McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
First Person vs. Third Person
MClark:
I don't really care which POV when I'm reading.
3rd person omniscient is sort of an odd duck and takes a bit of getting used to as a reader. Watership Down is written in 3rd person omniscient.
I have written in both 1st person and 3rd and both have their strengths and weaknesses.
They say beginning writers should avoid 1st person, but it seems a lot of people break this rule and get published. Most UF authors. Like some one else said almost all UF is in 1st person.
Zuriel:
When I first started reading DF, my initial reaction to the first person narrative was huh? what's this?...but the more I read, the more I liked it. I agree with you, Naomi, that for the reasons you mentioned, a first person perspective works so well. I'm really loving seeing the world through the eyes and voice of the MC, so now I'm hooked. And my next series of short stories I write are definitely going to be told by the MC.
Zuriel:
--- Quote from: MClark on May 31, 2012, 02:39:02 PM ---I don't really care which POV when I'm reading.
3rd person omniscient is sort of an odd duck and takes a bit of getting used to as a reader. Watership Down is written in 3rd person omniscient.
I have written in both 1st person and 3rd and both have their strengths and weaknesses.
They say beginning writers should avoid 1st person, but it seems a lot of people break this rule and get published. Most UF authors. Like some one else said almost all UF is in 1st person.
--- End quote ---
I'll read both, too. If it's a good book, it doesn't matter which is used. But I'm fairly new to this writing thing (strictly for my own pleasure with no objective to get published), and I'm not clear on what third person omniscient is. How is it different from plain ole third person? Just curious. Never read Watership Down.
Naomi:
--- Quote from: Zuriel on May 31, 2012, 02:57:12 PM ---... and I'm not clear on what third person omniscient is. How is it different from plain ole third person? Just curious.
--- End quote ---
My understanding is that third person omniscient is a narrator that literally knows everything about the novel's world (past, present, and future), plot(s), as well as each character's inner thoughts and motivations. Every single thing. As opposed to third person limited, where the narrator of a novel has some sort of limit to their knowledge put in place by the author. A third person limited narrator might not know, or have access to, anymore details than the main character.
edited: to change "may" to "might." Why? *sigh* Because my inner editor keeps bugging me ...
Quantus:
I like both, fwiw but I tend to read 1st POV faster than 3rd. The reason is simple, with 1st POV there is always only a single story line being developed, so its easier to get fully absorbed into the story. In 3rd POV there are usually shifts in the story that jump from following one character to another. Those jumps are an opportunity to put the book down, and so its less likely I will feel that compulsion to turn just one more page, and keep going through the night. But 1st POV carries its own restrictions along the same lines; it becomes hard to present any information to the reader without letting the narrating character know. So 1st POV is ore immersive, but more restricted; 3rd POV gives you a broader, but slightly more distanced perspective.
0.02
--- Quote from: Naomi on May 31, 2012, 07:12:04 PM ---My understanding is that third person omniscient is a narrator that literally knows everything about the novel's world (past, present, and future), plot(s), as well as each character's inner thoughts and motivations. Every single thing. As opposed to third person limited, where the narrator of a novel has some sort of limit to their knowledge put in place by the author. A third person limited narrator may not know, or have access to, anymore details than the main character.
--- End quote ---
Sometimes it indicates that you are following a specific character or group of characters. CA is Limited 3rd POV as far as I can tell. It is written in the 3rd POV voice, but is told from a short list of character perspectives, so that the reader only knows what those characters do, rather than the more universal perspective of Omniscient
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