First versus third person POV

[Phantonym]

Which POV is better? Currently I am leaning toward third person. But I want community feedback.

Examples:
1st I smiled my face breaking out into a wide grin.

3rd John smiled his face breaking out into a wide grin.

 

[unlaumy]

That would be 1st and 3rd person. 2nd person is when you use 'you', at least that's how it usually goes.

 

[Phantonym]

Ok sorry

That would be 1st and 3rd person. 2nd person is when you use 'you', at least that's how it usually goes.

thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding!

 

[Scaletalon]

Ok sorry

thanks for clearing up the misunderstanding!

It really depends on you. If you're aiming for focusing more on one character for the rest of the story rather than others then 1st person could work but the same for 3rd person, at the end of the day neither is 'better' than the other. It all depends in how you execute it.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Which POV is better? Currently I am leaning toward third person. But I want community feedback.

Examples:
1st I smiled my face breaking out into a wide grin.

3rd John smiled his face breaking out into a wide grin.

Singular or plural?

 

[ShrimpShady]

I don't think one's better than another. In my opinion, picking which POV to use is more about how you want to convey the information in your story to the readers.

Do you want a broader view, for example, one with multiple characters doing things separate from each other, or one where the reader knows more than the characters? Then 3rd person would be your best bet.

Do you want a story filtered through your characters' subjective lens? Maybe you have a POV character with an interesting way of seeing the world, or maybe you have an unreliable narrator. Then 1st person would work better.

Obviously, there are other considerations when it comes to picking a perspective to tell your story, but those are just some basic examples. Perspective is just one of many tools. Use whichever fits the situation best and if you don't know what's best, you can always play around and see what sticks

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Personally I’m a big fan of third person limited, that being said there is no rule saying you need to stick with 1 single perspective type.

It’s pretty common to have a story that does 1st person pov for the protagonist pov, and 3rd person for other character pov

 

[l8rose]

As said, both are good. I like to use 1st person when I'm writing an unreliable narrator and 3rd if I have more than one POV throughout the story.

Only defining thing I consider about perspectives is just to keep it uniform through the story unless there is a reason for the sudden change (like the Doom movie with Karl Urban where it suddenly jumps into 1st person in homage to the game). A sudden jump from 3rd to 1st can be a good shock as part of a late story twist.

 

[Corty]

Sixth person. I like it when my story is told from the @TheEldritchGod 's perspective.

 

[HarperMcFarlane]

I don’t know why, but I trend towards preferring 3rd person.

 

[Phantonym]

Singular or plural?

If by plural you mean multiple peoples POV then yes I will be switching characters throughout the novel

I don't think one's better than another. In my opinion, picking which POV to use is more about how you want to convey the information in your story to the readers.

Do you want a broader view, for example, one with multiple characters doing things separate from each other, or one where the reader knows more than the characters? Then 3rd person would be your best bet.

Do you want a story filtered through your characters' subjective lens? Maybe you have a POV character with an interesting way of seeing the world, or maybe you have an unreliable narrator. Then 1st person would work better.

Obviously, there are other considerations when it comes to picking a perspective to tell your story, but those are just some basic examples. Perspective is just one of many tools. Use whichever fits the situation best and if you don't know what's best, you can always play around and see what sticks

I am currently switching between characters perspectives and I think that third person limited might work for that. Though in the future there will be more focus on one character specifically

As said, both are good. I like to use 1st person when I'm writing an unreliable narrator and 3rd if I have more than one POV throughout the story.

Only defining thing I consider about perspectives is just to keep it uniform through the story unless there is a reason for the sudden change (like the Doom movie with Karl Urban where it suddenly jumps into 1st person in homage to the game). A sudden jump from 3rd to 1st can be a good shock as part of a late story twist.

Yess I will prob do third limited bc I will be switching characters occasionally

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

If by plural you mean multiple peoples POV then yes I will be switching characters throughout the novel

I am currently switching between characters perspectives and I think that third person limited might work for that. Though in the future there will be more focus on one character specifically

Yess I will prob do third limited bc I will be switching characters occasionally

Languages typically have personal pronouns for each of the three grammatical persons:

• first-person pronouns normally refer to the speaker, in the case of the singular (as the English I), or to the speaker and others, in the case of the plural (as the English we).
• second-person pronouns normally refer to the person or persons being addressed (as the English you); in the plural they may also refer to the person or persons being addressed together with third parties.
• third-person pronouns normally refer to third parties other than the speaker or the person being addressed (as the English he, she, it, they).

As noted above, within each person there are often different forms for different grammatical numbers, especially singular and plural. Languages which have other numbers, such as dual (e.g. Slovene),[3] may also have distinct pronouns for these.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I like both. Recently I've been writing a lot of third person limited, and I've found it to be my favorite.

 

[beast_regards]

On the Internetzz

If you are posting on the Internet, it doesn't matter. The conventional approach to storytelling, writing convention, or even common sense, doesn't matter, because people on the Internet are going to behave like people on the Internet.

1st and 3rd person here (or worse, on the Royal Road) basically only influences which kind of complaint you are going to get.

If you write in 1st person, you will receive a complaint saying that story is a self-insert and you are stupid

If you write in the 3rd person, you will receive a complaint saying that your story is telling not showing, and that your characters are stupid, and you are stupid too.

