Rewriting Point of View

[SimonDoom]

Well, shoot. I nearly finished my latest story, and all of a sudden I realized it would be better if I changed the POV from first person to third person. It would give me more flexibility with the narrative voice, and enable me to separate the narrative voice from the protagonist's perspective. It also would allow me to delve a bit into the thoughts of the second main character. But now I have to rewrite a story that's nearly 15,000 words so far. Drat.

Anybody else do this? What motivated you to do so?

BTW, Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

 

[HeyAll]

I did this with several old stories. Took them down. Months later redid it as 3rd person. Just because i prefer 3rd now, focuses on female character more.

Some paragraphs dont work anymore when switching. But for most, it's just a matter or switching words around. Some things need to be revised as well.

Not too hard at all.

 

[NotWise]

Anybody else do this? What motivated you to do so?

I've done that before, but not so far into it. Changing the POV can be more work than writing the story in the first place. You're kinda starting over.

I don't remember exactly why I rewrote mine, but it was from first person to third. I sometimes write in first, but I'm not its biggest fan.

 

[oggbashan]

I've done it several times but usually from 3rd to 1st, mainly because I wasn't happy with the completed draft.

Once I started it didn't take more than a couple of hours for a long story.

What I did do first was save the original version before the change. At least twice I had to revert to the original before posting.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've done that before, but not so far into it. Changing the POV can be more work than writing the story in the first place. You're kinda starting over.

I don't remember exactly why I rewrote mine, but it was from first person to third. I sometimes write in first, but I'm not its biggest fan.

It's not quite as bad as that for me, because I'm rewriting mostly in third person limited, confining the POV to one character, just as it was with first person. But it is painstaking. I'm glad I'm doing it though, because it will be a better story.

 

[KenNicottii]

I always do my earlier drafts in the third person. Not sure why, but it seems to flow more easily that way.

My first ‘slap draft’ pours out haphazardly, trying to recall all the plot, dialog, and sex scenes that have been bouncing around in my head during the development phase (months or years). No capitalization, no punctuation other than commas and slashes (virgules) separating sentence fragments, and characters denoted with a single initial – just the minimum to keep it from being gibberish when I look at it the next time.

The next few drafts reveal whether the story will work in the first person. I’ve only had one (Term Paper Blues) that required getting into the head of both the female and male main characters, requiring the story to stay in third person (omniscient). Once the story has all its elements in place, that’s when I go through and change it to first person and start refining the dialogue punctuation, word choices, sentence structure, etc.

 

[yukonnights]

I usually write in third person because I like to explore the thoughts and emotions...and let the dialogue keep it in the moment. It just seems to afford more space to play with things.

But, as I was reading the OP...or more accurately, shortly there after... I had the thought; It would be interesting to do it both ways and post it both ways...wonder which would be the better received?

 

[NotWise]

But, as I was reading the OP...or more accurately, shortly there after... I had the thought; It would be interesting to do it both ways and post it both ways...wonder which would be the better received?

If the story was originally written in first person, then you might be able to do it both ways. If it was originally written in third, then some things won't translate to first. First limits you to things the narrator experiences or that are related to the narrator. Third does not have that limitation.

I write first person quite differently from third person, so if I were to write the same story both ways they wouldn't come out much alike.

 

[LexxRuthless]

I started writing Into the Attic in third person, but I was writing it collaboratively. The fellow who had given me the story idea preferred my first person writing style, and asked if I could write the story from the perspective of the young fellow who was setting up the spy cameras. At that point, though, it was only about 3,000 words into the story. That did require me to drop an entire section of his sister's backstory--three paragraphs--since the protagonist wouldn't have known about it.
I would recommend trying the rewrite as a separate document, so you can read them side-by-side and see which you really prefer once you have made the changes you have in mind.

 

[jomar]

I’ve done that with a sci fi story. Wrote it in first, then thought twice and tried third, but ultimately it works best in first. So, yeah.

Motivation to try third? To broaden and allow more flexibility, but it needed some intimacy and perspective that only first person would allow.

