kinkyauthor69
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Can't stand stories written in the 1st person....'You tool my hand' etc.
1st Person Stories...
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PennLady
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First person is "I did this, I did that." If the story is "you did this," "you did that," it's in second person. (And going by anecdotal evidence, not many people like that.)
If it is "I took you..." then it's also first person.
I personally don't care for the "you" either way.
BonnevilleFlats
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Jay McInerney's Bright Lights Big City is second person present tense. My favorite, though, is Robert O'Connor's Buffalo Soldiers.
Bramblethorn
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Unless 'tool' is a typo for 'took', which is how I read it.
One genre where second-person present tense is popular: interactive fiction ("choose your own adventure" etc). I think it works there precisely because readers DO get a degree of choice, instead of having all their reactions dictated.
Kim Newman's "Life's Lottery" is pretty good as interactive fiction written for adults, and some computer games fall into that category.
Charles Stross's "Halting State" and "Rule 34" also use second-person present; IIRC the idea there was to evoke a video-game perspective, though I think I'd have enjoyed them just as much with a more conventional perspective.
CWatson
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BonnevilleFlats
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Second person/present tense works very well if the story concerns somebody's life coming apart at the seams and how they scramble to keep everything together but are really just prolonging the inevitable. That sort of narrative voice allows the reader to really experience the sense of urgency the character is going through. Maybe the story of somebody running a ponzi scheme or a compulsive gambler on a winning streak that suddenly ends. In erotica, maybe a character who is sexually compulsive and having several affairs at once. Or, perhaps, a polygamist with two families in separate states that don't know about each other.
sr71plt
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I've read several posters on this who say that no, that doesn't work for them--because they reject being defined as a "you" that they aren't. I would tend to agree with them. I haven't read the second-person novels that have been cited here (and would have to see them to agree that they actually are in the second person rather than the first); I can't imagine sustaining second person for very long--certainly not novel length--and not have all the readers running screaming for the exits.
First person, though, as the OP is complaining about, seems quite right to me for erotica. The reader has a greater choice about what character role they can take on, if any, and if it's the "I" they can have quite a sensual ride (if the story is written well enough).
geronimo_appleby
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can't be arsed.
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LuvinWriten
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I don't mind
I don't mind first person stories. After all the entire Hunger Games series (all 3 books) were in 1st person. What I don't like is a change in prospective. Twilight Saga did this for the 3rd book and I could finish it.
I remember reading a story at Wattpad where the author would head sections by 'so-and-so's POV' (point of view). Good enough story but I hated the POV changes. Every once in a while I'd lose tract of hows POV it is and I'd have to backtrack to find out who.
Writing in 1st person is easier than 3rd person so beginner and amature authors use 1st person more.
I don't mind first person stories. After all the entire Hunger Games series (all 3 books) were in 1st person. What I don't like is a change in prospective. Twilight Saga did this for the 3rd book and I could finish it.
I remember reading a story at Wattpad where the author would head sections by 'so-and-so's POV' (point of view). Good enough story but I hated the POV changes. Every once in a while I'd lose tract of hows POV it is and I'd have to backtrack to find out who.
Writing in 1st person is easier than 3rd person so beginner and amature authors use 1st person more.
slyc_willie
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First person, in my opinion, is a more intimate style. It places the reader in the action, if it is done right, or it gives a uniquely personal point of view. It may not work for all genres, but I feel it does exceptionally well for erotica. But then, thanks to Penthouse Letters, the first-person narrative in sexually explicit stories has become not only accepted, but perhaps even expected.
I read a book many years ago, entitled "Homme Fatale." It was written by Paul Verhoeven, director of the film Basic Instinct. The story is told, in alternating chapters, by the two main characters. I loved how a scene described by the male character was described again from the POV of the female character, and so on. It was almost like third person omniscient, just confined to the viewpoints of two particular characters, each giving their own take on the scene and providing information unavailable to the other.
Not exactly a Pulitzer prize winner, and it had more than enough explicit sex to qualify as a series for Literotica, but the book was revealing for me in the sense of shifting viewpoints yet still remaining, essentially, a first-person narrative.
Like all other POV's and/or types/genres of Erotica, stories written in 1st person can be enjoyable.
