perspective

[karaline]

hello, me again

does anyone have any particular feelings about perspective. I feel I ought to write from different perspectives, but I often end up wanting to maintain an air of mystery around the love interest so tend to stick to the (potentially unreliable) perspective of the protagonist.

what do the rest of you do? and does anyone have any views thay fancy sharing? does anyone find a single perspective annoying? or is it okay?

thanks
Karaline

 

[TarnishedPenny]

If I understand your question properly, there are a couple of ways to answer.

Each protagonist brings a different perspective and each is influenced by what’s happening. That’s the ‘don’t worry about it’ answer.

There’s also a difference between first, second and third persons. (SP is rare, of course.)

And one can certainly keep things mysterious in 3P: I found myself flustered; I’d had no idea he loved me! vs The young woman was flustered; this was the first time she’d suspected he loved her.

 

[karaline]

If I understand your question properly, there are a couple of ways to answer.

Each protagonist brings a different perspective and each is influenced by what’s happening. That’s the ‘don’t worry about it’ answer.

There’s also a difference between first, second and third persons. (SP is rare, of course.)

And one can certainly keep things mysterious in 3P: I found myself flustered; I’d had no idea he loved me! vs The young woman was flustered; this was the first time she’d suspected he loved her.

Perhaps i'm not being very clear, I tend to write in third person (occasionally in first) but what i mean is, i also tend to stay in one persons head the entire time, rather than coming at it from different points of view. Should i be more ambitious and write from more than one persons point of view? I'm sure there is no right or wrong answer to this question, but i'm just interested in hearing peoples thoughts

 

[SimonDoom]

I think about this issue all the time when I write.

I mix it up. I write from the POV of both women and men, and I use both third person and first person POV.

My default rule is to write in third person limited POV. That gives me the opportunity as a writer to get completely inside the head of one main character, but ALSO to narrate the story independently of that person's perspective and education and speech patterns. To me, it's both intimate and infinitely flexible.

Sometimes I choose first person POV, for various reasons.

In terms of deciding which character from whose perspective I want to tell the story, my general rule is to pick the character who is undergoing the main erotic experience or change. That way I can get inside that person's head and describe what they are thinking and feeling.

Example: Let's say I'm writing a story about a couple, and the woman gets naked in public at the man's request. Generally speaking, the woman's perspective is more interesting, and I want to relate what she is feeling and thinking as she gets naked. So my inclination is to tell the story from her perspective.

But not always. I'm writing a story right now that is like that, but it's in first person from the man's perspective, because I want the story to relate what I, the male character, feel as I guide the female character through an experience of public nudity.

It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish with your story.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish with your story.

Bingo.

I think that staying with one person’s POV is completely understandable - solid, reliable and hard for the reader to get confused. Switching back and forth, on the other hand, offers more depth, more chance to play one person’s ‘reality’ off against another’s. He thought she wanted this, but she wanted something else. You can allow the misunderstanding to be a total surprise at the end or bring the readers in on the situation early on and let them enjoy the process as the story grows.

 

[JuanaSalsa]

Perhaps i'm not being very clear, I tend to write in third person (occasionally in first) but what i mean is, i also tend to stay in one persons head the entire time, rather than coming at it from different points of view. Should i be more ambitious and write from more than one persons point of view? I'm sure there is no right or wrong answer to this question, but i'm just interested in hearing peoples thoughts

I mostly enjoy writing in first person, and I often like to write from the two main characters point of view, switching every 500-1000 words.

It depends on what kind of story I'm writing, whether I feel the need to see inside the thoughts of both parts of a couple. Sometimes I want the reader to be as uncertain as the main character about what is happening in the other person's head. Sometimes the story is so much more about the main character than anyone else that it's not necessary to know what anyone else is thinking.

Sometimes, I want to build tension by showing exactly what the other person is thinking so that those thoughts can play off each other in how they act and the reader knows, more than the character, how the other will react to each action. It can be a lot of fun to let the reader know how disconnected the action is from the thoughts, as people often act contrary to how they feel.

I have written a couple stories in third person omniscient, and I think that can work well too. However, when switching perspective frequently, it's sometimes hard for the reader to find a character to empathize with and keep track of who is thinking what.

 

[SimonDoom]

Bingo.

