Writing a Novel...?

Question

When writing a narrative story, I tend to say 'I jumped . I sat up . I did this' I - I - I....
Is there any other way of describing what the narrarator is doing wothout always saying 'I'

Answer 1

That's kinda difficult for me to think of what all you could us instead of I as you're talking first person. I can't really think of many words for the narrator to use about themselves besides I. The only others I can come up with are my, myself, me, and, if the narrator is talking about themselves with others or if the narrator is refering to themselves as like being part of a group, we.

In the examples you use, the narrator could easily use we instead of I to refer to just themselves (think about various movies and shows where one of the characters is supposed to be England's Queen Vitoria and she says things like "We are not amused" instead of "I am not amused"). So you could have "We jumped," "We sat up," and "We did this." Though personally I'd tend to look at it meaning two or more people doing this as it sounds a little pompous for a single person to use we for just themselves. However, it does offer a different word to use instead of using I all the time.

The story is a bit different if you use my and me in the place of I. For the narrator to say "My jumped," "Myself jumped," "Me jumped," "My sat up," "Myself sat up," "Me sat up," "My did this," "Myself did this," and "Me did this" makes them sound either less intelligent than they may be meant to be or else it makes them sound like their making fun of people. So things have to be written a different way. "Jumping to my feet," "It caused me to jump," "Sitting myself up," "Doing it myself."

Answer 2

The idea is to use I as little as possible, although in some cases you do have to use it. Also, you don't want to be telling people all that you are doing.

For instance, instead of "I saw a truck screech around the corner" == "A red pick-up rounded the corner with a terrifying squeal. It barely missed careening into a telephone pole before righting itself and continuing on at a pace signficantly above the speed limit."

It is already taken for granted that you are the one seeing it. Now, try to skip the I saw, etc. and just describe the picture so you can see THROUGH your eyes, not be told that you are seeing something.

Answer 3

Don't write a narrative novel, those are very hard. Use the same story line, but use fictional characters to follow your story line. Then at the begining of your novel, put "based on a true story"

Answer 4

Many authors, good and bad, have written in the first person. Personally, I believe that works best in short stories intended for immediate impact and not novels. You could also put it in another character's perspective, for example . . . "When she saw that I had jumped, she screamed." Not very good as it is, but just for example purposes. "Upon jumping, I noticed that there was a very low ceiling" wold be something else you could do, but I would look up before you jump (ha ha).

Answer 5

Jumping in...
Sitting up...
If you use a gerund as your verb, you have a pretty good shot at not saying "I"
Jumping in... ... the water was freezing.
And so on.

Answer 6

You can change it slightly. Instead of saying 'I jumped across the gap'. You can say 'Jumping across the space.....'

Answer 7

try skipping the pronouns like ''sitting by the fire thinking...''or ''while reading...''or ''use phrases like putting my feet at rest...saying these kind of things will reduce some of ur ''I,I I'' s...

Answer 8

use the second person he, she, them, and stuff u should get a better edge on English literature