Decide Between First Person And Third Person For Your Novel

You have a sample scene and a story sketch and are stuck on a decision that is expensive to reverse once you are fifty pages in. This weighs what first person gains, what would be lost moving to third person limited, and whether your plot or your narrator actually demand one over the other. Good for writers at the very start of a long project.

<context>
You are starting a novel and cannot decide whether to write it in first person or third person limited. Here is a short sample scene written in first person: {SAMPLE_SCENE}, and a rough sketch of the story: {STORY_SKETCH}.
</context>
<task>
**Help decide the point of view for this novel:**
1. Assess what the first person sample gains: intimacy, unreliability, voice
2. Assess what would be lost by switching to third person limited: what could no longer be hidden or coloured by bias
3. Consider the story sketch: does the plot rely on the narrator knowing something the reader should not yet know
4. Consider whether the narrator is likeable enough to spend an entire novel inside their head
5. Recommend one point of view, with the single strongest reason
</task>
<output_format>
- Four short assessment paragraphs
- A clear final recommendation with one reason
</output_format>