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 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?

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the1stdaughter
sdficklin
ReNu
Novel-Goddess
aresity
imaginary
abonilla
pronetoidiocy
Ren
emilycross
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emilycross
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1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? Empty
PostSubject: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySun Feb 08, 2009 4:59 am

Ok come here to discuss your favourite/worse type of narrative technique - do you prefer to write and read 1st person books due to the intimacy or do you feel third person limited is just as good? let us know here.
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Ren
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Ren


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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySun Feb 08, 2009 12:52 pm

I think that you can describe just as much intimacy in third person as you can in first. That being said, I really enjoy both. About half of my WIPs are in 3rd, and half in 1st. Wings, for example, is a story about spiritual realization, inner chi and all the fantasy demons and vampires I could throw in. Basically. (It's really complicated. Tara, the main character, has a habit of telling me something AFTER I write that chapter. "Oh, by the way, you need to mention this sometime..." so there's a lot of re-writing.) And for that, I really needed to switch to first person. But for some of my other stories 3rd person works better because of the range of characters.

I guess to the point of the thread - my favorite perspective is the one that best suits the story.

What about everyone else?

<3 Ren
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pronetoidiocy
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1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? Empty
PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySun Feb 08, 2009 2:08 pm

I can honestly say that I never ever read a first person novel until somebody gave me Twilight. I think because I was so used to reading third person and writing in third person that I couldn't accept anything different.

That being said, I also focus a lot on tense. If I'm going to buy a book, I always look through to make sure the writing isn't in present progressive. "I walk the car. I look across the room. I stare at the boy." For some reason, I can't handle that. Some may enjoy this, but I have a strange need for writing to be in past tense.

So yes, I write most of my stories in third person, but I have tried first person and the advantage to that is that you can more easily describe what your character is thinking.
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abonilla
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySun Feb 08, 2009 2:25 pm

I don't really feel that the POV is as important as a compelling voice. I enjoy equally first person, third person, multiple POV (which is how I choose to write). You're in the character's head no matter what. A third person narrator can get a character's emotions across just as easily as the first person. It's all great! Your voice as as a writer is what makes the POV special.
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imaginary
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySun Feb 08, 2009 5:00 pm

Although, I love to write in 1st person, which I do 90% of the time, lately I've started to write more and more in 3rd. I guess it all depends on how you want to tell the story. 3rd is really good if you want to have dramatic irony.
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Ren
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySun Feb 08, 2009 5:30 pm

pronetoidiocy wrote:

That being said, I also focus a lot on tense. If I'm going to buy a book, I always look through to make sure the writing isn't in present progressive. "I walk the car. I look across the room. I stare at the boy." For some reason, I can't handle that. Some may enjoy this, but I have a strange need for writing to be in past tense.


I was actually really worried about The Host because it started off that way. Because the whole novel was not written that way, when the present progressive cropped up, it added a really dramatic effect. I had never seen that done before. I don't think I could ever pull that off, myself. I thought it was cool, anyway.

<3 Ren
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aresity
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyMon Feb 09, 2009 4:26 am

I find it easier to write in first person, well, because I only have to be a single personality, with only one pattern of thinking. And it's easier to empathize with the character. You only focus with the speaking character's feelings and perception. Nevertheless, I like reading 3rd person POV more. 2nd person's quite confusing though, as if the author's making me walk backwards.
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Novel-Goddess
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyMon Feb 09, 2009 10:24 am

I used to say that first person was the way to go, but now I'm of the third person camp. I really started using it for my NaNo novel, and I just loved the way that it let me jump around when I needed to. It helped me set up several plot twists that I needed.

The Enigma is also third person, out of necessity. My main character winds up half-possessed but doesn't really notice, so I needed other characters to notice and realize what was going on.
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pronetoidiocy
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyMon Feb 09, 2009 2:54 pm

I think I mostly use third person because it allows me to show more of what all the characters are feeling, as opposed to the one narrating the story. Also, something I've never done before is jumping POV's, but now I have multiple POV's, and I kind of like it.
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ReNu
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyMon Feb 09, 2009 9:25 pm

I like reading first person and third person novels, but for writing I always go for first person narratives (always in the past tense). I'm boring and need to try a third person narrative for a change No
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sdficklin
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyTue Feb 10, 2009 7:56 am

I do first person. I like to be able to step into the shoes of someone and see things the way they do. FORESIGHT has chapters in 3td person. they are my villian's chapters

kinda like 'Meanwhile, back in the Batcave...'
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the1stdaughter
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyThu Mar 26, 2009 7:52 am

