First Person

[KittyOfSteele]

That's very interesting! Do you have any ideas why? Is it because of the differences in how pronouns are used?
(I'm not at all fluent, I just barely passed two sections of Spanish in college )

It is the pronouns. Narrating in first person doesn't require to say "I" or "we" so much in Spanish as it does in English. Pronouns can be omitted. Take for instance the sentence "I never went back inside the house;" it is valid to write both as "Yo nunca más volví a entrar en la casa" and "Nunca más volví a entrar en la casa," but skipping the "I" pronoun ("Yo") streamlines the sentence and reduces the overload of that word. Adding the pronoun makes the sentence harder, as if it is a statement, so it also switches the tone into one that commands more presence.

 

[ronde]

I like first person for stories that are relatively current. I liken them to two people sitting at a bar after a few drinks. One turns to the other and says, "Let me tell you about the time..." I've also used first person in stories that are more biographical because who would be better at telling the story than the person who lived it?

I write in third person when I'm writing about the relatively distant past. I liken third person to almost any movie you've ever seen. Third person gets the reader into the mind of all characters, not just the main character, and a third person narrator can do a better job of relating the characters to each other and to their situation.

 

[StillStunned]

1P and 3P each have their roles. 3P is great in SF&F, for instance, to great additional storylines and explore more of the world. And as I noted in another thread a few weeks ago, I default to 1P for most of my voyeur stuff, not only for the greater sense of immediacy but also for the distance it creates between the watcher and the watchee.

 

[Erozetta]

For me it depends on the story and the characters. The darker the story, the less likely I am to use 1st person. The brighter/more playful the story, the more likely I am to use 1st person.

Ultimately, the story dictates the POV.

When reading, I'm not opposed to anything except present tense. I get frustrated with everything happening *right exactly now*. It feels wrong. I don't know how else to explain it besides my brain being unable to suspend disbelief for the story. I can't get immersed in it the way I can with past tense. It's just too much immediacy and I get bored after a few chapters even if I otherwise like the story.

 

[StillStunned]

When reading, I'm not opposed to anything except present tense. I get frustrated with everything happening *right exactly now*. It feels wrong. I don't know how else to explain it besides my brain being unable to suspend disbelief for the story. I can't get immersed in it the way I can with past tense. It's just too much immediacy and I get bored after a few chapters even if I otherwise like the story.

Sometimes "right exactly now" is what you want for your story. Particularly if there's a big twist, it's more immersive if the reader experiences it in real time, so to speak, together with the narrator.

But yes, too much is too much. It loses its punch, and quite often reads like a teen fantasy.

 

[Tessinwales]

I enjoy stories written in the first person. I feel if done well it brings an intimacy to the narrative of the work. This is especially true of erotic literature.

 

[Erozetta]

Sometimes "right exactly now" is what you want for your story. Particularly if there's a big twist, it's more immersive if the reader experiences it in real time, so to speak, together with the narrator.

But yes, too much is too much. It loses its punch, and quite often reads like a teen fantasy.

I agree, I just don't like it. I lose interest quick. For me, it's the opposite of immersive, it's tedious and reading it feels like a chore that I have to slog through. It's a me problem, not the author's problem. Present tense just isn't my thing.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I write in both POVs, but I agree that for the purposes of relating erotic content, first person is more intimate.

All of my stories that contain more graphic erotic scenes are written in first person. My novels and other works with only implied erotic content are typically third person.

 

[Rob_Royale]

When I first started writing I saw first person as a writers crutch, because it just seemed easier. One POV.
I wrote my first two in first person, because why not, it's my first time, right? Then dove into third person on my third determined that I would only do that from now on. Until I realized I'd started a new story not long after in the first person, because it fit the story I wanted to tell better. I learned a valuable lesson that day.

 

[SpecterNecter]

This was interesting. I am currently writing in 1st person present tense and I think I will switch back to 3rd past tense after the next installment. Present tense does get a bit tedious I now think.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I began writing in first person, because I found it easier to explain what that person was seeing and doing. But one thing which caught my attention is that the story depends on your audience and what you are trying to get across.

When writing my (mostly) Loving Wives stories, I have found it beneficial to write in first person from the main female POV, because it heads off many of the critics!

In stories of extra-marital FUN and SHARING, many LW readers will comment "she's a slut and cheater, and she fuck around behind her husband's back in the future!" Or they'll say "She'll change her mind and cheat on him!" Or "She was always a whore, and just reverting to what she knows."

Well, to eliminate all such doubt about the MFC's past or future intent, just tell the story from her POV and spell it all out! "This is what I did in the past. And here's what I AM thinking right now. So, this is what I am going to do!"

They can't imply what she's thinking in their critiques, if she's spelling it out as a fact!

But in third person, the reader is always outside of the mind of the characters, and readers can assume the worst.

