Point of View in NYCM stories |
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td333777
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 29 Jan 2017 Location: MO Status: Offline Points: 2856 |
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Posted: 26 May 2020 at 4:37pm |
Felt like starting a thread to discuss technique a little while we continue the torturous wait for third round results in the SSC. I've written probably 60-70 short stories in my life, and I don't give a lot of conscious thought to picking a POV before I begin. The POV just kind of...happens...when I start. Most of the time, I default to third person because it allows me a larger breadth of storytelling. I find first-person easier to use when I'm trying to misdirect for a twisty ending. I did second-person once, in order to try to put the reader into a man's shoes who doesn't realize that he's slipping slowly into an affair. I feel like first-person lends itself to more emotional scenes because readers don't have to infer a lot--the emotions and feelings come right out of the narrator's head. Third-person seems to work better in action (although some very tense stuff can come out of first-person action/suspense when you want the reader concerned for the MC's safety.) So I put the question to you all--why do you pick one POV over another? Do you have a distinct tendency for one? Has your POV inclination changed over time? More of my first-person stories were written earlier in my writing career, but I've gotten more fond of 3rd person as time progressed. I also wonder if there's an advantage in contests for one POV over another. I know it's a small sample size, but four out of the last five Short Story winners have been first-person, and four of the last six Flash Fiction have been first-person as well. If someone did a tabulation of POV for round 3 and the majority of entries are first-person, that could explain why first-person is so well-represented by overall winners. Or maybe it doesn't. What say you regarding POV? Trey Edited by td333777 - 26 May 2020 at 4:38pm |
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FF '17 - 1st, SSC '18 - 2nd, FF '20 - 7th
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I write a lot of first person. Not sure why, but it's an intuitive decision like with you. In general with writing, I ask myself if the story is one character's, or if it's a group story. I've got one stand-alone novel that's third-person, and I was delighted to discover that there were so much more opportunities to develop the characters; and I saw some limitations on first-person writing. Interesting question! I've also written my middle grade series in which each volume has one of three different narrators who switch out. I think for the twelve volumes, it's Corey, Corey, Andi, Corey, Andi, Corey, Corey, Andi, Corey, Andi, Julianne (new character), Corey. (I hope that sentence was fun to read. I enjoyed typing it.) That gives some flexibility too of third-person writing because I can develop each character with a per-volume focus.
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chrissie0707
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 07 Feb 2018 Location: Indianapolis Status: Offline Points: 4005 |
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I have always written in third and HATED first-person with a fiery passion.
I wrote one story in SSC last year in first, and it was rough. I wasn't sure about it, and my trusty beta readers were like "I don't like this. You don't write like this." And then as I started writing more and more flash length stories for comps, first-person has been the POV that has popped into my head in the brainstorming phase. I've found that it's helpful for keeping to a lower word count and creating an emotional connection with the reader. I've found myself enjoying stories written in first-person much more lately, too, since I've started writing some that way.
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jennifer.quail
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 07 Feb 2018 Status: Offline Points: 7931 |
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Whatever feels right for a particular story or character. Overall I probably average third person more often than first, as it's a bit more flexible if I need multiple POVs. Some characters absolutely seem to fit one more than another. (Aleksandra is always first person, past tense, Mattias is just a third-person-present kind of guy. ) Generally, it's about the tone of the story. Some just seem to flow better when they're in first and usually if I find something not working, when I change from first to third or vice-versa, it starts to work better.
One thing I can't stand is second person. It takes a really, really exceptional story for me not to bin it immediately seeing second person.
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Lexiconundrum
NYC Midnight Addict Joined: 30 Jun 2018 Location: Chicago Status: Offline Points: 551 |
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I love topics like this. The more I write, the more I find myself sticking with third-person limited POV. Writing third-person omniscient seems to have gone out of style. Another reason I usually stick with 3rd person is that it's sort of the tool I know best as a writer. I might pick up other tools once in a while, but for contests, I usually stick to where I'm strongest.