I think that staying with on person’s POV is completely understandable - solid, reliable and hard for the reader to get confused. Switching back and forth, on the other hand, offers more depth, more chance to play one person’s ‘reality’ off against another’s. He thought she wanted this, but she wanted something else. You can allow the misunderstanding to be a total surprise at the end or bring the readers in on the situation early on and let them enjoy the process as the story grows.

I've done it both ways. My most popular Literotica story, by far, is one where I jumped from one character's thoughts to the other's, over and over, within the scene. And for that story, that's how I wanted to do it, and I think it worked. My usual method, though, is to stick with one person's perspective for the duration of a scene, and to wait until the end of the scene to switch perspectives. I think it's a useful default. It makes me think more carefully about what I'm doing if I choose another way of doing it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm going to answer this question by quoting from a much long comment received for one of my stories (thank you Hector Bidon):

I've always been partial to first person narration for conveying the intimate details of a character's inner life. But this story wonderfully shows how third person narration can be used to convey the inner activity of two characters, even during the intricate steps of their dance. We see the evening not as we would see it in real life --- where we know our own feelings but can only guess at our partner's --- but privy to both sides, able to see the uncertainty and hopefulness and playfulness and arousal on both sides as flirtation turns to courtship and courtship turns to foreplay. It's two intimate stories, really, interwoven at every scene. A tour-de-force of patient, loving, doubly imagined detail.

So yes, very much so, try multiple points of view. I use the technique often, gently shifting back and forth between two characters (making the transitions very clear, no head hopping) - it can weave the threads both ways in the tapestry of your story, making the whole thing richer.

 

[NotWise]

Perhaps i'm not being very clear, I tend to write in third person (occasionally in first) but what i mean is, i also tend to stay in one persons head the entire time, rather than coming at it from different points of view. Should i be more ambitious and write from more than one persons point of view? I'm sure there is no right or wrong answer to this question, but i'm just interested in hearing peoples thoughts

I think it's hard to switch perspectives in third person. I don't usually, except sometimes during sex scenes so they come from the point of view of whoever is pushing the action.

I also have stories from a storyteller perspective. It's essentially third person, but the narrator has character and may have a name. There may even be an audience. The storyteller knows anything he or she needs to know and can relate it or let is remain mysterious. I even have stories told by two narrators, each emphasizing the perspective of a different character.

The story I'm writing now is really just a regular third person limited story, but the main character spends much of the time spinning a yarn from his youth. It's a first person story within a third person story. The old guy spinning the yarn might be lying, too. I haven't really decided yet.

 

[PennameWombat]

It's just my personal preferences, but for me:

• If I write first person, it's THAT person's story and I stay with their PoV.
• For third person (most of my stories), I usually do it from multiple PoVs. But since exceptions are the rule, I have a couple of rather long stories here in a single third-person's PoV. First person just didn't seem right for those stories, as there were things going on that I didn't want to relate through their perception.

I've read works that mix first- and third-person in different sections, but I've never done it. I've never had a story/character mix that yelled at me to do that.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

.....

 

[TarnishedPenny]

* If I write first person, it's THAT person's story and I stay with their PoV.
* For third person (most of my stories), I usually do it from multiple PoVs.

That's it, exactly.

 

[XerXesXu]

If you were to write your autobiography, what person would you write in?

 

[LexxRuthless]

I've collaborated on a few stories for the site, and those folks usually preferred for me to write the story in first person -- they liked the "immersive and personal" nature that perspective allowed, and they'd particularly liked the stories I had written that way. However, I recently looked at my catalog and noticed my four most-viewed stories (and 8 of the top 10) were written in third person. Conversely, four of my five highest-rated standalone stories were written in first person.

I had hoped to do some sort of analysis of the various numbers on my stories to see if there was a discernable pattern. 49 of my 69 submissions to the site were written in first person, but that's skewed because I have four series that are all written in first person. Take out those chapters (and 4 sequels), and it's 19 first-person standalone stories versus 18 in third person. That should be a large enough sample size to yield some statistically significant results, but there are too many other variables. Those stories are spread out among 7 different categories, and I've been writing and posting stories less than 4 years.

Failing to find a mathematical answer to your question, I would suggest that the best perspective for you to use depends on how that perspective meshes with your strengths as a writer as well as what kind of story you're writing. You could take the exact same plot points, characters and setting and tell completely different stories simply by changing the POV. Changing perspective within a third-person narrative allows you to develop more than one character fully. My most-viewed story used this to some effect; when I told parts of the story that featured the sadistic father character, it made readers truly loathe him. I got comments like, "That bastard needs to die!"

