First Person (Sigh)

[Gauderbock]

I'm well aware of the rule concerning first person narratives. However, the extended writer guidelines explicitly state the following:

Using “we” when it refers to the reader and writer, or humanity in general, is acceptable.

So I used something like "We're all aware of..." once in an article, referring to how humanity in general is aware of the thing it's aware of.

I pretty much expected a rejection, and wasn't disappointed.

I resubmitted with a note to the editor pointing out the extended guidelines, and asking for clarification, and it was rejected again without clarification.

So, it's easy enough to work around, but sometimes "we" is just the right thing to use in this situation.

Have I just got an obstinate editor? Or do the guidelines need a change?

Any thoughts anyone?

[GailF]

I also had the same experience with this. Just changed the article

[Lysis]

yeah, I was getting away with "let's" for a while and not anymore. It's kinda annoy.

[KinsleyRoyale]

I was also nabbed saying something like "We've all seen..."

[MrSteve51]

Oh yeah. I've got used to writing "Everyone knows..." instead of "We all know..." but when I'm editing I still find the odd "Let's say..." when I'm introducing an example of something. It's so much less formal that "For example...", while "Imagine that..." makes the example seem far-fetched and unlikely.

I get that the guidelines are there to prevent first-person narratives and opinion pieces, but when following the guidelines leads to awkward phrasing rather than natural flow, it doesn't feel like they're doing a good job.

[KinsleyRoyale]

I wonder what they'd say if you just put "Say..." instead of "Let's say"

I never before thought "we" was first person and had to google it to see if that was true lol, I guess because I think of we as collective.