Pov?

[diamondlil]

A comment from Michelle in the BOTM thread prompts me to ask What POV do you prefer? First person, third person, don't really mind?

[Grasshopper]

I believe that either POV, when written well, can be very effective. Both have their strengths.

[EC2]

A comment from Michelle in the BOTM thread prompts me to ask What POV do you prefer? First person, third person, don't really mind?

I absolutely don't mind. It's the skill of the writing that counts.

[pat]

I absolutely don't mind. It's the skill of the writing that counts.

My thoughts exactly!

[boswellbaxter]

Either is fine with me. It really depends on what the author is setting out to do.

[michellemoran]

Most of my favorite books have been in first person, but certainly not all, and I'll pick up anything as long as it looks interesting.

[Leyland]

Now that I think about it, I like more dramatic and emotional stories told from a first person POV. For grand sweeping action filled stories, I like third person POV. I'd never refuse to read a well told story no matter what the POV though.

[Divia]

I like both.

However I cant write in both. I tried first person and I fail miserably at it, so either I need to work at it more or just give it up completly. :o

[donroc]

I prefer to write in third and read third, although a well written first person can hold my interest.

[JMJacobsen]

I hadn't really thought much about it before, but I it seems that most of my favorite books are third person, but I certainly don't base my book choices on this.

For some reason, I would have thought that writing in third person would be much more difficult than writing in first. :confused:

[MLE]

I prefer to write in third and read third, although a well written first person can hold my interest.
My sentiments exactly.
I often find first-person POVs stretch my credulity as to what the narrator would reasonably know or want to tell.

[xiaotien]

i don't mind. i'm only strong enough
as a writer to write in third. haha!

but if it's done well--i can go with
it. i believe maguire's confessions of
an ugly stepsister was done in first person
present? it took a little getting used to,
but once i was drawn in, i was fine with
it.

[Cuchulainn]

I said either because while I think the third person is probably more suited to historical fiction, alot of Stephen Lawhead is in the first person and I'm really into his books right now.

[Julianne Douglas]

I'm SOOO glad you put up this poll! I'm just starting my second novel and was wondering whether I should try first person. My first novel was close third from 3 perspectives (different chapters). I like that because each character knows different things and that helps shaping the overall story. However, it seems as though many popular HF books these days (such as Michelle's and Catherine's) are told from the first person. I wondered whether people preferred that, but from our sample here it seems as though you don't. I worry if I go with first that there will be too much of the story I'll have to leave out.

[Tanzanite]

I really prefer third person and most of the time, find it more credible. I do like the multiple first person POV as I think it gives a fuller version of the story and events. I find first person distracting much of the time, but there are a few books that I've read where it is done well and I don't mind it. I won't not read a book just because it's in first person.

[Telynor]

I mostly prefer third person, and first person really depends on how well does the author write. For a very good example, try Robert Heinlein's Time Enough for Love, which has what is possibly the saddest story in science fiction that I have ever read.

[diamondlil]

Just wondering, if there are first and third person narratives, is there also a second person narrative?

[EC2]

I was thinking a bit more about my response to first and third person. As well as not minding which vp it's in, I also realise now that I couldn't tell you from memory - even recent memory what viewpoint a novel is in. Michelle, I loved The Heretic Queen, but I couldn't tell you what viewpoint I read. First? probably.:o That's how much it doesn't matter to me as a reader - I'm the same with well written present tense. Hmmm.... that's a revelation to me about myself! I love this forum:D

[Alaric]

I'm in the either camp, although I can't write first person nearly as well. Flashman is in first person and works because of it (which is also why it won't translate to film very well). But I'm not fussed as long as the writing is good enough.

Just wondering, if there are first and third person narratives, is there also a second person narrative?

Yeah, second person narrative is like this:

"You walk down the road and you stop. You look left, you look right. You keep walking."

I don't know of many novels written like that. It'd get annoying if you ask me.

[diamondlil]

Absolutely would agree that a novel like that would be extremely difficult to read.

[Ludmilla]

I voted either. It really depends on the type of story and the quality of the writing, but I also often find myself attracted to really well done 1st person PoVs.

[Misfit]

I voted either, but generally I do prefer the third person, although a good author can do a nice job with first person, especially 19C authors. Bronte and Dickens come to mind. Multiple POV's are starting to grate on me now. I know I enjoyed it in PG's Boleyn Inheritance and Wier's Innocent Traitor, but I've just run into a couple of other books where it's been used and in one quite badly. Lucy Billy which was a Vine Book from Amazon. Dreadful.

[LCW]

Either! I used to only like third person but I've read quite a few good first person books lately that changed my mind.

[Julianne Douglas]

Just wondering, if there are first and third person narratives, is there also a second person narrative?

There is the practice of second-person narration, in which the narrator refers to the protagonist using the pronoun "you." For example, "You walk into the store and look around. When you see the pile of silk scarves on the counter, you saunter over and drape one about your shoulders. It feels like the soft arm of your best friend's mother on the day your own mother died." Lame, off-the-top of my head example, but you get the point.

