Perspective. What person and tense do you write in?

[AlexBailey]

Hey authors,

I could be mistaken, but it seems that most stories I come across are written in third person and simple past tense.

What perspective do you tend to write in and why? Do you ever switch it up?

 

[Omenainen]

Third person past tense, mostly. Sometimes first person. I wrote one in first person present tense, but I absolutely hated it, so I’m not likely to do it again.

 

[AlexBailey]

...
I wrote one in first person present tense, but I absolutely hated it...

What was it that bothered you?

 

[Omenainen]

What was it that bothered you?

I can’t really say. It just felt wrong. I don’t like to tell stories in present tense and combining it with first person made it kind of obnoxious. But it could be that it was the story that bothered me and not the form.

 

[NotWise]

Third or first person, past tense. I use simple past tense as much as possible because it's simple, but I'll use past perfect if the sequence of events isn't clear from context.

I've used present tense once. In "Her Dream House" the female main character relates a series of sexual fantasies. Most of the story is first person past tense from the male main character's point of view, but when the woman describes her fantasies she does it in present tense.

I thought present tense helped it feel like she was experiencing the fantasies as she described them, which was an effect I wanted. I haven't tried writing a whole story that way, and I don't think I'd want to.

 

[SimonDoom]

I always write in past tense and alternate among first person, third-person limited, and third-person omniscient point of view.

My default is third-person limited point of view, because I think a short story usually works best with a limited rather than omniscient point of view. It works better for suspense and surprise and keeps the focus on the main character and that character's emotions. If I think there's a particular reason to do so I write in first person POV. If I want the perspective of more than one character I write it in omniscient.

 

[KeithD]

Most often first person, simple past tense. Nearly as often third person, simple past tense.

 

[HeyAll]

3rd person past tense is my favorite.

 

[AlinaX]

First person, and sometimes present tense.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I think that every story I’ve finished (erotic or otherwise) is past tense. I’ve tried present tense a few times, but it always struck me as affected. I’ve mostly used third-person, but I find first-person worthwhile sometimes, especially if the narrator is looking back on events and showing how s/he was altered by them. Second-person, never.

As I think about this topic, though, I wonder if my perspective was drilled into me at an early age by my reading, and my interest in writing, and the education process that so many of us went through. I had read stuff in past-tense, and gotten used to it, so when present-tense was used, I was always aware of that, and maybe distracted out of what the author was conveying. First- and third-person were used enough that the main difference for me was that a first-person narrator was relating her/his own experience. Second-person turned up only in experimental fiction that struck me as having other barriers to entry.

Perhaps as a result, what I write is intended to prevent stumbling blocks for a reader (more specifically, for me as a reader). So maybe I’m too easily accepting first principles from when my age was in single digits. I’ll give myself permission to stay that way, since now my age has passed most of the double digits.

 

[yibala2]

3rd person, past

Hey authors,

I could be mistaken, but it seems that most stories I come across are written in third person and simple past tense.

What perspective do you tend to write in and why? Do you ever switch it up?

Most of my stories here on Lit have revolved around two protagonists, one of whose stories I write in 3rd person, the other in 1st. I find that, by comparison, I'm much more comfortable in the 1st person character's head and feel as though I understand her better. This is the effect that 1st person should have on the reader, but I didn't expect that it would make such a difference for me as the writer.

As a twist, now the two protagonists are together in the same stories, and I am planning to stick with the 1st person character's POV, with her as the chronicler of their shared adventures.

I tried present tense with one story, and got a complaining comment that it was harder to read. It's also trickier to write. I didn't fully understand when I set out when to use past and when to use past participle with a story in present tense. However, in retrospect I think the present tense was a good choice for a high-action, impulsive character and plot.

I think it's worth switching it up and experimenting, just to see how it changes your and the reader's experience.

-Yib

 

[AlexBailey]

It seems like writing in different perspectives can affect the author psychologically.

Writing in first person with 'I/me/my' is speaking directly from the author. The story is either the author's voice or the author is 'playing' the character. I feel some bit of authorial endorsement in first person, while I feel freer and less responsible for the content in third person.

If you're one who is uncomfortable writing in first person, is it because you don't want to immerse yourself in the story?



Edit: other thoughts....

It's interesting how you often speak of your own feelings by changing to second person, especially if it's something you don't feel comfortable about openly voicing.

