What is your favorite POV when reading Novel?

[Edenc2708]

I used to like 3rd, but now after writing, I love 1st the most.
It feels like when I write or read in it, I’m fully immersed in my own world.
(That’s not to say 2nd or 3rd person can’t be immersive too.)

 

[Empress_Omnii]

Probably 1st? Never seen a good 2nd. 3rd can be really nice, but I prefer knowing the characters thoughts more directly.

 

[Kenjona]

Had to put Hybrid, generally I like first person for main MC(s) for especially for "conflict" scenes. But sometimes second or third is needed to give more info without bogging the main plot down.

 

[RepresentingAnti-Representings]

What a coincidence. I was just about to create a poll of this exact same thing.

So taking the opportunity to ask my own question: I know 3rd is more commonly used, but is it true that 1st pov is becoming more and more popular between readers nowadays?

 

[RainyLiquid]

Omni 3rd :/

 

[Edenc2708]

What a coincidence. I was just about to create a poll of this exact same thing.

So taking the opportunity to ask my own question: I know 3rd is more commonly used, but is it true that 1st pov is becoming more and more popular between readers nowadays?

I think 1st person POV gives the most immersive experience for readers, just my opinion, though. Especially with how strong the fantasy genre is right now, letting yourself get pulled into the story through a 1st person perspective can be really entertaining.

Had to put Hybrid, generally I like first person for main MC(s) for especially for "conflict" scenes. But sometimes second or third is needed to give more info without bogging the main plot down.

yeah I guess it depends on the plot and scene too, some scene is better told with X POV.

Probably 1st? Never seen a good 2nd. 3rd can be really nice, but I prefer knowing the characters thoughts more directly.

yup hahahha never saw good 2nd

 

[CharlesEBrown]

It varies. I've seen a few great short stories in second person (most of them by Ramsey Campbell), but it almost always falls apart in longer stories, unless it's a "Chose Your Own Adventure" or other gamebook format where the author is literally asking you, the reader, what path to follow.
Horror stories can be far more effective in first person than in third - but that can also give away details, like the narrator surviving (in some form) - or the story not having a happy ending (or maybe no ending at all).
One of my favorite comedy novels (Howling Mad by Peter David) did a weird hybrid thing - most chapters were narrated in first person but every once in a while, one of the characters would take over for a chapter - with those chapters ranging from a long description of how the female MC met the male MC down to one of the shortest chapters I've ever read anywhere, narrated by the male MC ("It seemed the polite thing to do.").

My wife dislikes first person stories and has avoided a few she would otherwise really like because they were written that way but really, if it was what the author felt was the best way to tell the story, I say more power to them - most of the time they were right...

Note that I have a mix of these in my stories:

• Between Worlds has an ensemble cast and sometimes even focuses on the antagonists, so had to be third person.
• Digital Cowboy just felt stronger in 3p than in 1p to me (besides, the story from Dane's POV would be a lot less interesting, I think, as he's a fairly straightforward type ... and if I did it from the System's POV it would give away too much too fast).
• Strange Awakening was born out of a no-longer-remembered challenge. Wrote the first chapter, except for the last line, about two years before I had any idea what to do with the rest of it, but that challenge required 1p, so that was the format it stuck in.
• The only noirs I've read (mostly short stories so far, and half of The Big Sleep) were all 1p, so that was the way I had to do Jack Diamond's adventures.
• True Blue went through a lot of conceptual drafts - originally it was supposed to be a television program watched by characters in another story, then a comic book one of the characters read to her siblings while babysitting, before becoming a standalone story on its own. Not sure where the idea to make it 1p came from but it just "felt right" when I finally settled in on it.

Stuff I haven't posted anywhere are also a mixed bag - I have another story set in the same universe as True Blue (and including the FBI agents but not Nathan or Dina) that is third person so I can follow the hero, the villain and their agents as I need to. I have an attempted romance novel that is third person, and an embryonic time travel novel that might wind up a hybrid if it doesn't stay 3p the whole time. And there's a horror story I started and lost and keep wanting to restart but ... well, the whole concept was that each chapter is told by a different 1p narrator - and even includes the death scenes for some of them. And then I have The Gray Files, which features a first-person narrator so unreliable, I think he even lies to me...

 

[K_Jira]

I don't know how to explain this, but I can read 3rd person POV as a 1st person POV, but not vice versa because when reading 1st, I'd assume that I'm in the character's head and it became kind of unbearable when they describe things or their actions cuz in my head I'm like, 'buddy, you really have all that going through your mind?'. Especially when they describe their own physical appearance. Sometimes it comes off as narcissistic/deliberately

But in 3rd POV, depending on how the author writes the sentence, I can read the He/She/They almost like an I while in other times they are indeed a He/She/They. It's also more versatile to write in 3rd (I can't write in 1st ).

 

[Edenc2708]

It varies. I've seen a few great short stories in second person (most of them by Ramsey Campbell), but it almost always falls apart in longer stories, unless it's a "Chose Your Own Adventure" or other gamebook format where the author is literally asking you, the reader, what path to follow.
Horror stories can be far more effective in first person than in third - but that can also give away details, like the narrator surviving (in some form) - or the story not having a happy ending (or maybe no ending at all).
One of my favorite comedy novels (Howling Mad by Peter David) did a weird hybrid thing - most chapters were narrated in first person but every once in a while, one of the characters would take over for a chapter - with those chapters ranging from a long description of how the female MC met the male MC down to one of the shortest chapters I've ever read anywhere, narrated by the male MC ("It seemed the polite thing to do.").