It's very difficult to sustain this the length of an entire novel, but it is done, mostly in literary novels. The wikipedia entry "second-person narrative (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second-person_narrative)" gives a list of modern books that use this device.

[Vanessa]

I'm repeating myself, but I love books written in the first person, I feel like the character is chatting to me!

[Mara]

I prefer third person, but no more than from one or two characters. If there are more than two I sometimes find it's just there to drag the story out to fill more pages and it's not always beneficial to the main story.

First person is more useful for emotional scenes, I agree. I don't mind novels written in first person, but what I do mind is if there's another character told in third person. It's sometimes done in time travel type novels. That is very confusing!

I prefer writing in third, too. For the sake of writing practice during a recent course, we did some paragraphs in second person pov. I didn't like it at all. It sounds outdated.

[Leyland]

There is the practice of second-person narration, in which the narrator refers to the protagonist using the pronoun "you." For example, "You walk into the store and look around. When you see the pile of silk scarves on the counter, you saunter over and drape one about your shoulders. It feels like the soft arm of your best friend's mother on the day your own mother died."

Ah, takes me back to the when I was taking programming classes in the early 80's and we'd be playing Zork I on the mainframe instead of entering code! "You walk into the forest ..... You take a right turn at the oak tree .... wrong move, you're dead now, start over" or something like that. I never got very far alive in Zorkland. :)

[Margaret]

I hesitated between "like both" and "third person" because there are many novels written in first person narrative that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Some novels demand to be written in this way. But when I thought about it, I had to give just a bit of an edge to third person narratives. It might seem ironic, but it's just a bit easier for me to lose myself in a novel and feel like I am inside the main character's skin, experiencing his or her life, when a novel is written in third person. The "storytelling" nature of a first-person narrative tends to have the effect, at least in the beginning, of making me feel like I am with another person who is telling me his or her story, putting me at one remove from the character rather than right inside. With a really well-written novel, the effect is negligible, though. For example, I just finished reading Catherine Delors's Mistress of the Revolution, which is first-person, and I was right inside the story all the time. But I do especially favor third person. And I dislike the present tense narration that has become all the rage lately, but that's another issue entirely.

[Carine]

... I love books written in the first person, I feel like the character is chatting to me!

Same here, although I have read many good books in third person as well.

[Madeleine]

I think either is fine, as long as it's well-written and a good story, although I agree that first person does feel more like the reader is being directly spoken to. However I do also like multiple viewpoints, although not too many as it can make the story a bit repetitive and feel like padding! Tracy Chevalier does multiple viewpoints particularly well I think.

I don't like second-person pov at all!

[Ludmilla]

The "storytelling" nature of a first-person narrative tends to have the effect, at least in the beginning, of making me feel like I am with another person who is telling me his or her story, putting me at one remove from the character rather than right inside.

The 1st person PoV technique that is a hard sell for me is when the person telling the story is an ancillary character (I call them 3rd Party Narrators, but I don't know if that's the correct term for them). I do usually like the ones where the the PoV character is the protagonist or at least has some major role in the story.

Present tense is hit or miss with me, and as already mentioned, one of the crucial factors is whether it feels natural or labored. I read All Quiet on the Western Front for the first time recently, and thought that was an excellent example of (mostly) 1st person, present tense that is highly effective.

[EC2]

The 1st person PoV technique that is a hard sell for me is when the person telling the story is an ancillary character (I call them 3rd Party Narrators, but I don't know if that's the correct term for them). I do usually like the ones where the the PoV character is the protagonist or at least has some major role in the story.


Yes, I can identify with that. I borrowed The King's Gold from the library - forgotten the author without going to get the book but it's the Captain Alatriste guy. I started reading this but it's all narrated in a very dry style by Alatriste's squire/sidekick. I kept thinking 'Come on, when's the novel going to start?' I gave up and put the book down. There was neither spark nor immediacy.

[Alaric]

Arturo Perez Reverte is the author of Captain Alatriste.

[EC2]

Arturo Perez Reverte is the author of Captain Alatriste.

Thanks Alaric. Yes, that's him! I was really surprised at the style because I've heard so many good things about Reverte. Perhaps I've picked up a dud. There was just page after page after page of this squire chap blathering on about politics with the odd reported moment about Alatriste having done this or that in the past. Virtually no dialogue. I was baffled as to why they are considered so good. Perhaps I'm on the wrong wavelength or have picked up the wrong book.

[Leyland]

Thanks Alaric. Yes, that's him! I was really surprised at the style because I've heard so many good things about Reverte. Perhaps I've picked up a dud.

I really enjoyed his Flanders Panel and Seville Communion. SC has some crazy and eccentric characters - a fun read for me! I'm just about to start his Nautical Chart. You might want to try him again, EC.