Or:

It's interesting how I often speak of my own feelings by changing to second person, especially if it's something I don't feel comfortable about openly voicing.

 

[Omenainen]

It seems like writing in different perspectives can affect the author psychological.

Writing in first person with 'I/me/my' is speaking directly from the author. The story is either the author's voice or the author is 'playing' the character. I feel some bit of authorial endorsement in first person, while I feel freer and less responsible for the content in third person.

If you're one who is uncomfortable writing in first person, is it because you don't want to immerse yourself in the story?

That’s a good point. I think for me it’s that I want to be all my characters, and using first person locks it too tightly in that one person. I’ve written stories where I alternate POVs and once I wrote the same story twice, to see how it was from the other side. So I don’t want to tell just one person’s story, I want to tell all of their stories. (Okay, both of their stories, since mostly it’s just about two persons.)

 

[KeithD]

It's interesting how you often speak of your own feelings by changing to second person, especially if it's something you don't feel comfortable about openly voicing.

Or:

It's interesting how I often speak of my own feelings by changing to second person, especially if it's something I don't feel comfortable about openly voicing.

I'd have to see an example. Most who think they are writing in second person, aren't.

 

[NotWise]

It seems like writing in different perspectives can affect the author psychological.

Writing in first person with 'I/me/my' is speaking directly from the author. The story is either the author's voice or the author is 'playing' the character. I feel some bit of authorial endorsement in first person, while I feel freer and less responsible for the content in third person.

If you're one who is uncomfortable writing in first person, is it because you don't want to immerse yourself in the story?

I went back and looked at a few of my stories and tried to remember why they were in first or third. For the most part, there's little difference. Most stories could be written either way. There's hardly a sliver of daylight between strictly-limited third person and first person.

I needed to write "Hurricane Twyla" in third. Although it's almost all written in third person limited from Doug's point of view, there's one scene that had to be told from Twyla's point of view because Doug's involvement was peripheral. I think that sort of switch is better done in third person.

I wrote "A Christmas Tart" in first when it probably could have been written in third because I thought the readers would go for it better in first. Also, I wrote it in first because it had been more than a year since I wrote in first and I wanted the variety.

"Oscar's Place" was originally written in first person, and rewritten in third. The main reason for the change was that I found it hard to characterize the narrator, and I thought more distance would make it easier to tell the story. "Her Dream House" went the other way. I started it in third person and rewrote it in first to get a closer perspective.

When I do write in first, I take the approach that the first person narrator is primarily an observer. The story isn't about the narrator. Even in "My Sister's Wedding," in which the narrator is very involved in the story, he functions mostly as an observer and story teller of the events surrounding his sister.

If I didn't want the first person character to function mostly as an observer, then I'd probably write in third.

Edit: other thoughts....

It's interesting how you often speak of your own feelings by changing to second person, especially if it's something you don't feel comfortable about openly voicing.

Or:

It's interesting how I often speak of my own feelings by changing to second person, especially if it's something I don't feel comfortable about openly voicing.

In these cases, I'm not sure people are really speaking of their emotions in second person. I think of them as relating their feelings passively and objectifying the emotions.

 

[WatchingCloud]

I generally default to limited third person, past tense. It's the easiest to read while still allowing surprises to feel natural to the reader.

I have dabbled in first person. I feel this is best if the story really hinges on the internal story arc of one character and (obviously) doesn't rely on events happening outside that character's experience. It's a very intimate take on whatever story you're telling.

For the sake of variety, I've written a few choose your own adventure stories in second person. Ugh. It's not difficult, but almost impossible not to use "you" and "your" constantly.

Oddly, my favorite book is written in present tense, which I usually dislike. When done well, it can add a sense of energy or immediacy to the narrative. I'd recommend against it without a compelling reason, though.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have three broad styles - first person simple past tense, third person omniscient past tense, and what I call very close in third person (grammarians might have a term for it, but I don't know what it is - ah, I see someone has just referred to limited, that's probably it).

I'll use present tense from to time - and occasionally lapsed into it by mistake (but I still haven't edited that story!) - but it somehow feels contrived, artificial. If I'm doing things right now, how on earth am I writing them down? There's a false narrative logic, somehow, that grates. I'll jump early from stories written in first person present, unless they're written extremely well.

