There is a curious detail in 1 Nephi 10:1
And now I, Nephi, proceed to give an account upon of my proceedings, and my reign and ministry
What reign? At this point, Nephi is likely a teenager who has just left Jerusalem with his family. The first time reader does not yet know that it is a much older Nephi that is reflecting on his life and writing about his experiences. And if they have guessed that much, they don't know much about this older Nephi and what kind of reign this is referring to.
For the rest of 1 Nephi, he keeps narrating his experiences, temporal and spiritual, from earlier in his life. Not until 2 Nephi 5, we learn about the background for his writing and the reference to reigning. In this chapter, Nephi is in the promised land and establishes a society of those who hearken to the commandments of the Lord, after which we read:
18 And it came to pass that they would that I should be their . But I, Nephi, was desirous that they should have no king; nevertheless, I did for them according to that which was in my power.
Even though he doesn't want the title of king, he is a leader of this group, and his people regard him more or less as king. In Jacob 1:10-11, we read
10 The people having loved Nephi exceedingly, he having been a great protector for them, having wielded the of Laban in their defence, and having labored in all his days for their welfare—
11 Wherefore, the people were desirous to retain in remembrance his name. And whoso should reign in his stead were called by the people, second Nephi, third Nephi, and so forth...
Later in 2 Nephi 5, we learn that it is during this reign established in 2 Nephi 5 that Nephi is commanded to make the so-called small plates and engrave the words that we now have in 1 and 2 Nephi.
30 And it came to pass that the Lord God said unto me: other plates; and thou shalt engraven many things upon them which are good in my sight, for the profit of thy people.
31 Wherefore, I, Nephi, to be obedient to the commandments of the Lord, went and made upon which I have engraven these things.
In this context, obviously 1 Nephi 10:1 makes sense. But it is not the first time that we get these subtle details that do not make sense until we get the explanation afterwards. In fact, this is quite similar to how we are introduced to Mormon. In the Words of Mormon, we suddenly get a snapshot of the situation several hundred years from where the Book of Omni left off. There is some uncertainty about whether the Words of Mormon came first or last in the dictation sequence. But another one of those details is in Mosiah 18 where we get introduced to the background for Mormon's name, without knowing. Not until 3 Nephi 5, Mormon properly introduces himself and explains that he is named after the place that tells about the converts in Mosiah 18 (see 3 Nephi 5:12).
Some people claim that a poorly educated young farmer just made this all up. He would have to be very clever to complicate the narrative and drop these hints and get back to them later to connect the dots, all to make it seem authentic. This is something he apparently could do seamlessly in essentially one draft with his face in a hat. I don't buy it. Nephi and Mormon were actual people, writing to obey God's commandments for our benefit.