You can pick whichever choice offends you less, because, well, you will always get those replies no matter you do, and arguing with people on the Internet is quite pointless. Any interaction with the people on the Internet will invariably always result in someone insulting your intelligence.

If you are writing the story that goes through any actual publishing process that doesn't involve Moderator John and projecting then....

In traditional publishing:

Well, pick whichever you like, because editors cannot be reasoned with either, you just have to pay them in advance to insult you.

However, general writing conventions are ....

(were, before the Internet and bot swarms)

1st person narration is for the introspective works, the story largely relies on the feelings of the perspective (point of view)characters (usually the protagonist)
3rd person narration is for the expressive, action focused works, which focus more on this happening over how it feels.
3rd person narration is also better for any work with the more than one point of view characters to prevent confusion

 

[Phantonym]

1st and 3rd person here (or worse, on the Royal Road) basically only influences which kind of complaint you are going to get.

If you write in 1st person, you will receive a complaint saying that story is a self-insert and you are stupid

If you write in the 3rd person, you will receive a complaint saying that your story is telling not showing, and that your characters are stupid, and you are stupid too.

You can pick whichever choice offends you less, because, well, you will always get those replies no matter you do, and arguing with people on the Internet is quite pointless. Any interaction with the people on the Internet will invariably always result in someone insulting your intelligence.

Easy response to the insults: "You try writing a book. Let's see what yours would sound like lol!"

 

[beast_regards]

Easy response to the insults: "You try writing a book. Let's see what yours would sound like lol!"

Yes, that's why we cannot reply to reviews on either site.

 

[Phantonym]

Yes, that's why we cannot reply to reviews on either site.

Too bad... The ones that leave insults like that are the ones that are mad and jealous. The ones that are good are more creative with their insults and form them in a way that is constructive criticism... most of the time

 

[Hoshino]

????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ??????? ??? ??????'? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ????????.. ??? ??? ? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ?? ????? ?? ? ???????? ???????????, ??? ??? ????? ????????? ????? ??? ??? ????. ?? ??? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????.

 

[beast_regards]

Too bad... The ones that leave insults like that are the ones that are mad and jealous. The ones that are good are more creative with their insults and form them in a way that is constructive criticism... most of the time

The problem with the web novel sites is that they are, at least somewhat, built on the expectations that the works posted there are already a finished work, ones to be rated and sold, not criticized and then improved upon.

There is a certain level of ... finality ... in the rating. You cannot improve from the review, even if it says useful things, you either die from it (or rather, your novel does) or prosper from it (gaining views, readers, followers, Patreon donation). But never, ever, improve. After all, ratings aren't the feedback tool, they are marketing tool, but web novel used them interchangeably as feedback to the author, a message to the audience, as editing, as constructive criticism, as actual marketing, as the value to feed the algorithm and many many more.

Yes, you could edit your chapters, fixing whatever they deemed a flaw, yet the review still stays, cannot be removed by the author once the issue is fixed, only by moderation, which is rarely done because moderation either doesn't care, or doesn't have the time and resources to effectively do it, so you are stuck with whatever was plastered upon you after the first edit.

This never happens with the traditionally published books. They may indeed receive a negative rating too, but the marketing is never entirely dependent on these. On web novel, however, whole review and marketing process is entirely crowdsourced to the people who don't have any vested interest in helping the book sales, and many want to damage it on purpose because the action has no negative consequences for them, while the book is buried with algorithm and leaves author demotivated to continue.

That's why there is a certain level of futility in listening to feedback or even listening to some advice, because there is no reward for the author doing so.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ??????? ??? ??????'? ???????? ??? ????? ?????? ?? ??? ????? ????????.. ??? ??? ? ?????? ???? ???? ??? ???? ?? ????? ?? ? ???????? ???????????, ??? ??? ????? ????????? ????? ??? ??? ????. ?? ??? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ?????? ??????? ????.

Back when I first got a Kindle, I looted free book sites. Found most of them were not worth even "free" but some were (seriously a few felt like they had been written by grade schoolers or worse; there were a couple of gems but a metric ton of dross to wade through to find them)...

But there was one that really stood out - don't remember the title now but the author wrote some chapters in third person, with a very ominous voice, and the rest in first person, switching between two characters (been about fifteen years since I read it so not sure now but I think they were sisters - one an occultist type, the other a police officer), generally giving each of them a chapter before going back to the third person stuff for a chapter or two. If the author had been a little better (or had a better editor), it would have been very cool but jarring. However, the author (or, if they used one, editor) was really just not all that good and it was just jarring, but the 3p parts were usually very good (making the less competent 1p parts even MORE jarring)...

On the Internetzz

If you are posting on the Internet, it doesn't matter. The conventional approach to storytelling, writing convention, or even common sense, doesn't matter, because people on the Internet are going to behave like people on the Internet.

1st and 3rd person here (or worse, on the Royal Road) basically only influences which kind of complaint you are going to get.

If you write in 1st person, you will receive a complaint saying that story is a self-insert and you are stupid

If you write in the 3rd person, you will receive a complaint saying that your story is telling not showing, and that your characters are stupid, and you are stupid too.

Not true - both of the stories I have on RR are first person.
One has not gotten any reviews (but was pirated to make an audionovel, go figure), and the other, the only review so far is (paraphrased): "Pacing is too fast, and it feels too noirish, which I guess was the author's intent, but I don't like it."