@allisonwyss Some condensing, emphasis (I added must), and paraphrasing later:

We get used to the [POV] we see the most and our brain learns to read those as "natural."

Taste usually comes from our cultural biases and our reading habits.

We [must] consider these, and the expected biases of our likely audiences...

One must choose. These assertions bring clarity.

In the end, my choice of "1st person past tense" instead of "3rd person past tense close" comes down to how I can most fluidly, transparently, and clearly tell a story. My hope, anyway. For the reasons above, I chance turning away some share of potential audience—and my agent repeatedly warned me of this. In his view, the prevailing mode of POV was objectively better. It made us money. He wasn't necessarily wrong.

I haven't talked with the fellow in two decades.

To get back to @JoanGrey 's question: As I discussed in my The Hunger Games replies, I know a POV can be distracting to some, or at least me. I did read the sequels, however, but if she wrote other stories, I've not looked for them. That's bias. I understand that bias, but writing in the prevailing mode and getting it right proved too hard and frustrating to me. I'd rather be telling stories.

In a sense, I've stopped listening to peer pressure and am going with what I feel. Thus, my choice. For me, it is better. Please don't construe this as an endorsement or advice.

@adaddinsane

#writing #writer #writers #writingCommunity #writerTeacherConversations #fiction #POV #1stPerson

@JoanGrey @allisonwyss @adaddinsane

Changing the POV to first person's an interesting choice - what's making you bend in that direction?

#writerTeacherConversations

Thank you for that question! CW: TL;DR

Every bit of advice I read insisted on 3rd person narrative sells. So did my agent. This was in the late 70s and 80s. Considering that most (but not all) of what I read was 3rd person, I did my best. I wrote about 12 works (#novels, #novellas) that way.

Problem is, for me at least, writing 3rd person is fantastically difficult. Not the storytelling but the in-writing. It's difficult because I am writing in 3rd person close. I was strenuously warned away from 3rd person omniscient, and I don't particularly like modern stories written that way.

3rd person close: If the character can't sense it or conceive of it, you can't write about it.

Staying in that #POV is very hard. To get it right required repeated boring attention-down-to-each-word-choice detailed revision. C.J.Cherryh is a master of 3rd person close, and I love her stories, but... I. Just. Couldn't. Do it!

I burned out in 2001.

By 2015, I needed to write. Non-fiction essays weren't enough. I thought, "What the hay?" I tried 1st person. I started writing and publishing fiction again -- fan-fic actually -- and it clicked.

I mean, OMFG! (Pardon my Latin.)

In 1st person, POV issues disappear because they're so obvious even while writing the first draft. The #narrative is the POV's thoughts, and my POV's are very opinionated. Entertainingly so, I'd posit. The dichotomy between what the character thinks and what the character says and does is a wonderful subtext all by itself. They even get to lie, sometimes.

As a bonus, I feel closer to my readers. (I've got a creative imagination, I guess.)

So... I'm now a 1st person past-tense #author! It is much more acceptable these days. Whilst some of my previous novels were multiple POV character works, I actually broke chapters on POV changes (like Fredrick Pohl), even naming the chapter for the character! Making the internal dialog unique will be a challenge, but it ought be fun. I certainly know the end of each story (my story-writing MO)!

#writing #writer #writers #amWriting #sf #sff #fiction #fantasy #writingCommunity #1stperson #3rdperson #writingLife #burnout

#BoostingIsSharing

@hakirsch @sloopjonb1960

wait, you mean it's okay to never describe yourself (in first person) as a narrator?

Absolutely!

so you're saying they SHOULDN'T ever look in a mirror and [preen for the reader]?

Silly handsome hawk wolf!

I know you are joking, but I'll say it anyway: Everything is a story should serve the plot and the message you are trying to communicate.

While a helpful Hanna in the my current #sff story points out my MC is rather tall for a woman, well muscled, and plump like most weight-lifters are, in a mirror she notes she has emerald eyes and freckles she wants to bleach.

#writing #writers #author #WritingCraft #writingCommunity #fiction #description #amWriting #character #1stperson

#BoostingIsSharing

#LeonardMlodinow - Is #Consciousness #Unified?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Rqub5ZPec&ab_channel=CloserToTruth

#Science #Philosophy #Physics #PhilosophyOfScience #IntegratedInformation #Neuroscience #Mind #TheMind #Illusion #Qualia #Awareness #1stPerson #FirstPerson #Binding #BindingProblem #Senses #SenseIntegration #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

#SusanBlackmore - Toward a #Science of #Consciousness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zTlxcrB7yvE&ab_channel=CloserToTruth

#Philosophy #PhilosophyOfMind #PhilosophyOfScience #Neuroscience #HardProblem #TheHardProblem #FirstPerson #1stPerson #Qualia #SubjectiveExperience #Subjectivity #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

