Point of View

but the narrator is a SEPARATE identity from the main character. so he wouldn't use 'I'.

and he's TELLING the character what he's doing, or what he did, not reporting on it, so he wouldn't use 'he'.

i always think second person is a rather.. bossy POV. it's all about TELLING the reader what THEY [in the role of the character] are doing/thinking.

First person is reporting on what the character is doing from the inside of the character. and third person is reporting on it from outside the character, but second person tells the character what to do, or what they did.

it's actually pretty tricky to pull off well, without seeming clumsy.

But a second person POV narrator doesn't always need to know everything about the character, in some stories he doesn't. He just narrates the character's actions.

I think second person is jovial, playful, suits the postmoderns vision on characters. The narrator tells the characters what to do, controls them and makes them do things.
But it does sound bossy because it tells you [the reader] what to do, how to feel, etc and if you don't like people telling you what to do you'll feel attacked x_X

I tend to center my stories around two characters with some quirky relationship. I'll normally write in first person from the point of view of one character, but really center the story on the other character. It's kind of hard to describe without reading it.

Most of my one shots, though are written in third person and the characters remain nameless. It's a lot of "the woman" or "the boy." I don't know why I do it. I guess it's just a habit.

Changing POV annoys me so much. It feels so forced and it's hard to keep track of the plot-line. It almost always ends up sounding amateur and sloppy.

I like second person and think it can work really well. I personally can't pull it off , but I've read some really good stuff written in second person. As long as the writer's good, I think any point of view can be effective.

I like writing in both 1st and 3rd person. When I write 3rd person it's usually omniscent. I love to write 1st person the best because in 3rd person you know each of the characters equally but in 1st person you know the main character inside and out.

Omniscient/3rd- REALLY hard for me to write because people in a group could be thinking and doing COMPLETELY different things.

2nd person-I've attempted it once and got some really good feedback. It's on here, under "Life In It's Entirety", a (soon to be) collection of one-shots. Reminds me of R. L. Stine books.

1st person-Most commonly used in my stories. Easiest to write, and all I have to do is be the narrator and give a bit of background and history on a few main characters. Inspired by S.E. Hinton's The Outsiders.

I like first, third limited, third unlimited, and second.

I wite just about any viewpoint, it just depends on the type of story, how I want my characters viewed, and which will provide the right tone.

Right now I'm working on a first person story woth a few parts. In each part, a different person is the main person the protaganist is dealing with. That person is referred to as 'him'. The character of 'him' is not the same person throughout the story. I'm really liking the way it works.

I enjoy writing in first person, but that comes from my love of biographies. I feel a connection with first person characters, like they are telling you their story and no one else

I tend to write with one point of view, but have tried with several, and if it fits well with the story than it actually can be dam easy to write. Well, that's what I've found.

The story I'm working on at the moment, has always been one pov only and due to the storyline i had to change pov 70 chapters in.

All I can say is - never again....

After becoming that accustomed to a character for so long.... never again.

third-person limited omniscient is the shizz imo.
I've tried First-person, but it becomes too much descriptive.

I have to admire ppl who can pull off second person brilliantly, because I believe that POV is the hardest. xD

I don't like it when there's two paragraphs in one person's POV and then it switches to another POV for two paragraphs and then to another. It get rather old. I very rarely switch point of view anymore, though I won't completely disregard a story for it. If a writer is going to switch first person POV, I prefer it to switch by chapter or something.

druscilla; atlantic.:

I don't like it when there's two paragraphs in one person's POV and then it switches to another POV for two paragraphs and then to another. It get rather old. I very rarely switch point of view anymore, though I won't completely disregard a story for it. If a writer is going to switch first person POV, I prefer it to switch by chapter or something.

^^all of this.

constant switching makes me feel sorta seasick!

switch at chater breaks if you must.

and DON'T put "X's POV" "Y's POV" etc.
if your writing isn't clear enough to make it obvious you need to make it so, don't be lazy by TELLING us with a literal signpost.

I really dislike writing in third person omniscient. First person and third person limited work the best for me, mainly because I like to keep things unknown until the end. I prefer having my readers find things out as my characters would.

Mostly I write in first person, but I don't change POVs. I really only write one particular story in second person, that's If Music Be The Food Of Love, but I don't bother trying to pull it off anywhere else. But sometimes if I absolutely can't find a way around it I use third person.

druscilla; atlantic.:

I don't like it when there's two paragraphs in one person's POV and then it switches to another POV for two paragraphs and then to another. It get rather old. I very rarely switch point of view anymore, though I won't completely disregard a story for it. If a writer is going to switch first person POV, I prefer it to switch by chapter or something.

Agreed. It complete disrupts the storyline in my opinion.

It depends on the story, I can do all and I think I do them quite well. And I can change point of view without little notes (-insert name- POV) and it still doesn’t get confusing (as from as I know, it’s what I’ve been told of course).

I used to love omniscient third-person point of view and used it all the time. Now I sort of like first person with no point of view switching. But yeah, it really does depend on what kind of story I’m writing. :cute:

Tip: Just imagine you're the one who's talking. :shifty

I just posted a oneshot called Glass And The Ghost Children that was my first foray into second person. That was... interesting to write. But i didn't really think about it being second person. It just felt right for it.

Mostly i write in third person. I think i've been scared away from first person by the whole *So-and so's POV* thing, which, when done excessively, rather annoys me (in fact i see those little stars and cringe, regardless of how often), so i mostly either have it change in-between chapters and leave the reader to pick up on it, or write third person. I like being able to give things a wider... scope? That can be done to a certain extent with multiple-POV first person, but i just like third person. You're not restricted to talking in a certain 'voice', and... it's just nice. :cute:

Valentine's Day was pure first person though, because it wasn't fiction.

I mostly read and write frist and third, second tends to annoy me after awhile. It has to be well written for me to read it. I tend to not read stories where the point of view is constantly changing. It just bugs me. Third is the hardest to write, cause I tend to make it limited without knowing it.

I'm writing first person right now in a currently untitled story. It's also present tense and it's a bit of a challenge for me.

I have a question about second person.

I know there's "you" character. But can you have second person with an "I" character and without an "I" character? Or is that still considered first person even if there are both an "I" and a "you" character?