 

[KeithD]

I'm rewriting one from first person to third person now because I'm recasting the story plot into a new story.

 

[yukonnights]

If the story was originally written in first person, then you might be able to do it both ways. If it was originally written in third, then some things won't translate to first. First limits you to things the narrator experiences or that are related to the narrator. Third does not have that limitation.

I write first person quite differently from third person, so if I were to write the same story both ways they wouldn't come out much alike.

I think that would be the point, they would indeed be different and yet still both have the same premise, setting and plot. I'm too lazy to ever do it, just seems like an interesting experiment to see how much that first person approach limits the work and how the two fare side by side in reader appreciation. (maybe one day the question will drive me nuts enough to give it a shot)

 

[NotWise]

I think that would be the point, they would indeed be different and yet still both have the same premise, setting and plot. I'm too lazy to ever do it, just seems like an interesting experiment to see how much that first person approach limits the work and how the two fare side by side in reader appreciation. (maybe one day the question will drive me nuts enough to give it a shot)

I expect the results -- if both were written with similar craft -- would be ambiguous. Some readers will respond to the personal perspective of first person. Some readers will respond better to the broader perspective of third person.

And then, some stories just need to be first person. Some stories need to be third.

 

[SimonDoom]

But, as I was reading the OP...or more accurately, shortly there after... I had the thought; It would be interesting to do it both ways and post it both ways...wonder which would be the better received?

One could do a survey of 1st person POV and 3d person POV stories and see which category does better. This sounds like a task for our resident statisticians, Hector Bidon and 8Letters.

 

[davybyrne]

It's not quite as bad as that for me, because I'm rewriting mostly in third person limited, confining the POV to one character, just as it was with first person. But it is painstaking. I'm glad I'm doing it though, because it will be a better story.

As a reader, I always find third person with the POV limited to one character to be the most readable. It's confusing and jarring when the third person POV shifts between multiple people in the same section/chapter.

Going from 1st person to 3rd person with limited POV seems definitely more manageable, but I shudder at the thought of rewriting everything!

The one thing I've found as a new writer is that 1st person tends to lend itself to a more casual and informal voice, which is harder to rewrite into more formal third person than changing pronouns.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have started a story in third person, left it for a while then picked it back up and suddenly found I was writing in first person. What a mess that was.

But I have never thought of going back and rewriting the entire story from one POV to and another.

 

[LupusDei]

I have started a story in third person, left it for a while then picked it back up and suddenly found I was writing in first person. What a mess that was.

But I have never thought of going back and rewriting the entire story from one POV to and another.

I had seen otherwise enjoyable story that started in first person for two or three chapters, then switched to limited third person from another character's view for the next chapter, then went to omniscient third centered on the initial character for the rest of it. While I could clearly see why that was beneficial for telling the intended story, It was awkward. I then very much hoped at least for a dive back in first person for the ending, and was disappointed it never happened, the intimacy of the first part was lost.

Generally, random PoV drift is very annoying. Although, the worst is few first person sentences inserted in otherwise third person story, a permanent switch is more tolerable, however confusing.

I could imagine justifying swith to a first person part in a story within story situation, one character telling it all to another.

 

[SimonDoom]

The one thing I've found as a new writer is that 1st person tends to lend itself to a more casual and informal voice, which is harder to rewrite into more formal third person than changing pronouns.

This is exactly the issue with my story. When it was nearly done I felt the narrative voice was shifting between that of the protagonist, a young male whose voice is informal and conversational, and of my voice, which is more formal and more figurative. I was dissatisfied with it because I was making my narrator/protagonist say things that didn't seem realistic. It's a pain converting it to 3d person but it will eliminate this problem and allow me as the narrator to say what I want without worrying whether it's plausible that my protagonist would say it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

This is exactly the issue with my story. When it was nearly done I felt the narrative voice was shifting between that of the protagonist, a young male whose voice is informal and conversational, and of my voice, which is more formal and more figurative. I was dissatisfied with it because I was making my narrator/protagonist say things that didn't seem realistic. It's a pain converting it to 3d person but it will eliminate this problem and allow me as the narrator to say what I want without worrying whether it's plausible that my protagonist would say it.

