Authorly Question - Favorite POV

[NoJo]

Is "upskirt" still a valid POV, or has it been discredited nowadays?

 

[oggbashan]

Is "upskirt" still a valid POV, or has it been discredited nowadays?

No. 'Upskirt' still has many fans, as do 'down cleavage' and 'underfoot' or 'giantess' POVs.

Writing from those POVs can be difficult.

Og

 

[Guest]

 

[oggbashan]

Thanks for your replies everyone.

I was curious because everything I've posted so far has been first person, but am currently mired in a third person omniscient and finding it incredibly difficult to finish. At times it seems excessively verbose and yet there seems to be so much missing. Can't seem to find a good balance.

If you are finding difficulty with the current story, try taking one of your 1st person stories (preferably a SHORT one) and edit a copy into 3rd person omniscient. It should give you an idea of the differences in approach you have to make for the 3rd person POV.

Og

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

I like to write in both first and third person. As others have said, each has their place.

I find I write my more personal shorts in first person, because I usually am telling an actual story. My novels, so far, are all in third (one third person limited, the rest omniscient). That's largely because they are quite intricate in plot and have many characters. First person just wouldn't work.

I do write more freely in first person, and I think the emotion shows much better.

Of my stories here at Lit, I think it's about a 50% split between the two.

Second person I leave for emails. Oh, and poetry. As Perdita said, second person works much better in poetry.

Lou

 

[BlackSnake]

I like to write in both first and third person. As others have said, each has their place.

I find I write my more personal shorts in first person, because I usually am telling an actual story. My novels, so far, are all in third (one third person limited, the rest omniscient). That's largely because they are quite intricate in plot and have many characters. First person just wouldn't work.

I do write more freely in first person, and I think the emotion shows much better.

Of my stories here at Lit, I think it's about a 50% split between the two.

Second person I leave for emails. Oh, and poetry. As Perdita said, second person works much better in poetry.

Lou

I agree that the second person works well with poetry directed to an individual. It would, however, suffer greatly if the poem was a ballad.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

I write in the omniscinet thrid. I consider myself to be more of a story teller than a writer, so it seeems natural to use the storytellers pov.

My only first person attempt is not posted under my regular account. it did well, but was difficult for me to write.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Thanks for your replies everyone.

I was curious because everything I've posted so far has been first person, but am currently mired in a third person omniscient and finding it incredibly difficult to finish. At times it seems excessively verbose and yet there seems to be so much missing. Can't seem to find a good balance.

Hey Lime

Third person is more verbose, it also relies a lot more on descriptive passages than first. With the omniscient, there is so much you will feel a need to tell, wehre in a first person, you have a limited view and thus much is left unspoken.

Ogg's idea is good, if it dosen't work, I would suggest trying it in third person, but linking the pov closely to one character. It's more like first person, will cut down on the verbosity and should make you more comfortable.

 

[Pure]

I agree with Colleen, there's an affinity of story telling to the third person (with a degree or type of omniscience)--with some famous and obvious exceptions. (It's to be noted that if you tell a first person story, but keep the "I" stuff to a minimum--e.g., only at the beginning--then large tracts of the story will be essentially third person.)

There's a correlation between the 'greenness' of the story teller and his or her use of first person. For example, you might find 75 percent of lit. amateur stories in first person, but in published erotic collections, maybe 30 per cent. This phenemenon, imo, is because the 'green' person--perhaps remembering hs writing pointers-- believe that first person is easier to carry off. And I don't think it is.

 

[EarthquakeMan]

The reader has to trust the author (and vice-versa, but that’s another subject). One of the hurdles to overcome in third person omni is maintaining that trust even though the reader realizes critical info is being withheld. An example: a story where the protag is trying to nab a criminal. Using third person omni the author will take us to the actions and thoughts of the antagonist, but must withhold full disclosure of the antagonist’s plans and motive or else the reader will know more than the protag. As a writer, I’m not comfortable with that. As a reader, I feel a bit manipulated by this withholding of info. But my personal prejudice aside, third person omni obviously works. I’d guess that most blockbuster novels are in that POV.

 

[KarenAM]

For me it depends entirely on the story I'm trying to write. In an ideal story I try to slither between 3rd person to 2nd person to 1st person and then back again without the reader knowing I'm doing it.

When it works, it sings. When it doesn't the whole thing falls apart and I have to go and hide in a hole.

 

[Guest]

The reader has to trust the author (and vice-versa, but that’s another subject). One of the hurdles to overcome in third person omni is maintaining that trust even though the reader realizes critical info is being withheld. An example: a story where the protag is trying to nab a criminal. Using third person omni the author will take us to the actions and thoughts of the antagonist, but must withhold full disclosure of the antagonist’s plans and motive or else the reader will know more than the protag. As a writer, I’m not comfortable with that. As a reader, I feel a bit manipulated by this withholding of info. But my personal prejudice aside, third person omni obviously works. I’d guess that most blockbuster novels are in that POV.

I think you mean third person limited.

 

[EarthquakeMan]

I think you mean third person limited.

Hate to quibble with someone who offers a , but I was referring to omni. In third person limited the author doesn't have the ability to crawl into the minds of characters other than the protag. I'm a bigger fan of third person limited than third person omni. My bias is still towards first person. But I'm coachable.

x2

 

[Guest]

 

[Guest]

Hate to quibble with someone who offers a , but I was referring to omni. In third person limited the author doesn't have the ability to crawl into the minds of characters other than the protag. I'm a bigger fan of third person limited than third person omni. My bias is still towards first person. But I'm coachable.

x2

Ok, I re-read what you said, and get you better now. Here have another

I get what you mean now, with regard to the protagonist. I initially read it as you saying that the writer cannot give anything to the reader from the POV of the antagonist - which would indeed be written from 3PL. Yep, I see now that you didn't say that at all. You merely said that the writer cannot disclose anything to the reader about the antagonist, that the protagnist doesn't also know. Thus, I presume, breaking the writer's "contract" with the reader. Then again, it could be done, if the writer was feeling gutsy. In fact, it is done, a lot!

Excuse my twitching eye.

Lou

 

[EarthquakeMan]

Excuse my twitching eye.

Dear Twitchy,

I like your term "contract". There is a contract between author and reader, and it works both ways. The author must gain the reader's trust, but also trust the reader's intelligence. In one of Kurt Vonnegut's books, he makes the statement, "If God had wanted us to be perfect, he would have made us that way in the first place". Period. That was the whole paragraph, never revisited. I can think of few authors who would make that statement and walk away from it, having enough trust in his readers to do with it as they wish. Most writers would belabor the point (and, of course, you could write volumes based on that sentence).