Perspectives?

[GorgeousGeekGirl]

I've switched perspectives and it works ok, as long as you make a very clear break to show perspective is changing. Don't be shy about using a flashing neon sign. Quite often, people don't catch the change, then get confused when they see something is different, then get pissed they weren't clearly told... With a bullhorn, and a parade, of elephants, carrying a banner.

 

[horrorotica]

I'd have to disagree, if only because ...... and I don't think they are any worse than any other story. It was just what worked to tell that story.

We all have our own preferences and reasons for using different methods in different stories. The perspectives you use should be chosen according to what you want to achieve in the story. Not decided in an ad hoc manner. You have the strong opinions of an experienced writer and I appreciate that. Doesn't mean I agree with everything you said. I'm not going to go into a debate on each point because I can't be bothered really.

The point of this thread is a new writer wanting advice on using perspectives. I'm sorry if my response was too simple for you but it was aimed at helping a newbie, not enlightening someone who thinks they know it all already.

I stand by my assertion that as new writer they should try using a simpler form of perspective and then tackle the more complex ones as they gain confidence in their craft. You'd have them jump straight into a complex form with the likelihood they wont have the skills yet to pull it off successfully. Humbug to that.

 

[PennLady]

I stand by my assertion that as new writer they should try using a simpler form of perspective and then tackle the more complex ones as they gain confidence in their craft. You'd have them jump straight into a complex form with the likelihood they wont have the skills yet to pull it off successfully. Humbug to that.

What makes third person more complex? I've seen people say this before, that first person is easier than third, and I don't agree. I think both have pros and cons, and both present challenges to the writer, but I don't see that one is more complex than the other. When I started writing, I always wrote third person. Maybe I'm unusual in that, I don't know, but it was what felt natural to me.

Just because in third person you can have more than one perspective doesn't mean it's more complicated. You could argue it's easier because it gives the author the means to give the reader more information. You need to keep track of your POVs -- if you do 3PO -- but the flipside in 1P is that you're limited to one POV and so you have to make sure you stay within it.

I really don't see that either method is more or less complicated than the other, they're just different.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I personally like the voice of third person limited, but it's hard to tell a complete story from a single perspective, and the longer the story is the more true that becomes. You'll often have scenes you need to show where the main character just isn't present - or maybe you're writing an ensemble piece without one person that is the "real" protagonist.

Third person limited does not require that the main character be present in every scene. Rather, it means that the reader only gets inside the head of the main character. Only the main character's thoughts are presented. You can still have scenes without that character, you just don't go inside the heads of the other characters.

 

[daniwilliams]

Third person limited does not require that the main character be present in every scene. Rather, it means that the reader only gets inside the head of the main character. Only the main character's thoughts are presented. You can still have scenes without that character, you just don't go inside the heads of the other characters.

That feels awkward to me for a couple of reasons.

One is that third person limited, when you're diving into a character's head in the scene (at least as it is usually done), feels like basically just a different way of writing first person. The example I referred to before (George Martin) is an example, and a representative one. Chapters are written third person but nothing happens that the primary character isn't seeing or experiencing in some way; and when he or she encounters some other known character, if they don't know each other already, that person is described as if a stranger until introductions have been made. This style allows the writer to both present a character's thoughts and dole out information slowly, while still being able to take full advantage of the authorial voice in describing things.

The second is that it can be troublesome - maybe not to the reader, but frequently to the writer - to go from writing scenes that are partly from a character's perspective, to scenes where events are depicted but you have no idea how any person present feels about what's happening. The two styles are different to read and write, and often not sympatico. So I usually prefer to switch perspectives instead.

 

[horrorotica]

Any new writer should be writing stories that use all the different perspectives. Start out with what feels natural to you. But as a new writer experiment and have fun with it. One of the values of a site like lit is you publish your experiments and see how they fly. Write different stories using different types of perspectives. Read stories that use different types of perspective and critique them to yourself to see what works and what doesn't.

Lastly do what you want. It's your story.

 

[sr71plt]

I pretty much think that any writer--new or otherwise--at Literotica should write whatever they enjoy. Even if it sticks to one simplistic perspective--and even if it head hops all over the pages. This is a reading and fun site, not a critique or required development site.

I don't give too much thought to perspective, I think, when I write erotica. I write what seems to go with that story. I do, though, intentionally do as little head hopping as possible. This may stem from sitting inside publishing houses and having an acquisitions editor drop a manuscript in the "no" pile with the simple voiced comment "head hopping," resulting in all of the others in the room smiling and nodding their heads.