Poll: Your point of view

[Rullenzar]

Thought I'd make a little poll for kicks about how people prefer reading their novels and in what point of view.
Give a reason why you like what you've chosen and an example of a novel.

I prefer first person because you really get under the skin of the characters and know how they feel, their motivations, their thoughts. Just an overall better understanding.

Example novel: Prince of Nothing series --> really well done and you feel like you get to know each character on a personal level

 

[The Din]

Close third person: you can get inside their head with some simple italics without all the "I did this, I did that." Easier to swap POV's, etc. Guess Martin is the most obvious example, though its pretty standard these days.

 

[Rullenzar]

Thought I'd make a little poll for kicks about how people prefer reading their novels and in what point of view.
Give a reason why you like what you've chosen and an example of a novel.

I prefer first person because you really get under the skin of the characters and know how they feel, their motivations, their thoughts. Just an overall better understanding.

Example novel: Prince of Nothing series --> really well done and you feel like you get to know each character on a personal level

So tired I can't think so I'm pretty sure I muffed my point of view up, instead of changing it I'll let people have a good laugh at my expense.

Anyway Prince of nothing series was well done regardless of my ignorance lol
And yes Martin is great at what he does as well. I enjoyed his books too.

 

[Amanita]

I like both close third-person and first-person. For me, first person is the best choice if the characters' feelings and decisions are extremely important for the plot and if it's important for the reader to get their exact thought processes. For the usual adventurous fantasy story I prefer third-person, especially if the main problems are coming from outside the characters' heads if you understand what I mean. It allows a greater number of view points without getting confusing as well.
In my own writing I've always used third-person so far, for one story I'm considering first-person but I haven't decided yet. Same goes for many other things about this story, that's going to be a highly difficult project.

 

[Chilari]

Reading, I have no preference between third and first. I don't think it matters so much as how the author handles it and whether it's appropriate for the story. Take Robin Hobb for example - she can write first person and third person equally brilliantly. The Liveship Traders series had multiple main characters, so it's third person - but quite close third person for all that there are multiple points of view. She gets in their heads and shapes the language around their personalities. But in the Farseer Trilogy it's first person and again it's very strong.

Writing, I've used both. Again I think it depends on the story. Recently I've been leaning more towards third person.

 

[Queshire]

Second person!

Haha, just kidding. I don't have a prefrence when reading, but for writing I prefer first person, I just find it easier to write.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I like to write in third, but I've got a really intense idea for a drama, which I would want to do first person....
when reading... hell I don't care, as long as it's done well... but I have read much more third-person than first.

 

[Philip Overby]

I think 3rd limited is my favorite kind to read and to write. Getting the point of view of one character per chapter is enough for me. 1st person works for me in non-fantasy stuff, but I find it difficult to get into in fantasy.

 

[Steerpike]

I don't really care. First, second, or third, past tense, present tense - whatever. As long as it is done well, I'll be happy.

 

[Tau]

A little eerie that you posted this an hour ago, because I've just started questioning the POV in my current story.

I prefer the first-person, although I think it's riskier. For my current story I think close third-person would be the standard choice since there are several characters and a fairly complicated plot, however I want to give alternating first-person a try. Does anyone have any advice about trying this sort of thing out?

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

Pov done well is irrelevant. I was halfway through a book once before realizing it was first person and I never took notice, so that would qualify as done well to me. I have more of an issue with tense than pov. Maybe I'm just rooted in past tense, but present tense doesn't flow well to me, and I have a difficult time reading them. Fortunately, they are not that common..yet.

 

[Alva]

Pov done well is irrelevant. I was halfway through a book once before realizing it was first person and I never took notice, so that would qualify as done well to me. I have more of an issue with tense than pov. Maybe I'm just rooted in past tense, but present tense doesn't flow well to me, and I have a difficult time reading them. Fortunately, they are not that common..yet.

Well, in the case of most books I read I don't actively think about Pov either. But certainly I'm interested by the use of it.

This is a bit bad example as I fear you can't read Finnish but there is a book called Pienin yhteinen jaettava by Finnish author Pirkko Saisio. One of the most interesting aspects of the book is that it's not only been written in two different PoVs - 1st and 3rd person limited - but both PoVs belong to the same character. The text is completely fluent to read, the shifts between PoVs goes nearly unnoticed (even if they seem to follow a random logic). The central thing is that the main character tells both PoVs - thus she is speaking about herself and referring to her own actions in two different Povs: in "I" and "she".

And this was only about the use of PoV. The book has other - more closely story centered - merits as well.

Thought I'd make a little poll for kicks about how people prefer reading their novels and in what point of view.
Give a reason why you like what you've chosen and an example of a novel.

What comes to my own use of PoVs, I think I've pretty much tried all of them. Different characters come to me or "prefer" their distinctive PoVs and tenses, so to say. Actually it's quite frustrating, really. The sense of internal unity within a text seems to be a hard thing to achieve when I'd be most comfortable writing each new character PoV completely different from others. ": )

It's a bit hard to explain but if I try to force a different PoV, it just doesn't sound right.

