First Person Problem

[Unsung Muse]

I've just discovered that I absolutely hate writing in the first person.
I'd really like to snap myself out of this weird aversion...
any suggestions?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

Be honest.

The good thing and bad thing about first person is that we get to spend time with the narrator and share their thoughts and perceptions and feelings. We get to see what things look like from another perspective. That can be great if they're interesting and terrible if they're dull or unlikable.

You can't do much to make people like you, but we do expect to be admitted to the narrator's emotional world.

 

[Stella_Omega]

What do you hate aout it?

Some problems with it are;

that your point of view is severely limited- unless you are writing from a god's POV, you can't tell ANYtHING that hasn't happened to you. You can get around this by havong other characters tell you what happened to them. It can also be interesting to have your character not understand what's going on, but describe events in a way that makes it obvious to the reader just how badly "you" are misenterpreting events

It's hard to write a super hero type, or an Adonis that everybody wants to sleep with the minute they see. I have that problem with my main character from "The Ballad of Mad Moll" who is very sexy and attractive but also sort of humble- sort of. I got around that by having other people talk about her in front of her and embarrassing her. (learned that trick from Raymond Chandler)

 

[carsonshepherd]

When you think about it, we all live life from a first person perspective. We are trapped inside our own point of view; and yet we're still aware of the emotions, thoughts and motivations of other people. When I'm in doubt about how to use the first person POV in a story, I just put myself in the situation... it's all about self. So like Dr. M said, the narrator has to be interesting and endearing enough to tell the story and keep the reader (and the writer) interested and sympathetic.

 

[Stella_Omega]

When you think about it, we all live life from a first person perspective. We are trapped inside our own point of view; and yet we're still aware of the emotions, thoughts and motivations of other people. When I'm in doubt about how to use the first person POV in a story, I just put myself in the situation... it's all about self. So like Dr. M said, the narrator has to be interesting and endearing enough to tell the story and keep the reader (and the writer) interested and sympathetic.

Or horrifically fascinating, like a Steven King or David Sedaris character... Maybe not too useful for our smutty purposes, but the kind of person that makes you want to hide your eyes can be an ecellent first person protagonist!

 

[Unsung Muse]

Thank you! Nail hit right on the head...
I do need to let my hair down, drop the mask(s) & be honest.

I think I keep (accidentally?) hiding behind a 3rd 'nobody'.

 

[rgraham666]

Been doing a lot of writing in the first person recently. I'm finding I rather like it.

But I'm an emotional person and good (so I'm told) at communicating that.

I have a bit of tendency to let third person slip in though.

Now that I stop to think about it, even my third person stuff is very close to first as I usually tell it from the point of view of the central character.

Hmm. Advice? Nothing I can add.

 

[elsol]

I write exclusively from the first person (except for 1 story which proves the rule) so I will give you my insights.

A) A first person erotic story is a voyeuristic experience from inside someone else's head. It's not me at the window... or me in the closet... or me on the bed feeling it rocking and rolling...

B) Do not write first person as if it were second person... meaning you wish the reader to think I am the one doing X. This is horribly bad.

C) You live and die by the protagonist crossing the character divide. Watch out for situations where you're TELLING the story to the reader and leaning so much on your personality that you do not develop a picture of the protag for the reader.

D) The goal is not to force the reader to identify with the protag but to force and maintain a distance between the protag and the reader so the reader STAYS in the voyeur chair. If the reader identifies with the protag, you want it to be a natural process... because through some weird alignment of the stars you're speaking directly to the reader ABOUT the reader.

It happens but don't force it.

E)
I don't know everything.
I can't know everything.
If something happens in the next room, I have to be told about it.
I won't know everything.

(Hopefully, you got the message... but I can't know that because I'm an I and not an all-seeing/all-knowing third person narrator.)

F) Remember that part about the reader not identifying too closely with the protag but crossing the character divide anyway. There's one big thing that helps, if the reader recognizes a part of themselves in the protag. It makes the story more personal.

How do you do that?

Put a part of yourself into the protag... if you do it right, the part of themselves the reader recognizes will be the part of you. Automagically, there is connection... Writer-Character-Reader.

G) There isn't 1 story in an I... even with only two characters there are two stories.

The I's... and the other character's.

Make sure you develop the other character's story just like you would if you had to deal with them in a third person narrative. (Just keep in mind, it's all done in interpretation... what the protag thinks about the other person, what he feels for them, how he interprets things she does, how their conversations say one thing to the protag but something else to the reader).

H) I consider the first person the most natural storytelling method... me and you... in a room alone, and you're listening.

Keep that in mind... TELL THE STORY.

---And now I'm bored so off I go.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[Alex756]

I guess I don't see 1st person as the have all end all.

If you aren't feeling it, there are many types of 3rd person that are perfectly wonderful for telling a story.

I dislike writing from first person, I tend to write stories with main characters I do want a little distance from, and 3rd person lets me control that distance.

You can write 3rd person that is so close to 1st it's almost a find and replace to change from one to the other or 3rd person so broad it's omnicient, between the 2 extreams is a wonderful grey area.

Skimming the NYT bestseller list it it everywhere

POV shouldn't make a story harder to write, it should make it easier, and if you feel better in 3rd, I don't see a reason to switch *shrug*


Personally I think first person is harder for when you are placing yourself in a characters mind if they are going to be doing anything that is not gender neutral, and erotica is definately in that catagory.

My only good 1st person story on lit is most easily identified with by women, maybe I am loosing audience by having it first person, but that story demands it.

My comfort zone of POV is what I refer to as embedded 3rd person. It's a story told by that little sarcastic bastard in the back of your mind. The one thats knows when you're being an idiot but sure as hell isn't going to clue you in.