#BernardCarr - #Physics of #Consciousness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aMaCpH-tWI&ab_channel=CloserToTruth

#Philosophy #PhilosophyOfScience #PhilosophyOfMind #Neurophysiology #Neuroscience #Emergence #Metaphysics #FilterTheory #Reductionism #Epiphenomenon #Epiphenomena #BiologicalNaturalism #Naturalism #1stPerson #Qualia #Mind #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

@EdwinDownward Your post and another about the dangers of 1st person helped me think through what I #amRevising. While inner thoughts and emotions are the fun and humor of the story, your comment about "get[ting] so bogged down" is helping me find and eliminate the excess. Thanks for making me think.

#writing #writingLife #1stPerson

#WritingWonders: Day 4 - What point of view are you currently writing in?

I write in #1stPerson past tense, where the #POV (the character) is the narrator. It is very difficult to fall out of POV, and easy to notice when you've done so. This makes it easy to focus on the story rather than the mechanics mechanics of staying POV.

Ease of writing is important, but the narrative possibilities of 1st person are immense. My only rule is that the author mustn't intrude into the story. If the character couldn't think it or know it, I mustn't write it.

In essence, my POV character is telling you her story. She even states this. If you think about it a bit, this means she's telling you (and readers in her world) what she want you to know. While it's almost always minor and narratively important, she routinely lies, mostly for the reasons you would. She omits what looks bad, might hurt someone, or get her in trouble. Sometimes she misquotes the facts when she thinks she can get it past you, but that can often be intuited as the story goes along (the author does have some say in what she tells the reader). She sometimes reports events more favorably than actually occurred.

What's best about 1st person is writing an inner and outer story. The character ensures she comes across as self-controlled, polite, and friendly when it suits her. Inside she's opinionated, snarky, crude, and impatient—completely uncensored. This is incredibly fun to write, and the possibility for humor is unlimited. What follows is from WIP, modified slightly for context.

#excerpt (warning: uncensored)

My friend Shellie couldn't even get herself a boyfriend thanks to her being Her Highness the Director's Apprentice—and her well-known irascibility. These things dissuaded prospects, even class climbers.

But friends shared, right?

That Shellie and Cert, the only guy who'd ever had a crush on me, ended up spending the night together had my mind reeling. I spent the night on a pallet on the second level with Bolt snoring faintly on the upper bunk. The spiral tower had been intended to house one person, Shellie. It had no doors, no privacy, and suddenly a certain pair who seemed oblivious to the fact.

I wasn't. Oblivious. I was... Wow, really!?

The next morning I still couldn't believe I'd pushed them together after that extraordinary kiss Cert given me prior to my fight with Director of Home. It had left me... ready, even through the pummeling I'd subsequently endured fighting Her Highness to break her curse.

Not going to be any awkwardness at breakfast. Right? Of course not! Um...

#writing #writer #author #sff #fantasy #amrevising #amwriting #BoostingIsSharing

@novelx123 @StephenC

It's been so long since I read that Dickens novel, back in the 70s, that I didn't remember it was in 1st person. I loved all his books, but in my mind I remembered them as 3rd person.

1st person can indeed feel confining, depending on the writer. However, third person personal (or close), like C.J.Cherryh does by strictly narrating only what the PoV experiences, has the same bug/feature. It can be either confining or comfortably snug. 3rd person omniscient isn't as popular, but it is classical story telling. For the record, I write 1st person past tense with the PoV aware she's narrating her own story. 1st person present tense is popular and difficult for me read, so I think I can empathize with what you feel.

#writing #fiction #1stPerson #3rdPerson #writingLife #boostingIsSharing

#JuliaMossbridge - Why is #Consciousness so Baffling?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVlE-zSRdWQ&ab_channel=CloserToTruth

#Science #Neuroscience #Psychology Philosophy #PhilosophyOfScience #PhilosophyOfMind #PhilosophyOfConsciousness #Metaphysics #1stPerson #Qualia #Feeling #Feelings #Searle #JohnSearle #Causation #BackwardCausation #BackwardsCausation #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

#NedBlock - What's the #Meaning of #Consciousness?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FE1LlyYIsJA&ab_channel=CloserToTruth

#Science #Neuroscience #Philosophy #PhilosophyOfConsciousness #PhilosophyOfScience #Psychology #ConsciousAwareness #Awareness #Qualia #1stPerson #Metaphysics #HardProblem #HarderProblem #CloserToTruth #RobertKuhn

@Michaelvaliant I channel my #characters a' la (Dorothy Brand) so #1stperson #POV is my fave. I also feel totally in the frame with #2ndperson. I also gravitate toward #presenttense ' and then I'm in the thick of it. #WritingCommunity