Poll: For you writers here...

[emeraldrafael]

I dont think I've ever read something in Second person, or how you would even address that. Second person (the way I understand it) is telling the story through another party's eyes, so the whole novel would feel like a giant escort mission and leave the reader without any sense of connection.

OT: I write in Third person. Its alot easier cause its omnipotent, and you can look into anyone at any given point for plot details. WIth first person, you're stuck to one person, and you cant reveal anything to the audience that the character doesnt know. I just find that hard to keep up through a story if its a long one.

captcha: quantifies troaled. Interesting

 

[Sgt. Dante]

1st person, I find it easier to express a world from a cahracters viewpoint.

I've tired 3rd person and it doesn't really work for me.

 

[King of Wei]

First person for stories, it helps establish the personality of the protagonist, even during descriptions of places/other characters.

Third person for game storyboards for ease of use.

 

[Macabre9037]

I vary between first and third person depending on the story and what I feel is best at the time. I voted first just because its easier to write in, and I really like keeping it in one person's thoughts. I like my narrator's unreliable.

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

When writing fictional tales I prefer the third person perspective due to the liberation it gives the author from being bound to any one frame of reference and allows the reader to pass between perspectives at any moment, relying on non of the characters to be present or have experienced what is being narrated. While a first or second person perspective is capable of jumping between characters, you sacrifice the one thing it grants you, which is a deeper involvement with the character from who's perspective you are following. Additionally transitions between characters becomes more evident and needs to be assisted to avoid becoming cumbersome and easily more confusing, for example you may be required to switch the an entirely new chapter. This raises the issue of leaving scenes you wanted to elaborate on stranded, so something either has to be sacrificed or a feat of incredible transitionary structure has to be produced. To repeat this frequently will put pressure on parts of the tale that would otherwise flow freely in third person, and the necessity for these transitions means you risk losing the readers immersion in the carefully crafted psyche of your lead. First person is by far the most restraining from an embroidering and control point of view.

Much of this borders of completely negating the point and even definition of first person, so it should only be employed if you are sure it is the best way to structure your narrative, especially if there is only one character of major significance whom you want to reader to essentially become for a short time.

It's harder to kill the protagonist in first person too, second person works though.

Mmmm unnecessary exposition.

 

[DanielBrown]

I'm not a writer, but my last Swedish teacher was extremly impressed with my writing!
Anyways... I prefer to write in third person. I feel that it gives me more control and that there will be less "I" in the story.

 

[mythlover20]

I tend to switch between the two (Not in the story, mind you, that's almost as bad as switching tense) but I feel that I can focus more on the character if I use first person, whereas I can focus on a broader range in third.

I personally write in a combination of third person past and present tense, because i really should write in past (makes everything much more clearer), but some of my points i like to make would have more of an impact in present. it's a flaw and no writer should ever switch between tenses (ie. past: he did; present: he's doing; and future: he will do) because it just confuses the reader. and the writer.

Heathen! Depends on how it's done really, it could work well or it could, as you said, just be confusing.

hahahaha.

My tendency to switch between tenses is probably because i can forget to filter, and often end up so absorbed in what i'm writing that i forget which world i REALLY live in. *sigh* i love that.

 

[Vanguard_Ex]

I'm just curious about something, so here's a question for those of you that do a lot of creative writing, mainly fiction. What point of view do you typically prefer to use the most often? I've noticed that it really varies writer to writer and some are very critical because of view point alone. So, how about you guys?

I use either one really. I think it depends on the character's situation, and whether you're trying to represent an internal struggle or external one.

 

[Zakarath]

It depends on the story; if I'm doing some big story on an epic scale, third person is generally better at providing scope and following multiple characters, but for a more grounded, personal story, first person is generally smoother for me when I want to get across a character's thoughts as well as their actions.

 

[spartandude]

4th person

 

[Serenegoose]

I generally write in first person, but with multiple viewpoint characters, hopping between them to build up the narrative. I try not to constrain myself - I've another project in the same overall world written in second person, and at some point I plan to create a new universe to muck around with using more conventional third person narrative.

 

[ThePerfectionist]

Second person is unbelievably hard to write in (and in my experience it's only ever really done well in erotic situations. Make of that what you will). I usually write in third, because I prefer to impart more knowledge on the readers when possible, but I've dabbled in first.

 

[GreyKnight3445]

As a writer I have written in all three forms, and 3rd is the easiest of them all, however if you can channel your inner Dan Abnett you can write amazing first person stories (see the Eisenhorn) while second is good if your a D&D DM or any other DM style game narrator

 

[Woodsey]

What is second person perspective? It's been a while since I've had an English class but I don't remember anything about that.

When someone says what you do in a story.

Honestly, if anyone says that's how they prefer writing, they're probably lying.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I always write in third person, because it's so fucking predictable in first person that the main character doesn't die or lose or get lost or whatever.

 

[SamuelT]

I tend to go with third, but I have done first. Now I'm involved in an RP that SCREAMS for seconds, and I type it that way only for me to go back and edit the entire post.

 

[GeorgW]

I always use third person past tense. I tries doing first person until someone pointed out to me that that would almost guarantee the main character lives. And I like to keep that surprise. I probably will do one written from a ghost's point of view.

 

[DonMartin]

Third person, mainly. Although since I usually base or get my inspiration for my main characters from myself or others, I suppose it's second and first person too, in a way. I've written a few short stories and poems in first person, but I really prefer third.

EDIT: Hold on now, I just went back and read the short story Im most proud of. First person. I prefer first person. I just realized most of my poems AND short stories are in First person. Why did I remember them as being in third person?


READ:
...Dear god, does anyone else here feel like a pretentious wannabe author prick when you talk about your writing? THIS is why I hate talking about it yet love doing it.