 

[NoTalentHack]

I usually prefer writing in first-person, but each POV and tense has its uses. Outright refusing to use/read them seems silly to me, with the arguable exception of second person; a lot of people don't like being told "you are doing this," which I get. But the "I won't read first person" is usually more about literary snobbery than anything else. Miss me with that bullshit.

 

[Voboy]

I can relate to that. I also prefer to avoid the first person on Lit. In 99.9% of cases, the author injects nothing but themselves into the narrator, regardless of the setting or character—always the same uninspired voice. It's not just embarrassingly unprofessional but often downright irritating, especially when the story has real potential.

...well, I mean, it's not like we're professionals...

Lit is defined by many things. One of those things (for me as a reader, anyway) is that the stories here are all written by people meeting their own standards for what makes a good story. As such, you can get a very strong sense of what writers care about. And yes, when it differs from what you care about, that can be annoying. But there are always other writers to find that suit better.

That's true whether it's FP or TP.

 

[StillStunned]

A defense mechanism is a vital evolutionary tool, but sometimes it makes us mistake the shadow of a puppy for a lion.

When writing in the first person, you’re either drawing from personal experience—in which case, you’d better be willing to lay your heart on the table, no embellishment, no posturing, or I’ll see your BS right through you—or you should fully inhabit your character’s mind, capturing their voice, their unique way of thinking.

What we have here in abundance, though, are people who bring nothing to the table but themselves—their thoughts, their preferences, their worldview.

When all your main characters sound and act like you, it’s not just unprofessional and irritating, it’s pathetic.

So to summarise: drawing on personal experience is good, but writing your own thoughts and preferences is bad?

 

[nice90sguy]

There are people like that. People argue a lot about whether first or third is more natural. Wait till you get to the tenses, though...

You will look forward to reading a story in the second person future tense. You'll start reading it, and you will be disappointed. The end

 

[StillStunned]

I'm working on a story that starts with nearly 1k words in 3P present tense.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

So to summarise: drawing on personal experience is good, but writing your own thoughts and preferences is bad?

I don't know. I mentioned it before that it's impossible to separate yourself from your art because even the most speculative, fantastic, and bizarre things in your work are a part of you. A Paula Fox quotation is what I posted to explain it, and she mentioned the planet of Ork.

Nevertheless, Stephen King is not shy about self-inserts. Heck, Henry Miller made his entire career about himself, and even started a movement once they finally stopped censoring him.

Tough day for essayists if the latter is a "yes" answer.

 

[Voboy]

When writing in the first person, you’re either drawing from personal experience—in which case, you’d better be willing to lay your heart on the table, no embellishment, no posturing, or I’ll see your BS right through you—or you should fully inhabit your character’s mind, capturing their voice, their unique way of thinking.

I don't necessarily disagree.

I'm quibbling with the wisdom of worrying about "professionalism" in a setting that's completely and defiantly unprofessional.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

Bukowski wrote his life story, his thoughts. Calling him "unprofessional and irritating, [...] pathetic" (as somebody here would) is a stretch.
What if that's all he had to give? His story, in first person.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

First person is basically a character telling their own story, almost as if in a diary, but in a more present tense than past.

Red shoes sort of works that way.

https://literotica.com/s/amorous-goods-2024-those-shoes-little-red-shoes

 

[ICantLeafYou]

Over the years, I've written in first, second, and third person.

Back in my fanfic days, it was all third person. With original stuff, it's been first or second. If I'm inserting myself into the fantasy, I use first person since I'm imagining myself in the story. If it's something I'm imagining someone else doing alone without me involved, I use second person.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

If the narrator has insight into their situation, and/or can describe their situation vividly, first person works well.
If you have someone who is more oblivious and needs to be described or their actions/situations described by others, because they won't, then you need third person. Or if you want to use the viewpoints of multiple people - it can be done by alternating first person, but it's tricky to have it not look like a gimmick.

My pet hate is stories which go
Angus' POV:
blah blah blah

Brenda's POV:
blah more blah

If we can't tell who's POV it is from your writing, it's poor writing.

 

[yowser]

If we can't tell who's POV it is from your writing, it's poor writing.

Completely agree with this. Further, if a story is first person POV, as a reader I really need to know fairly quickly just WHO is this person is, otherwise the confusion becomes aggravating. And then if it ends up taking a while to be surprised (hey, I thought this was a college guy talking here!) it is pretty much end of reading for me. Please make your narrator's qualities clear and vivid from the start.

 

[rteny3245]

I don’t read many second-person stories, and I feel like they’re either rarer these days or they just don’t perform as well in the genres I tend to stick to. My first story series is written in first person, but I’ve found that it can be limiting for longer narratives. It’s tricky because you have to find ways for both the reader and the main character to learn things at the same time, without it feeling forced.

 

[Melon_Morph]

2nd person seems tricky, especially for erotica. Its only going to work if it is exactly the thing the reader is into, otherwise it may feel uncomfortable. That discomfort could be really effective in other kinds of stories, though.