Point of View

^ Girl characters can be really whiny. I hope to god, I'm not like that. :XD I love reading about sociopaths and sex addicts though.

Any tips on writing second person? What I was thinking about writing had a lot of "I saw you do this" and 'you looked like ____".

Is it still second person if I use 'I' or is that just weird first person?

The Back of a Gillikin Farmer's Truck is my first story using first-person narrative in awhile (posted and unposted).

I kept yawning at work and I had this line in my head, so I wrote it down. And then 1300 words later, I had a first person narrative oneshot.

First person worked with this one because it focuses a lot on the strange inner workings of Ryan's brain. The reader is better able to understand the way his brain is working through his own words.

I always write in first person. I just do. I don't make the decision.
Unless it's a screenplay, they're always third person.
I've never tried second person.

I dislike second person.
& Honestly the decision between third or first is something that develops throughout the story.

For instance, my story Equinox is written in the first person, simply because I feel like the flow of first person fits the story better than third person would. Later in the book, I may switch characters for a chapter or two, but stay in first person. Mainly however the story is told from Evelyn's (the main character) point of view.

Lately I've been dishing out second person--because it gets into someone's mind like nothing else. First person kind of limits description, and third is somewhat disconnected.

I use first person if I particularly wanna focus on character study, or if I got the character's voice down naturally. Otherwise, it's not my favorite, since, as I said, it limits description and metaphors because only a few people actually think that way--big vocabulary and all--without coming off as pretentious.

When using third person, I prefer showing, not telling, because the random switching of limited POVs in third person annoy me. I prefer it, at least, when it changes scene, but like a paragraph after another is a bit inconsistent.

Second person throws me off sometimes, I guess because I'm not used to writing (or reading) it. I like it, though. Is it possible to mix first and second? There's a person narrating, and then someone else in the story is "you"?
Or, is that just second person in general?

^It's first person observing another ^_^

Second person is a bitch to write, unless I have a wave of insanity I won't attempt it. I'm still not decided between first and third. With first you can get inside the main characters head, but in third you know everything that's happening. I don't think I'll ever be able to choose.

^ I agree with everything you say.

In my opinion, I dislike second person point of view in a full story. It's okay if you write it for a one shot or drabble.

I usually write third for long stories - ones that are usually more than 20 chapters and for stories that have more depth in them. Such as drama's, romance, action, and so on. Not to mention, I think that it's much easier to focus on numerous characters in one scene without sounding noob-ish.

As for first person point of view, I usually use it to write short stories, or stories with not much plot. Like a comedy or something.

What about the 'you' perspective, has anyone used that?

Example:

Surprise turned to shock when Autumn lunged beside us. She'd doubled back; not to save me, but to repay you. In a small moment she'd grabbed one of the pens from her waistband. With an exaggerated raising of her hand she brought it down into your thigh.

I was wrtting my story and thought it was boring, so I added a 'you' perspective. I can't say it doesn't get confusing, but it's very uncommon. Ever since 'you' turned out to be evil, I'm really glad I thought of it! (^_^)

Charyou Tree;:

What about the 'you' perspective, has anyone used that?

Example:

Surprise turned to shock when Autumn lunged beside us. She'd doubled back; not to save me, but to repay you. In a small moment she'd grabbed one of the pens from her waistband. With an exaggerated raising of her hand she brought it down into your thigh.

I was wrtting my story and thought it was boring, so I added a 'you' perspective. I can't say it doesn't get confusing, but it's very uncommon. Ever since 'you' turned out to be evil, I'm really glad I thought of it! (^_^)

^That's second person point of view. :D.

doesnotcompute:

I usually write third for long stories - ones that are usually more than 20 chapters and for stories that have more depth in them. Such as drama's, romance, action, and so on. Not to mention, I think that it's much easier to focus on numerous characters in one scene without sounding noob-ish.

Third person pov is actually quite difficult. And it comes in different forms as well. You can write omnipresent/omniscient third person, as you have described; however, most authors write what's called limited third person pov which means you focus upon the main character and how they see yourfictional world.

Even when one is writing in omniscient third person point of view, I find it better to focus upon one character's thoughts at a time within a single chapter/section/scene. Even though I do make the mistake of switching 'view's within the single scene.

Charyou Tree;:

What about the 'you' perspective, has anyone used that?

Second person. I enjoy using that.

I've used it most recently in Time & Space.

Retelling and World of Fiction have sections that are in second.

I've also used it in: Shoeslaces, What Goes Up . . ., S/he, Pretend, Dancing, Cut Me Up, Harsh, Bleeding Sheets, With Love, The Wonderland Chronicles, The Blood on the Kitchen Floor, Scratch That Last, So Close it Burns, Bden and RyRy, Take Me On, I Had the Best of Intentions All Along, and Bullshit.

... I guess I use it a fair bit.

I usually write in third person, sometimes I might switch to first. It really depends on the story.

I prefer third and second. First is not my preferred narration because I would rather write showing than telling and first person there's a lot more telling.

I don't read a lot of third because to me it feels a bit disconnected, unless it's very well written. I rarely rarely write it.
I love reading second and first though. I write a lot more first, but I second is amazing if it's pulled-off right. (:

I'm not a huge fan of reading or writing first. It's just very difficult to capture the mentality of multiple characters and I prefer to read about the relationship between characters in all forms, so it doesn't tend to work well for the type of story I want.

I write third and first; I write either. It just depends on the feel of the story. I occasionally do second but mostly only in flash fiction.

I read third person, and I mainly write third person limited. I'm not a fan of first or second person in any type of story, and there's only a few books (aside from autobiographies) that I'll make an exception for.

I think second is a beautiful narration, but it's difficult to pull off.

The vast majority of the time, I'll write in first person. Most of my stories are largely character-driven, so it's easier for me to characterize through that. When I do third-person, it just never seems to flow as well. Since a lot of what I write tends to have an element of comedy in it, when I write third-person it just gets lost.
Like, the narrator will be thinking or reflecting back on something and they'll have some kind of one-liner. In one story I had a character say, "God, I hate old people," through the narration (not out loud), but something like that would be hard to do in third. For me, at least.
I'm currently working on a story (it's unposted, though) that centers around a ten-year-old boy and how his life is changed because of a hurricane. Since I'm aiming for it to be more low-key than my other stories, it's being told through third-person narration and it's actually coming along pretty well.