Use of the word " I " in narration.

[manuscriptx]

When writing a novel using the writer's own self as a character, how often or appropriate should use of the word " I " be used when describing every other moment along each scene?

Once every three or four sentences? Or far wider than that?

 

[Eva]

It's true that too much use of "I" can start to sound self-indulgent. This applies to any first-person narration, whether it's autobiography in disguise or not. But I don't think you should try to follow a formula, counting sentences and so forth. Use "I" when it naturally occurs in the storytelling, but balance that with attention to other characters. This will help keep the use of "I" from sounding self-absorbed.

 

[Writer44]

Eva has it right. Read it out loud and if you "hear" too many I's, well, then rework it.

 

[elena1m]

Think of it this way. When deep in thought (your own personal narrative, your self talk), how often do you say "I"? Maybe I am not clear. When describing the charcters stream of conciousness you should focus on the images, sounds, experiences of the character. It is your voice. How does your inner voice sound? Then you could cut out some of the I's and go from there.

 

[clairebearr]

personally, I's don't bug me too much...unless it's like...
I ran away
I saw him coming towards me.
I started to run faster.
vary sentence structure, and you should be good.

 

[WriterJohnB]

"I" is an almost invisible word, like he or said or was. These words are perfectly good and should sound natural, as long as they're not terribly over-used and sentence structure is varied. They only begin to detract from narration when you try to avoid them by using another word in their place.

This is usually done in "book-saidisms," where words like retorted, expostulated, interjected are used instead of said. General rule: keep it simple.

Hope that helps,

Johnb

 

[BronwenWPhoenix]

It just depends on the story and what flows best, in my opinion. It should sound natural and easy to read, and a bit of variation stops it from being boring, too.