Changing the point of view of a story

[KachinaDoll]

I'm up to 13,000 words on a story and this morning decided that writing it in the third person isn't working. I'm about a third of the way through changing it to first person. What a pain the arse! I just know I'm going to leave a 'her' instead of 'my' lurking in there somewhere. I'm still not convinced I'm doing the right thing so have saved the original version. Has anyone else gone through this self-inflicted torture?

 

[madelinemasoch]

No, as I almost solely use third-person, but my advice is to control-f it or do the equivalent so you can search for every time you used pronouns.

 

[StillStunned]

I have. Had to do a full rewrite. Changing the POV affects almost every single line. You need to make sure it matches your POV character's voice and perspective. You get to add more personality, but that's more work and can change the entire tone.

The end-result was better, but it was a LOT more work than I'd expected.

 

[HordHolm]

I'm up to 13,000 words on a story and this morning decided that writing it in the third person isn't working. I'm about a third of the way through changing it to first person. What a pain the arse! I just know I'm going to leave a 'her' instead of 'my' lurking in there somewhere. I'm still not convinced I'm doing the right thing so have saved the original version. Has anyone else gone through this self-inflicted torture?

I've done it, but fortunately I was only about 2k words in when I changed the viewpoint. I sympathise, as yes, it was a pain in the arse.

 

[KeithD]

Yes, I've done it. Yes, I've left pronouns unchanged in the first review for the change. Suggest you put it aside for a day or two and review again with fresher eyes.

 

[BarracudaSwordfish]

I have done it a few times and used search/replace for the more obvious terms. If you do, make sure you use the 'whole word' option or you'll end up with some very odd words like I did!

It is a pain though and takes some thorough checking.

 

[Winter_Fare]

I'm up to 13,000 words on a story and this morning decided that writing it in the third person isn't working. I'm about a third of the way through changing it to first person. What a pain the arse! I just know I'm going to leave a 'her' instead of 'my' lurking in there somewhere. I'm still not convinced I'm doing the right thing so have saved the original version. Has anyone else gone through this self-inflicted torture?

Yes....
You can double check with "find in document" once you're done switching it round. Good luck x

 

[alohadave]

I'm up to 13,000 words on a story and this morning decided that writing it in the third person isn't working. I'm about a third of the way through changing it to first person. What a pain the arse! I just know I'm going to leave a 'her' instead of 'my' lurking in there somewhere. I'm still not convinced I'm doing the right thing so have saved the original version. Has anyone else gone through this self-inflicted torture?

I have a WIP that is like this. The first version is 3rd person, but then I started another version in 1st.

I may be crazy, but I think I'll work on both and see which one ends up better. I'm thinking write it in 3rd, and use that as my detailed notes/template for the 1st. A lot of extra work maybe.

The 1st person is a lot more intense as the character thinks freely and I think will end up being the better way to go.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Yes. Yes I have. I 2nd @KeithD 's advice about leaving it aside and reviewing with fresh eyes.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I'm up to 13,000 words on a story and this morning decided that writing it in the third person isn't working. I'm about a third of the way through changing it to first person. What a pain the arse! I just know I'm going to leave a 'her' instead of 'my' lurking in there somewhere. I'm still not convinced I'm doing the right thing so have saved the original version. Has anyone else gone through this self-inflicted torture?

I've done that twice, deliberately. I wouldn't do it very often, but it can work without changing the entire previous text. That were reasons for going from third to first person, but I clearly delinated where the changeover was. In this case, I "kit bashed" two previously separate stories, one in third-person and the second in first-person. I thought something like, let me use what I've already written and just see how it goes.

As the top, I explained to the readers what I had done. They must have accepted the unconventional format, because they gave me a 4.6 score.

https://classic.literotica.com/s/nora-works-as-a-dominatrix

I realize your situation is quite different from mine. And you still seem to be not quite sure if you really want to do that.

 

[AG31]

I'm up to 13,000 words on a story and this morning decided that writing it in the third person isn't working. I'm about a third of the way through changing it to first person. What a pain the arse! I just know I'm going to leave a 'her' instead of 'my' lurking in there somewhere. I'm still not convinced I'm doing the right thing so have saved the original version. Has anyone else gone through this self-inflicted torture?

I haven't gone through this particular torture, but I just finished a story where I could not stop reversing the two characters' names. I've asked a friendly editor to pay special attention to that. I'd advise getting an editor (free here on Lit.) I'd volunteer, but I don't do long stories.

 

[Trionyx]

I recommend you use the ‘read aloud’ feature after you’ve finished your editing. Even though the voice and intonation sound weird, incorrect pronouns as well as odd sentence structures will jump out at you way more than if you simply read your work.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I've done it at a much earlier stage of the writing process - I had a framing device around my story that I tried in third person and as a tape transcript and then I vacillated on the main story being first or third person. With those I was basically throwing everything away apart from the basic events and some of the dialogue.

What I'd do is work from a completely new file. Cut and paste paragraphs over one by one and then highlight it in a different colour, look at them and decide what you want to do. It's not just a matter of changing pronouns - your voice should be pretty different in first person. I'd retype everything, less likely for mistakes to creep through and it's means you'll have reviewed and thought about every sentence.

 

[SimonDoom]

I did this about half way through a story, although for me it was the reverse: changing a first person POV story to third person POV. I'm glad I did it but it was a pain in the ass.