I'm jumping in on this a little late, but I would say I'm a 1st person writer. That being said, I really like reading 3rd person as well as 1st, but don't like it when an author switches around too much. I had a huge problem with this when I began the Mortal Instruments books. Eventually I got used to it and really like the books, but at first it drove me crazy!
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RosyT
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyThu Mar 26, 2009 1:13 pm

I have always used some version of third person omniscient in my novels before - telling the story from the POV of at least the two main charcaters, or even using up to five or six different characters' POVs at various points in a book. Now for the first time in my current WIP I have taken the decisionto restrict myself to the single POV of one narrating character (even though it's still 3rd person). I am finding it very frustrating in places - never being able to include scenes in which that character is not present, or to show others' perspectives on events directly. But I think it is a fascintaing discipline - and lends a certain kind of claustrophobic, compulsive feeling to the narrative. (I can see this could be good or bad!!)

All you first person devotees - don't you ever long to include scenes where your narrator isn't present, and find it annpying not to be able to do so?


Last edited by RosyT on Wed May 13, 2009 9:40 am; edited 1 time in total
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imaginary
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyThu Mar 26, 2009 5:48 pm

Yes! I used to write everything in first person. I hated writing in third person because, for me, it wasn't as intimate as first. But my creative writing teacher had us do a short story with third person, and I didn't like it at first, but now I do! I was amazed at how much I could do that I had not been able to do previously. It actually had many scenes without the main character which meant it had lots of dramatic irony! Which is really fun to write. Very Happy
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Xenith
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyMon Mar 30, 2009 3:27 am

I'm using both in my current WIP.

Usually though, I prefer third because of its flexbility. You can vary the distance, from omnisicent right into something that's the same as third except for the pronouns. You can have an unreliable narrator. You can show different perceptions of the one event/place/person. Lots of fun tools in the third person toolbox Smile
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emilycross
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1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? Empty
PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyMon Mar 30, 2009 4:06 am

I agree Xenith - thats why i've been considering switching my WIP into third, although i love the first person, i think for the political spin i want on my novel i'll need more than one perspective.
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyThu Apr 02, 2009 8:41 pm

I love reading things that are written in 1st person, and I love writing in it, but I just enjoy the...freedom, I guess, of third. I've written projects in both, and I think I prefer third.
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emilycross
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySat May 02, 2009 10:00 am

In regards to my WIP, i was wondering if i could get some opinions. Now originally i was going to write from my MC POV - and she's blind. I was really excited about this (and still am) - mostly due to my prologue and the first line of my prologue.

Now thinking about it, apart from perspective, it really limits my characters independence and even kinda squishes plot drivers. So, even third person wouldn't help me in this instance right?

So, it was suggested that like Sherlock Holmes, why don't tell the story from a character close to the MC. I didn't like this cause i love my MC.

So, now i'm thinking, what if i do a 'buffy' on it? My MC is the same but not blind, but she has alittle sister who is and is also the important oracle in the plot? which allows me to play with my MC's role in the story as protective sister but also underdog (i.e. shes normal)

What do you guys think?

I was thinking of maybe either telling it from both their povs either? or maybe prologue/epilogue from the 'oracles' pov?
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySat May 02, 2009 10:05 am

I like the idea of having the prologue/epilogue be from the oracle's POV. And then perhaps the rest in third person? I've read other books that do that, and I've liked them.
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daeonica
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySat May 02, 2009 12:15 pm

I can do either. My main WIP is in 1st, and most of the time that's what I use.

But in a side project I wrote a little on recently, I've used 3rd and 1st, with first showing the present, and 3rd the past.
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the1stdaughter
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySat May 02, 2009 6:19 pm

I like the idea of having the prologue/epilogue in a POV. I think it would add a little to the story that you may not get from having the rest being told in 3rd person.
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emilycross
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySun May 03, 2009 2:02 am

Thanks firstdaughter!

I suppose it would be easier to tell the 'blind' pov in third person. I wouldn't mind that as long as i kept the prologue (and you know the first line Laughing )
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySun May 03, 2009 12:07 pm

If you like the prologe that much, keep it in first and do the rest in third. Like I said before, I like books that do things like that. Smile
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptyTue May 12, 2009 1:53 pm

I find that I do better at first person, but I love the way that you can jump from setting to setting, and from character to character, or even from century to century with third person. It's like the ultimate freedom when it comes to writing.
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PostSubject: Re: 1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV?   1st person? Third person? Limited? Whats your POV? EmptySun May 24, 2009 8:59 pm

You know, the first draft (and so far, the second draft) of The Enigma has been third person. But I keep finding points in the first draft where I slipped up and used first, almost like it wanted to be in first. So I've been thinking of putting it into first.

When I stop to think about it, The Enigma is pretty character-driven. I find that when I write (or read) more character driven things, they make a sort of natural first person read, you know?

Thoughts?
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