For instance in my current project I've tried to have no more than two different PoV characters. The first (and easy) one uses 3rd person limited and the second one causes me trouble being unable to decide between 1st person present tense and 1st person imperfect tense... I've came into conclusion to scramble through the first draft and then go back to it and turn it into my liking.

 

[The Dark One]

I think there's less risk in a 3rd person account. If you're privy to the thoughts of a narrator then the narrator must be very carefully constructed and consistent. I suspect also that a lot more of the writer's personality slips out via 1st person - both of my published books are 1st person and there's quite a lot that makes my wife nervous (there's more than a bit of sex in my books). As others have said it really only depends on whether it's done well - I'm happy to read other style, but there's an intimacy to 1st person that is very seductive. Irvine Welsh is the master. Having said that, my two favourite books of all time are 3rd person (1984 and Catch 22).

I think the really interesting question is how you decide which mode you're going for. I have written a couple of 3rd person books (mapping one out at the moment in fact) but there was never a conscious choice - I simply started writing that way because that's the way the germ of the story manifested. Has anyone ever experimented trying to write the same story from different POV?

 

[Lord Darkstorm]

I'm currently working on a short story that I can't seem to get the effect I want in 3rd person, so I'm about to give it a go in 1st to see if I can get the feelings across that third isn't getting me so far.

I normally go for 3rd, but on occasion I think some stories need to be 1st person.

 

[robertbevan]

i've never really liked first person. i don't know why. maybe it just feels like a person talking about themselves and taking for granted that i'm going to be interested. i meet too many of those people in real life.

i've always been a fan of third person omniscient, until i tried to write it and had a bunch of people tell me it wasn't working. so i switched over to third person limited, inspiration coming from equal parts grrm and my beta reader advising me to do so.

 

[Alva]

i've never really liked first person. i don't know why. maybe it just feels like a person talking about themselves and taking for granted that i'm going to be interested. i meet too many of those people in real life.

I'm actually utilizing this in my story. My 1st person character is having the limited attitude (and aptitude) of concentrating on himself and how he perceives things. In return, my 3rd person character shows more curiosity towards broader concepts and the workings of the world and people. He cherishes wonders and unknown as deeply as the 1st PoV character tries to balance his life on the thin line of judging and supposing.

 

[Legendary Sidekick]

I find first-person present fun to write, and I've read authors who pull it off well. The idea is not to have an ego-maniac for an MC, but to simply mix internal dialogue with external (preferably, from the POV of a fallible MC).

@Robert Bevan, I'm not contradicting you. First-person past does run into the danger of that "ME-ME-ME" narrative. With present tense, the MC can be surprised, misinterpret things, and react emotionally... you experience the story through his eyes. With past, it may read as if someone is monologuing about an experience that--as you said--may or may not be interesting. I also wouldn't feel emotionally invested since the MC is talking about what already happened. I'd actually feel cheated if the storyteller tried to shock me. You knew your girlfriend would die horribly, so why string me along into thinking everything would work out for you two?

Each POV has a purpose. I don't think there's a "wrong" or "better" POV, but the writer has to recognize that there is much more to the chosen POV than pronouns and verb tenses.

 

[Steerpike]

I tend to think you can accomplish the same things in any of the POVs. At least to a far greater extent than people generally believe.

I don't have any more problem with the "narrator" in a first person POV story withholding information than the narrator of a third-person POV story. You can't assume the first-person narrator is writing retrospectively. If the first person character doesn't find out a piece of information until later in the story, I don't see any reason to expect them to divulge it at the beginning. If the book is explicitly set up as a retrospective, then I suppose the argument is stronger.

 

[Alva]

The idea is not to have an ego-maniac for an MC, but to simply mix internal dialogue with external (preferably, from the POV of a fallible MC).

I also like first person present tense because of the "spontaneity". Especially surprise, misunderstandings and misinterpretations can be quite interesting when they're "actually" happening and the character is given the obligation to decide how to act. Also, a first person narrative also serves as a different perspective towards other characters and the milieu as well. Besides, I enjoy unreliable narrators. First person narrative gives the character a choice over what they really want other people know about them. Even how they would like to be regarded as. (And all the other PoVs as well. I never trust narrators.)

What comes to egocentricity, PoV does not rule or out-rule such a trait. It comes from the personality of the character and an actual “me-me-me” attitude can be even more visible when the story is told in 3rd person omniscient and the reader is given the “free” choice to make their own assumptions. After all, in the case of omniscient narrator the reader usually compares the different characters and their behavior to each other.

“Each POV has a purpose. I don't think there's a "wrong" or "better" POV, but the writer has to recognize that there is much more to the chosen POV than pronouns and verb tenses.

Completely agree.

 

[robertbevan]

I'm actually utilizing this in my story. My 1st person character is having the limited attitude (and aptitude) of concentrating on himself and how he perceives things. In return, my 3rd person character shows more curiosity towards broader concepts and the workings of the world and people. He cherishes wonders and unknown as deeply as the 1st PoV character tries to balance his life on the thin line of judging and supposing.

are you saying you use first person and third person in the same work? i'm not sure i've ever seen that done before.