only gets the one view, what the character takes in, and I agree, plays well with self-revelatory, but with 3rd, an author can have both, not just inside the main character's head, but others as well. And self-revelatory really needs to be revealed to the reader, not just the character. I'm just thinking that a writer has the opportunity to bring the reader to draw a deeper understanding with more heads in the mix.