I write most if not all of mine in 1st person.
Bramblethorn
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I think the OP had 1st person confused with 2nd.
MatthewVett
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That's not first person... "I" is first, "you," is second, "he" is third. You mean you can't stand stories written in the 2nd person.
sr71plt
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The example give is first person (it's told from the perspective of "me"). I think you're right about what the OP meant to say, however (to which the answer is "well, OK, don't read them then.).
PennLady
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I actually do not generally care for first person stories. I have read them and I'm sure will read more, and I don't mean I don't like any of them. I was surprised, in fact, that I enjoyed The Hunger Games as much as I did since I especially don't like 1st person paired with present tense. But the story interested me enough that I suppose I didn't care.
Anyway, I don't think writing in first person is any easier than third person. When I started writing, I went right with third person. I never had any inclination to do otherwise. I finally wrote a first person story last year (King's Bay), which went better than I thought it might.
Each POV has advantages and disadvantages depending on what you want to do. Since it's such a matter of opinion, I don't think you can say one is inherently better than the other.
xPhantomKissX
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I think the type of story can dictate whether it is first or third person.
When I write 1st person it's because their personal thoughts are relevant to the story.
It's difficult to successfully invade a characters thought process from 3rd person.
I don't mind stories in 1st or 3rd -- the only thing that annoys me is when an author tries to get in the readers head and tell them how THEY should feel about a circumstance or character.
When I write 1st person it's because their personal thoughts are relevant to the story.
It's difficult to successfully invade a characters thought process from 3rd person.
I don't mind stories in 1st or 3rd -- the only thing that annoys me is when an author tries to get in the readers head and tell them how THEY should feel about a circumstance or character.
Ironiclaconic
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My problem with first person is that it is inherently narcissistic. When I have used it I end up spending a lot of effort preventing the character from coming across as a self-involved asshole monologuing a about his sexual conquests at a party.
The other problem is the restricted point of view. I see a lot of authors box themselves in with first person, where they really need to tell part of the story from a different POV, and they can't, without torturing the narrative.
I have done first person, and I end up adding a lot of self-effacing humor to make it work, but I usually prefer third person. I haven't had a problem getting in their heads. "She looked at him. Damn, he made her angry sometimes, with his constant hovering, like she couldn't take care of herself. Who the fuck was he to tell her she shouldn't walk to her own car at night. 'I'm a big girl,' she said, 'I don't need an escort.'"
The other problem is the restricted point of view. I see a lot of authors box themselves in with first person, where they really need to tell part of the story from a different POV, and they can't, without torturing the narrative.
I have done first person, and I end up adding a lot of self-effacing humor to make it work, but I usually prefer third person. I haven't had a problem getting in their heads. "She looked at him. Damn, he made her angry sometimes, with his constant hovering, like she couldn't take care of herself. Who the fuck was he to tell her she shouldn't walk to her own car at night. 'I'm a big girl,' she said, 'I don't need an escort.'"
sr71plt
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So is sex. And therefore so is erotica. And this is an erotica site.
I'm reviewing a story now to submit to Lit. and was surprised to find that it's not only first person but also present tense (which I rarely write), with each new section being in a new "present." (I'm often surprised like this when preparing a story to submit to Lit.--I write them about a year in advance of posting them, so they often are new to me when I take them up again).
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sensualwhispers
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point of view
I write in both 1st and 3rd point of view and i find that both have their own limitations. Most of the time what i write depends on how im feeling at the time and what i want to convey.
I write in both 1st and 3rd point of view and i find that both have their own limitations. Most of the time what i write depends on how im feeling at the time and what i want to convey.
The "Hunger Games" is the reason my latest story is in present tense. I'd written the first section in past tense and set it down for a few months. During that time I read the entire trilogy and when I picked the story back up I kept switching to present tense. Apparently my writing style is subject to peer pressure.
When I'm reading, I like 1st and 3rd person limited for my POV's. Add me to the chorus that hates 2nd person unless it is written by a partner and it was meant that the "you" in the story really is supposed to be me ;-)
When I'm reading, I like 1st and 3rd person limited for my POV's. Add me to the chorus that hates 2nd person unless it is written by a partner and it was meant that the "you" in the story really is supposed to be me ;-)
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