In a four-page short story, that's an accomplishment that gives me some pride. The downside is that some readers likely down-voted the story because they hated that guy so much...

 

[HeyAll]

These days I like writing stories from 2 perspective. Both 1st person, present tense.

It keeps things interesting for me, as opposed to always writing the same thing.

 

[karaline]

These days I like writing stories from 2 perspective. Both 1st person, present tense.

It keeps things interesting for me, as opposed to always writing the same thing.

I recently tried writing 1st person, present tense -mixed feelings

 

[karaline]

I think about this issue all the time when I write.

I mix it up. I write from the POV of both women and men, and I use both third person and first person POV.

My default rule is to write in third person limited POV. That gives me the opportunity as a writer to get completely inside the head of one main character, but ALSO to narrate the story independently of that person's perspective and education and speech patterns. To me, it's both intimate and infinitely flexible.

Sometimes I choose first person POV, for various reasons.

In terms of deciding which character from whose perspective I want to tell the story, my general rule is to pick the character who is undergoing the main erotic experience or change. That way I can get inside that person's head and describe what they are thinking and feeling.

Example: Let's say I'm writing a story about a couple, and the woman gets naked in public at the man's request. Generally speaking, the woman's perspective is more interesting, and I want to relate what she is feeling and thinking as she gets naked. So my inclination is to tell the story from her perspective.

But not always. I'm writing a story right now that is like that, but it's in first person from the man's perspective, because I want the story to relate what I, the male character, feel as I guide the female character through an experience of public nudity.

It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish with your story.

on reflection, I think i've been writing from multiple perspectives, because I feel like its more literary, but actually, all but one of my stories would have suited being limited to just one -in terms of main erotic experience and changes undergone.

 

[karaline]

I've collaborated on a few stories for the site, and those folks usually preferred for me to write the story in first person -- they liked the "immersive and personal" nature that perspective allowed, and they'd particularly liked the stories I had written that way. However, I recently looked at my catalog and noticed my four most-viewed stories (and 8 of the top 10) were written in third person. Conversely, four of my five highest-rated standalone stories were written in first person.

I had hoped to do some sort of analysis of the various numbers on my stories to see if there was a discernable pattern. 49 of my 69 submissions to the site were written in first person, but that's skewed because I have four series that are all written in first person. Take out those chapters (and 4 sequels), and it's 19 first-person standalone stories versus 18 in third person. That should be a large enough sample size to yield some statistically significant results, but there are too many other variables. Those stories are spread out among 7 different categories, and I've been writing and posting stories less than 4 years.

Failing to find a mathematical answer to your question, I would suggest that the best perspective for you to use depends on how that perspective meshes with your strengths as a writer as well as what kind of story you're writing. You could take the exact same plot points, characters and setting and tell completely different stories simply by changing the POV. Changing perspective within a third-person narrative allows you to develop more than one character fully. My most-viewed story used this to some effect; when I told parts of the story that featured the sadistic father character, it made readers truly loathe him. I got comments like, "That bastard needs to die!"

In a four-page short story, that's an accomplishment that gives me some pride. The downside is that some readers likely down-voted the story because they hated that guy so much...

Fascinating!

 

[jehoram]

I don't think it's possible to do any sort of creative writing without a perspective.

First person stuff is easy (which is why I wrote mostly in that form). You create a personality and then stick with it, and your other characters' personalities are filtered through that lens.

In third person, the perspective is that of an outside observer, but even that observer has a point of view, a mental lens that focuses on some things and not on others.

Having multiple narrators of third-person writing usually confuses the reader unless you make it clear when the perspectives shift.

 

[sr71plt]

I use first person when I want it to be intimate. The only time I head hop in third person is when section off whose perspective it's in. I think it can be interesting to get the different perspectives of the same situation this way, though.

 

[HeyAll]

I recently tried writing 1st person, present tense -mixed feelings

It takes about 2 weeks to normalize 1st / present tense.

I recently re-edited an old 3rd person, past tense story and accidently wrote some stuff in present tense.

I recommend trying 1st person / present tense after writing countless stories for years. It's a new way to keep writing lively because it feels like creating something new.