1st person POV always feels disconnecting to me...I guess if I'm reading a story about Indiana Jones, I like to imagine that I could possibly have these adventures too...but I know that I am not the "I" of a 1st-person POV story, I'm not as interested. That said, Rebecca is one of my all-time favorite movies and books, so if the story's really good, I'm fine with it. I think 2nd person works best with stories about abstract concepts. I wrote my R3 story in 2nd person, and I almost talked myself out of it because I do think it was a risky decision, contest-wise. But I wanted to demonstrate my main character's feelings of dissociation and disconnection from her environment, and as though she was giving herself stage directions to cope with her situation. I felt strongly enough about it that I decided to keep it in 2nd person despite the risk, because so many people do dislike 2nd person. But I think if you have a specific goal in mind, 2nd person can work. When I was younger, I used to write things in 2nd person because I thought it made my stories sound soooo poetic (it didn't). :)
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RichmondRoad
NYC Midnight Addict Joined: 26 Jan 2018 Location: Australia Status: Offline Points: 639 |
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As is always the case I believe that there are no rules and anything can work in the hands of a master (I’d use master/mistress here in the spirit of gender equality ... but it has a bit of an S&M ring to it). But being no master myself I tend to go for whatever is easiest. I was always impressed by how J.P Donleavey could switch so seamlessly from 3rd person to 1st person and I have sometimes tried to imitate that ....but it has never worked.
My tendency is for 1st person because it seems like a more natural story telling vessel. My observation is that 3rd person is a bit of a ‘when in doubt’ refuge (that I take regularly). Great 3rd person short stories sometimes include, in the first sentence, the name and location of the protagonist, but the bad ones almost always do. Whenever a story starts like ‘Little Joey lived alone in a tidy wooden house in Sommersby with a neatly trimmed hedge. By day he worked packing shelve’s at Robinson’s grocery and at night he dreamed of being a lion tamer’ I think, “oh, dear. Here we go again ...” BUT .... as I regularly stress to anyone who would listen, what would I know?
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WoodyGS
NYC Midnight Groupie Joined: 28 Jan 2020 Location: San Francisco Status: Offline Points: 192 |
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love having this conversation. awesome to see how peers are using their unique strengths to make their technical choices. 1st person: i use this when i have a vivid character who won't shut up. historically it's been my favorite. :) the drawback is remembering the character isn't necessarily a writer, wouldn't necessarily speak with the description or prose that we as author would default to in, say, 3rd. so i have to show more discipline (method acting?) with the way i describe things. 2nd: i use 2nd for stories driven by strong emotional or mental experiences. there's an immediacy to it, super internal, but it's not inhibited by a narrator's (read: human's) tendency to guard or make themselves look a certain way. when i was younger and writing characters similar to me, i would write first drafts in 2nd & then revise to 1st or 3rd later. 3rd: i use 3rd when i want us to look at the characters from the outside and have the reader retain their own separate identity (if that makes sense?). a more cinematic experience. i find 3rd most challenging because you're under the responsibility to control sooooo much more in the scene. i always have to be thinking: where is the camera? where have we situated the reader? what else does the reader need to be immersed? so many of you execute 3rd so well and i really admire that~!
Edited by WoodyGS - 03 Jun 2020 at 6:35pm |
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NorthernPixels
NYC Midnight Addict Joined: 28 Jan 2020 Location: Toronto Status: Offline Points: 647 |
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I often write second-person at work. In a video game, when the character interacts with something, I write it like a dungeon master in D&D sort of. You stumble upon a mouldy tome, it crumbles apart in your fingertips as you attempt to turn the pages.
That's really the only time I've thought about using second-person. Typically, I write in third-person when I'm more interested in a detached POV, when I want to explore a characters emotions and actions without their own voice attached to it. This is especially true if I have multiple POVs or want a more objective feeling to the story. I almost always use limited-third as well. On top of that, it feels timeless, somehow. I use first-person when I want a more intimate or subjective take on something.
Edited by NorthernPixels - 05 Jun 2020 at 10:20am |
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CathyM
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 24 Jun 2015 Location: Omaha, NE Status: Offline Points: 4145 |
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For longer stories, I mainly use third-person. It gives the story more breadth, I feel. For short intense stories, I tend to use first to give the story an intimacy it needs for short and intense.
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Vernacula
NYC Midnight Black Belt Joined: 21 Jan 2016 Location: West Coast Status: Offline Points: 3729 |
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Everything I do is pretty instinctual. Maybe I shouldn't admit that, but there you go. I will say, I really feel first POV is best suited for shorter fiction, like flash. On very rare occasions, when I write something and it feels off I'll try changing perspective. I usually end up loving the stories where I've done this.
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