My wife dislikes first person stories and has avoided a few she would otherwise really like because they were written that way but really, if it was what the author felt was the best way to tell the story, I say more power to them - most of the time they were right...

Note that I have a mix of these in my stories:

• Between Worlds has an ensemble cast and sometimes even focuses on the antagonists, so had to be third person.
• Digital Cowboy just felt stronger in 3p than in 1p to me (besides, the story from Dane's POV would be a lot less interesting, I think, as he's a fairly straightforward type ... and if I did it from the System's POV it would give away too much too fast).
• Strange Awakening was born out of a no-longer-remembered challenge. Wrote the first chapter, except for the last line, about two years before I had any idea what to do with the rest of it, but that challenge required 1p, so that was the format it stuck in.
• The only noirs I've read (mostly short stories so far, and half of The Big Sleep) were all 1p, so that was the way I had to do Jack Diamond's adventures.
• True Blue went through a lot of conceptual drafts - originally it was supposed to be a television program watched by characters in another story, then a comic book one of the characters read to her siblings while babysitting, before becoming a standalone story on its own. Not sure where the idea to make it 1p came from but it just "felt right" when I finally settled in on it.

Stuff I haven't posted anywhere are also a mixed bag - I have another story set in the same universe as True Blue (and including the FBI agents but not Nathan or Dina) that is third person so I can follow the hero, the villain and their agents as I need to. I have an attempted romance novel that is third person, and an embryonic time travel novel that might wind up a hybrid if it doesn't stay 3p the whole time. And there's a horror story I started and lost and keep wanting to restart but ... well, the whole concept was that each chapter is told by a different 1p narrator - and even includes the death scenes for some of them. And then I have The Gray Files, which features a first-person narrator so unreliable, I think he even lies to me...

Wow, thank you for such a detailed explanation! I really appreciate it. I'm still new and figuring out what kind of POV I should be writing in. I chose 1st person for my first novel not because I fully understood what it meant, but simply because it felt natural at the time. Now, I'm sort of having a POV identity crisis and wondering how I should write moving forward.


So far, 1st person and 3rd person limited are where I feel most comfortable. But I do believe that if we can understand the strengths of each POV and apply them well, our writing can only get better.


I've already taken note of those novels and will definitely check them out.
Thank you so much for sharing!

I don't know how to explain this, but I can read 3rd person POV as a 1st person POV, but not vice versa because when reading 1st, I'd assume that I'm in the character's head and it became kind of unbearable when they describe things or their actions cuz in my head I'm like, 'buddy, you really have all that going through your mind?'. Especially when they describe their own physical appearance. Sometimes it comes off as narcissistic/deliberately

But in 3rd POV, depending on how the author writes the sentence, I can read the He/She/They almost like an I while in other times they are indeed a He/She/They. It's also more versatile to write in 3rd (I can't write in 1st ).

LOL I totally get that. Reading a 1st person character going, “My luscious raven-black hair glistened in the moonlight” makes me go… okay, relax, Author-sama

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

I cannot stand 1st person. It feels far too self centred and induces authors too much to blather~. It also makes it incredibly hard to write smart characters.

 

[Edenc2708]

I cannot stand 1st person. It feels far too self centred and induces authors too much to blather~. It also makes it incredibly hard to write smart characters.

Totally agree, I found that problem in my current novel....

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Totally agree, I found that problem in my current novel....

In the end, it makes them always seem overly foolish, despite you trying your best. That is why I am using 3rd person limited.

Another thing I cannot stand is when thoughts are quoted. So jarring always.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Wow, thank you for such a detailed explanation! I really appreciate it. I'm still new and figuring out what kind of POV I should be writing in. I chose 1st person for my first novel not because I fully understood what it meant, but simply because it felt natural at the time. Now, I'm sort of having a POV identity crisis and wondering how I should write moving forward.


So far, 1st person and 3rd person limited are where I feel most comfortable. But I do believe that if we can understand the strengths of each POV and apply them well, our writing can only get better.


I've already taken note of those novels and will definitely check them out.
Thank you so much for sharing!

LOL I totally get that. Reading a 1st person character going, “My luscious raven-black hair glistened in the moonlight” makes me go… okay, relax, Author-sama

From the concept of yours, a hybrid model might work - with the MCs POV most of the time, maybe a third person view to transition in and out, and the girl carrying the die for some chapters?

 

[Edenc2708]

From the concept of yours, a hybrid model might work - with the MCs POV most of the time, maybe a third person view to transition in and out, and the girl carrying the die for some chapters?

Yes, usually the MCs POV and now up to date only 2 chapter I totally switch to the FMC carrying the narrating...
But that's also 1P i think...
Now I somehow got confuse about 1P and 3P limited...

 

[Phantonym]

In the end, it makes them always seem overly foolish, despite you trying your best. That is why I am using 3rd person limited.

Another thing I cannot stand is when thoughts are quoted. So jarring always.

This can certainly be true, I thought to myself impishly.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

I cannot stand 1st person. It feels far too self centred and induces authors too much to blather~. It also makes it incredibly hard to write smart characters.

Well, I think both Kelly and Jack are smart characters but could be mistaken (though Jack is sometimes literally and figuratively clueless) - but Kelly also IS a bit self-centered...
Jack... is more self-effacing, kind of making fun of the whole thing.

 

[Assurbanipal_II]

Well, I think both Kelly and Jack are smart characters but could be mistaken (though Jack is sometimes literally and figuratively clueless) - but Kelly also IS a bit self-centered...
Jack... is more self-effacing, kind of making fun of the whole thing.

That would need to be investigated~.