You do realise you could have tweaked the story in the time you've spent gas-bagging here. Get to it, mate .

 

[SimonDoom]

You do realise you could have tweaked the story in the time you've spent gas-bagging here. Get to it, mate .

But that would take time away from gas-bagging.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I had seen otherwise enjoyable story that started in first person for two or three chapters, then switched to limited third person from another character's view for the next chapter, then went to omniscient third centered on the initial character for the rest of it. While I could clearly see why that was beneficial for telling the intended story, It was awkward. I then very much hoped at least for a dive back in first person for the ending, and was disappointed it never happened, the intimacy of the first part was lost.

Generally, random PoV drift is very annoying. Although, the worst is few first person sentences inserted in otherwise third person story, a permanent switch is more tolerable, however confusing.

I could imagine justifying swith to a first person part in a story within story situation, one character telling it all to another.

Mine was a mistake I corrected prior to submission.

 

[yukonnights]

I expect the results -- if both were written with similar craft -- would be ambiguous. Some readers will respond to the personal perspective of first person. Some readers will respond better to the broader perspective of third person.

And then, some stories just need to be first person. Some stories need to be third.

Now that the question has arisen, it would be interesting to know. (funny how I never worried about this before...a clear case of too much knowledge of my lack of knowledge...which now confounds my pleasure in my own ignorance! )

But, as has been said; First person does often lend to a more vibrant and fresh presentation. I tend to be more comfortable in 3rd/omniscient though, and let the dialogue bring life to it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

But, as has been said; First person does often lend to a more vibrant and fresh presentation. I tend to be more comfortable in 3rd/omniscient though, and let the dialogue bring life to it.

My earlier writing was almost entirely first person, and another writer commented, "My God, your stuff is so intimate, you put me next to you on the pillow; whereas I just want to go out of the room and close the door." Being on the pillow, of course, was the point.

Then I wrote some omniscient third, and found that, yes, I could wander around more, but for erotica and intimacy, I missed the closeness of first person. And then, thank goodness, with my Floating World stories, I discovered the advantages of what I call close omniscient, where the narrator is privy to the thoughts of one character at a time, with clearly delineated shifts to another character as the story moves forward. That's the best of both worlds.

In my current WIP, I've given myself the challenge of writing a character I know well, but portraying him only as the other two characters see him - looking in on him, rather than looking out from him. It's an interesting writer's challenge.

 

[NotWise]

But, as has been said; First person does often lend to a more vibrant and fresh presentation. I tend to be more comfortable in 3rd/omniscient though, and let the dialogue bring life to it.

A couple of my stories are told by a storyteller. That's a totally different take on POV.

A storyteller speaks directly to an audience, and the reader may be part of the audience, so there is no fourth wall. The story is usually told in third person, but that can be very fluid. One of my two stories is based on a Native American legendary character named Yellow Woman. Traditionally, her stories are told in first person, as if the storyteller were relating her own experience.

When I wrote my story based very loosely on Yellow Woman, the story teller shifted from third person for the setup, then to first person for the traditional part of the story, and back to third person for the climax. There are interjections throughout, as the storyteller speaks directly to her audience (including the reader) and I think those might be considered second person.

To complicate things more, even when the story is in third person, the third person narrator is actually a character in the story who journaled the events thousands of years earlier. And of course, the storyteller herself has a character.

I think I've been seduced by the idea that a third person narrator can bring their own character to the story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

...the third person narrator is actually a character in the story who journaled the events thousands of years earlier. And of course, the storyteller herself has a character.

I think I've been seduced by the idea that a third person narrator can bring their own character to the story.

Absolutely. More confusion arises when the writer's voice and the narrator's voice aren't the same - completely unreliable .

I had fun in my recently published big long story, where I shifted between a very reliable third person narrator and a completely unreliable first person character who was both part of the main action as a central player, and observing other characters taking centre stage. Fun to write.