Make sure you do a thorough search and replace by searching for EVERY POSSIBLE third person pronoun, singular and plural, possessive, objective and subjective. Also search for the all the proper names. For every single noun and pronoun look at the verb located close by and make sure it works.

 

[ElectricBlue]

A couple of times. But only after five hundred words or so.

 

[Altissimus]

Yep, done it. I actually find a switch of POV can really help me get through a story if it's not 'coming together' under the original POV. Not sure I've done it at 13k, though - but then, one presumes you read over your stuff anyway from time to time to edit, so perhaps you can see it as just a slightly more involved version of that.

 

[Devinter]

I did it once. I wrote a story about a blind woman, in which I decided to describe nothing at all by the way it looked, instead relying entirely on the other senses - and it felt odd to do this in third person, so I switched to first, after about 5000 words or so. The problem was that I then had to write a story from the first-person perspective of a woman, despite being a man, about an extremely emotional topic. The story is therefore still unfinished.

Maybe I need to make a thread called "Men seeking to write blind women better" and then also include the line "Seeking literate mature female perspective re fictional story . Topics: Blindness." - If only that wasn't extremely offensive..

 

[Djmac1031]

Absolutely have, except the other way around.

When i first started what would become a long running series (The Jenna Arrangement ) it started in 1st person from the MMC perspective.

As it went on I got creative and wrote a few chapters from the MFC perspective.

But eventually as the story expanded and cast of characters grew, I decided I needed to change the perspective to Third Person.

That let me shift scenes between characters and get into more than one person's head at a time.

But it was a tricky adjustment, as I kept writing "I said" instead of "he said" etc.

Then there was The Devil And Angel Em, a story I got a few thousand words into from 1st person male before realizing it really needed to be Third Person.

So yeah, lots of editing and rereading to make sure the pronouns were right lol.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I've never done it. I always have it locked in as to who my storyteller is going to be before I start.

That being said, kudos to those who catch it and take the time to correct things properly. Few things kill a story for me more than mixed perspectives popping up throughout the tale.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Yes, yes I have, and so many other changes to what I originally wanted that starting over is often the reason the story just dies on the vine. I have discovered shooting yourself in the toe, is unpleasant.

I'm up to 13,000 words on a story and this morning decided that writing it in the third person isn't working. I'm about a third of the way through changing it to first person. What a pain the arse! I just know I'm going to leave a 'her' instead of 'my' lurking in there somewhere. I'm still not convinced I'm doing the right thing so have saved the original version. Has anyone else gone through this self-inflicted torture?

 

[Stimtheone]

I am an advocate for third person. Yes, I am aware of what you can do in first person, but I have found you could do that in third person as well. Usually I shift the POV, or more "the focus" in a section, but as more characters come together it can do a quick shift between them. Describe what all of them feel.

Most often, I like third person because it lets you do some things that the other scenario won't let you. TP doesn't have to be objective, all-knowing or clinical. Mine border on a Lemony Narrator because often I think of a particular character being the one to tell the story. It allows for fun comments, little jokes that might not fit when the people in the scene are not in the right mind for it. It feels like you have to be all-knowing with first-person and give this full account while the observer can get away with a lot.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I have, and yup, I missed a few. It is a pain in the ass, but if you feel the story works better, it's probably worth it.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I am an advocate for third person. Yes, I am aware of what you can do in first person, but I have found you could do that in third person as well. Usually I shift the POV, or more "the focus" in a section, but as more characters come together it can do a quick shift between them. Describe what all of them feel.

Most often, I like third person because it lets you do some things that the other scenario won't let you. TP doesn't have to be objective, all-knowing or clinical. Mine border on a Lemony Narrator because often I think of a particular character being the one to tell the story. It allows for fun comments, little jokes that might not fit when the people in the scene are not in the right mind for it. It feels like you have to be all-knowing with first-person and give this full account while the observer can get away with a lot.

I get that, but first person gives you that wonder, that joy, or horror, of a first time experience for the characters eyes...

Because it sounds like you've put a lot of thought into voice, let me run this by you. I'm working on an epic fantasy, local girl wakes up in Middle Earth kind of thing.
With 25K words on paper, all in first person. I've realized that first person is limiting my ability to do expansive world building, historical exposition, things that would add so much color to the story. I also really like a lot of what I've written.

Since I've done it before and it was so much fun, I've decided not to rewrite those 25K words in third person. Instead, I'm playing with leaving her story FP, and making the other chapters which will be from different points of view in third person and switch back and forth.

Not sure this is a good idea or a horrible one, yet...

What's that meme, Prove me wrong?

 

[intim8]

I'm up to 13,000 words on a story and this morning decided that writing it in the third person isn't working. I'm about a third of the way through changing it to first person. What a pain the arse! I just know I'm going to leave a 'her' instead of 'my' lurking in there somewhere. I'm still not convinced I'm doing the right thing so have saved the original version. Has anyone else gone through this self-inflicted torture?

I recently did it on a 20kw story. Learned a painful lesson to think it through better on every story from now on.

Fortunately, I had done it in a very close 3P originally. so it was pretty much just a rote replacement, then several re-reads to make sure I didn't miss one. It didn't change the tone of anything major. Still a royal pain in the ass.

 

[AchtungNight]

I recommend staying in first or third person. The latter is more versatile because you can still switch characters.