 

[KeithD]

When I want to be part of the action, as one of the characters, usually the protagonist, I write in first person. When I want to observe from an elevated position, I write in third. Often when I start in third I find myself slipping into first and then I usually go back and put it all in first. My muse usually knows what perspective to put it in, though. I think erotica begs for first person.

 

[RetroFan]

I write in first and third person in equal measure. I've never liked second person, and would never write a story in second person.

I always use past tense, I can't stand present tense, to me it always sounds pretentious. If I click on a story on this site and see its written in present tense, I immediately click the back button.

 

[PennameWombat]

Simple past tense. At least, that’s my intent. I’ll let someone more knowledgeable tell me how often I slip...

Probably a third of my stories here are first person, the rest third person limited. My last four contest/event entries had one first person, the others third limited. In some cases I use section titles to name the third person POV, in others I make it clear in the narrative if I switch at a chapter/section boundary.

My first person stories have all stayed purely first person and stayed with the single protagonist’s POV because my goal was to delve into that person’s experiences. The only real insulting comments I’ve received were on the story I wrote from a woman’s first person POV, but slightly masked her gender for a while. But her embarrassment at giving an accidental downblouse view in an office setting should’ve settled it even before it was made quite clear a few paragraphs later. Alas. Not for some

 

[KeithD]

The only real insulting comments I’ve received were on the story I wrote from a woman’s first person POV, but slightly masked her gender for a while.

Yes, there are simplistic readers like that here. I immediately put them in the "fuck them" category, though. Fiction is to be played and experimented with--especially on a no-fee/free-read site like this. There's no need to cater to those of limited reading and appreciation ability.

 

[Bramblethorn]

For erotica, I default to first person past tense, but I'll vary that as the story requires.

Red Callum, Sweet Cate: third person limited, because the protagonist dies a little way before the end of the story.

Magnum Innominandum: first-person past tense, framed within two layers of third-person past tense that gives context on how things turned out.

Riddle of the Copper Coin: first-person past, framing third-person past, as the two main characters use storytelling to work through their issues (in the tradition of Scheherazade).

I don't think I've ever used second person, and mostly it's a bad idea, but on rare occasions it's the right tool for the job. Lately I've been reading a series which alternates between second and third person modes for a couple of hundred pages and uses that to pull off a powerful emotional twist.

 

[AlexBailey]

It's interesting to me that some people don't like first person and/or present tense. It seems so natural. Isn't that how we all experience the world?

A first hand telling of an event is usually preferred, especially in non-fiction. If the story is told in real time -- all the better.


Going to third person past tense seems like two unnecessary degrees of separation from the material. Of course good narration can make up for it. Ah, so many skills to explore and learn... I was thinking of trying third person with an unreliable narrator next.


The only perspective I can't imagine working with is second person. It's jarring. I once read Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins (second person) and had a tough time with it. Being told how "you" look and how "you" feel is definitely strange.

 

[SyleusSnow]

First person, past tense is my natural go-to. I find it easier to play-act as the main character, and many authors say the intimacy of first person works well for stuff like erotica and romance.

I've tried to grow by writing a few stories in third person, but find it uncomfortable and far more effort. Avoiding head hopping, for one.

Meanwhile, first person present tense has been gaining popularity in YA, literary and romance writing. I'm thinking of stuff like Hunger Games and also The Time Travelers Wife, which, given what the book is about, present tense makes sense to avoid contortions like Douglas Adam's "Future Semiconditionally Modified Subinverted Plagal Past Subjunctive Intentional"

Like first person past tense, first person present tense brings intimacy to the storytelling, but supposedly also adds immediacy of things "happening right now."

Guess I need to try that soon.

 

[Erlikkhan]

Dave pounded his cock into her dripping pussy again and again, listening to her shrieks and squeals as she clawed at his back. He drove it deep into her cunt and grunted, filling her with so much cum he could could feel it dripping from his balls.

I pounded my throbbing cock into her dripping pussy again and again, listening to her shrieks and squeals as she clawed at my back. I drove it deep into her cunt and grunted, filling her with so much cum I could feel it dripping from my balls.

I pound my throbbing cock into her dripping pussy again and again, listening to her shrieks and squeals as she claws at my back. I drive it deep into her cunt and grunt, filling her with so much cum I can feel it dripping from my balls.

They all work. Third person past offers greater variety of perspective, first person past is more personal and easier to manage from a timeline point of view, and first person present puts you right in the action.