<p>Is it okay to write about yourself in the third person, as if you were a character in a story or novel? Or would that seem too weird or make them think you have some sort of personality disorder even if it was lighthearted?</p>
<p>As a rule, you can get away with anything if you’re a good writer.</p>
<p>Then again, as the old Billie Holliday song says: “One never knows, does one?”</p>
<p>OP: Why does mhc48 want to use the third person?</p>
<p>Sytlistic, I believe. She has written it as if she is reviewing a book about the person. More of a breezy sort of “review” in a magazine than a formal school book report.</p>
<p>ADad is not against stylistic idiosyncrasies that support the essay by revealing the writer in a way that other styles might not. He wonders, though, how this particular idiosyncrasy will reveal mhc48 without seeming forced, or seeming as if mhc48 were straining to be “different” rather than just being herself. </p>
<p>Does mhc48 think that this technique will hold up well under a second reading, when the novelty has worn off?</p>
<p>Silverturtle considers this risky. He recommends writing a part of it and then asking around for thoughts on whether the style is working.</p>
<p>Aspheric likes this thread.</p>
<p>Sorry all, we were away. Took a break from the essay and this forum.</p>
<p>On subsequent thought and review, D decided to write her essay in first person. that makes it a bit more difficult in other ways. It “seems” awkward to her to keep writing and seeing the personal pronoun “I”. To which I’ve responded, this is probably the one place and time when it’s not only okay but necessay to write about yourself. Instead she is looking for stylistic ways to make its recurrence less frequent. Also somethings and characteristics seem easier to say and write about from the outside than from the inside. But we - she - is working through all those.</p>