Best pov for fantasy novels?

[CarburetorThompson]

Honestly just curious

 

[PancakesWitch]

the best one is whatever you can write the best yourself. I've seen, however, some readers that dislike first person POV stories.

 

[Clo]

3rd limited with head hoping, do you mean when the narrator suddenly gets interupted by the protagonist's thoughts?

That's called Free Indirect Speech, if so.

It's by far my favourite.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

3rd limited with head hoping, do you mean when the narrator suddenly gets interupted by the protagonist's thoughts?

That's called Free Indirect Speech, if so.

It's by far my favourite.

No it basically means multiple different third person limited POVs for different characters.

If you’ve read then the Song of ice and fire books are famous examples of it.

 

[Clo]

the best one is whatever you can write the best yourself. I've seen, however, some readers that dislike first person POV stories.

I struggle with present tense stories, and first person stories.

But mostly, I can't write them. At all.

I will read it if it's good, but I think I see more tense slips with that style than any other.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

3rd person limited, and second would be 1st person with 3rd person limited for other povs

 

[Clo]

No it basically means multiple different third person limited POVs for different characters.

If you’ve read then the Song of ice and fire books are famous examples of it.

Ah, I write like that. I tend to stick to one point of view per chapter, and wouldn't count that as head hopping, personally.

If the narrator is 3rd limited and change in the middle of a paragraph or chapter (without obvious indication, like a section marker), I would think we're using omniscient 3rd then.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Guess I have to be the snowflake here - depends on whether it is a primary protagonist or team story. If a primary protagonist (like Conan, though he's usually done in 3p limited, or the Detective of the series where the character creates that profession - blanking on the name - which was 1p) first person is often the best.
If the story features a party of adventurers, even if one is the true MC (like Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Narnia, Dragonlance, etc.) then either 3p Omniscient or 3p limited/head swapping is best.

I have seen two stories with two main characters doing first person sections, with the rest of the story being told in 3p; one was good (Peter David's Howling Mad), and the other was not (read it about twelve years ago and would have to dig back through my older Kindle collections to find the title; was a "free" book modern dark fantasy with two sisters - one a cop the other kind of a hedge witch - who got first person chapters, with third person chapters in between, usually ending when one or both sisters were brought into the scene; main plot was some kind of kidnapping thing and a probable sacrifice but I just could not take the fact that the writing quality literally changed - up and down - with each chapter, like the author started mid-story when a pre-teen, and kept tacking chapters to both sides as they got older and better - but then wrote a few chapters while drunk or something and forgot everything they learned; just kind of painful).

 

[beast_regards]

I currently use the 1st person narration for the MC, 3rd person focused on the other character. Previously I went for 1st person, or 3rd person, exclusively.

I even tried 1st person exclusively, a POV shifting with chapter, but it was a bad idea.

Though, ultimatelly, it doesn't matter what narration you choose, Internet will always be Internet.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Second person

 

[BearlyAlive]

Second person

Plural or bust

 

[JayMark]

Plural or bust

Ya'll stepped into the entrance of the dungeon. A troll approached with a big wood club that it raised to smack ya'll over the head. Youse all dodged to the left, then youse dodged to the right. The troll became confused, "Who are you all?"

"We are legion," ya'll said.

 

[NotaNuffian]

What is the difference between 3rd person limited and omniscient?

 

[CarburetorThompson]

What is the difference between 3rd person limited and omniscient?

In a 3rd person limited the narrator only narrates the thoughts and perceptions of the pov character. So despite being third person information is limited to that of the pov character

In an omniscient the narrator narrates the thoughts and perceptions of all characters.

 

[NotaNuffian]

In a 3rd person limited the narrator only narrates the thoughts and perceptions of the pov character. So despite being third person information is limited to that of the pov character

In an omniscient the narrator narrates the thoughts and perceptions of all characters.

Then I used to CN 3rd person limited limited. Because the author would either have MC monologuing or just straight up depict action and facial expression.

Often no depiction of thoughts.

 

[plot_xc]

the best one is whatever you can write the best yourself. I've seen, however, some readers that dislike first person POV stories.

I will choose 3rd person head hopping but just like pancakes, the author should go with what he is good at and what fits, it doens't matter which pov it is if the author is unable to do it well

 

[MarekSusicky]

I just love first person for some reason

 

[HypnoticNovels]

I find it personally easier to write in first person, but third person can be amazing when you know how to pull it off well

Idk, I struggle a bit in third person with having to say the character's name over and over again Writing "I" in first person seems so much less obtrusive in a way?

 

[DearanWan]

I write in 1st person POV because I find it easier to dive into each characters that way, but it's still hard to switch from one character to another.....
Also, in some stories I read before, I like reading different perspective and interpretation of a scene from different characters, so I want to try writing in a similar way.

 

[Zagaroth]

I prefer 3rd Limited, but I try to keep the PoV consistent within a chapter and make it clear who the new PoV is in the first sentence.

My early chapters occasionally switch PoV mid-chapter, though usually no more than once per chapter. I've gotten much better about that.