Do what is right for you in writing and not whatever everyone says

~Alex

 

[NoJo]

I've just discovered that I absolutely hate writing in the first person.
I'd really like to snap myself out of this weird aversion...
any suggestions?

Sub Joe hates writing in the first person too.

 

[kendo1]

You too?

Hi. Not seen you for a wee while.

 

[The Mutt]

I've found that 1st person makes the writing much easier and the plotting much harder. I'm writing a novel in the 1st person now, and I'm having a hard time figuring out how my protagonist will get all the information he needs to solve the problem.

 

[Boota]

I like writing in first person, especially comedy. I don't really think about it much, though. When I sit down to write the POV just comes to me and I write it however that is.

 

[elsol]

I've found that 1st person makes the writing much easier and the plotting much harder. I'm writing a novel in the 1st person now, and I'm having a hard time figuring out how my protagonist will get all the information he needs to solve the problem.

*burp*

Use an Impact Character(s).

From Pleasure Boy 1's guide to writing erotic literature:

The "Impact" Character

Another dynamic in literature is the relationship between what's generally known as the "impact character" and the point-of-view character.

The Point-of-View character is the eyes through which we see the story, as we discussed earlier. Whether he or she is the protagonist (the character most active in pursuing the story's goal) or not is irrelevant.

The Impact Character is some other person in the story who works throughout the story to "impact" the point-of-view character concerning the story's main issue. They have little discussions and/or arguments throughout the story, or perhaps the impact character says nothing, and just actively influences our hero by example. The impact character could be anyone, even an enemy. The purpose he or she has in the story is to help convince the point-of-view character of an opposite side of the story issue, to try and win him over, as it were.

The point of creating an impact character dynamic is drama, of course, and conflict and tension. On a more macroscopic level, the impact character could be used by the author to express the very theme of the story. He could argue on behalf of the author himself, indirectly of course, trying to convince the point of view character (the reader, indirectly) of his thoughts on the overall theme. Once again, this must be done ever-so-subtly, or you risk sounding preachy or obnoxious.

The most common example of the impact character in erotic fiction is perhaps the seducer/seducee relationship. One character is trying to persuade the other as to the benefits of surrendering to their baser urges and indulging in whatever pleasures ensue as a result. They argue perhaps over guilt, morality, consequences, etc., and eventually one of them gives in, and convinces the other of their point of view, or else there's a stand off, wherein the debate itself was the point, rather than the winning. This dynamic is of course impossible in stories where the seducee gives it up without the slightest fight, unless of course you set the "passionate argument" after the sex scene:

"How could you have taken advantage of me like that?" or something along those lines. You risk losing your readers that way though, who have already "gotten what they came for".

Pretty much anyone can be an Impact Character in erotic fiction however, especially when the story's issue is not necessarily related to sex. The issue could be self-worth perhaps, and whoever the main character's main influence is in regard to this issue would be the Impact character - his mom, an ex-girlfriend, his fairy godmother, his alternate personality. The impact character should be active in trying to persuade the main character of the issue though, and not be simply some unknowing bystander who the character happened to observe in passing one day.

"When I saw the way the man in the blue coat at the bus station treated his woman, I knew that I must change, once and for all..."

This is perhaps allowable, but it's not really an Impact Character moment. An impact character moment would look more like this:

"Phil wore me down, day after day, constantly trying to convince me that Juliette was losing respect for me and I ought to straighten out, but I never listened. One day however, he outright grabbed me by the shoulders and shook me. 'Get your fucking head out of your ass!' he said. 'That girl wants to be proud of you, but you're not giving her any reason to. Quit being a dickhead and walk like a man!' I finally began to see his point, but was it too late?"

Developing an Impact character is optional of course, but it is a good dramatic tool that every writer should know about. You see it all the time in the movies, and TV shows, and this is a good place to watch for it, to learn how the dynamic works.

Sincerley,
ElSol

 

[Stella_Omega]

Elsol, that's some excellent burping!

 

[3113]

Have fun!

Earl makes one of the best points here, I think--that the problem you may be having with First Person may be your choice of character. Maybe you're picking the wrong character for your first person. Maybe it isn't Cinderella (who is kind of neutral and bland)...maybe it's the Fairy Godmother (who is trying to get this girl to stop being such a doormat!).

One of the great books in American Literature, The Great Gatsby is all from the first person p.o.v. of a side character--not the main character. A witness to the action rather than a main participant. I think what stumps some writers with 1st person is simply that they've got the wrong 1st person. Move into other characters--see if any of them starts talking and takes off. Once you pick the right P.O.V., 1st. person can be the most fun of any perspective. In part because it allows you a real freedom of style--more outrageous in, say, your metaphors because that might be how your 1st person thinks.

So instead of the 3rd person: His spanked ass was on fire
You have the freedom to go a little more overboard: My spanked ass was sizzling like bacon on a griddle

Simply because that's how your first person might talk/think.

My advice for dipping your toe into the 1st person waters is to simply write a paragraph of some event from the perspective of each character.

So, story of Cinderella, pumpkin becoming a coach scene:
1st person from Fairy Godmother's p.o.v.:
"I loved this part. I'm an artist and working with strange mediums is my forté. This was going to be a masterpiece!"
1st person from the ex-rat coachman:
"Was she kidding? She wanted me to drive that? I'd barely come to grips with losing my tail...."
Cinderella:
"Godmother had been so generous, I didn't know how to tell her that the coach looked a little...tacky. I think she would have done better using acorn squash. Then the coach wouldn't be so...orange."

Most important thing: Have some fun

 

[The Mutt]

1st person from the ex-rat coachman:
"Was she kidding? She wanted me to drive that? I'd barely come to grips with losing my tail...."

I want to read this. Get to work.

 

[BlackShanglan]

I want to read this. Get to work.

Seconded!

Nice to see you, Mutt.