First or Third

I recently finished a manuscript unlike anything I've ever written. It's contemporary Urban fantasy - which isn't that odd for me. What's odd is that it's written in first person. I've never written first person before, but for some reason, this story just wanted to come out that way.

But I've been struggling with the rewrites. There are areas where it just seemed right to write third person, but I kept to the style I'd started with. I finished the story, and, according to my crit partners, it's one of the best I've ever written.

But the story is slow. First person is too much telling. The character tends to "talk" too much - she's telling the story, but it slows the action down.

At the same time, I'm taking an advanced writing class and my instructor believes it would move faster if I rewrote it all in third person.

An intriguing idea, but completely rewriting a 300 page book from first to third? Ouch. I'm not sure I'm ready to do that.

And yet...

Ah, the challenges of being a writer.