Do you prefer writing in first or second POV?

[tealeaf1619]

Hello! I am a newbie writer and I have tried third-person and then first-person POV's. I personally love First Person POVs in stories and prefer to write in that style. I'd love to hear others' opinions on the type of way to write and the strengths and weaknesses you believe you're writing has. I'll start first! First-person: Strenght- unreliable narrator (Allows an author a lot of control over what the reader notices and understands situations. ), Emotions (Can convey a lot more emotions and the turmoil a character feels). Weaknesses - Hard to show more (What I mean is, the reader is as limited as an Author with the surroundings and what can be conveyed. If a character doesn't notice the slight smile as the bad guy turns around, neither does the reader. It can sometimes be hard to explain certain situations. )

[darthmongoose]

Ah man this is such an interesting subject!

I feel more naturally drawn to third person... but that's largely because most of the books I grew up with were in third person, and perhaps because I like ensemble casts and being able to switch viewpoint more easily, but first person can be so interesting, because it's so immediate and everything is reported in this very biased, subjective way.

Frankenstein is one of my favourite books, and part of why it works is that it's an epistolary story, written as letters recording the stories told by characters. Getting Victor Frankenstein's version of events...and then the Monster's version that reveals how unreliable a narrator Victor was being is...mm! Chef's kiss!
I also think the use of first person in The Hunger Games is super-interesting. I think that while the movies had the advantage of being able to really show the revolution building, which the books couldn't, because Katniss didn't see it and we only see what she sees, that book Katniss is a far more sympathetic and interesting protagonist than film Katniss.

Then there's the Locked Tomb series where the first book is first person, and then the second is the really quite unusual second person and it's like "wait, what's happening here?" before it pays off in a beautiful way.

It's definitely a fun and interesting element of writing to play around with! ...Though I mostly make comics and the closest I get to that is the choice of whether to use internal monologue at all (makes it more like first person) or in the case of my current comic, don't (more like third person).

[harlan]

I prefer third person because of the ability to provide more information and points of view, especially outside the protagonists sight. I also like to have ensemble casts of characters and switching to each’s first person point of view would be confusing.

That said, Elf Noir is in first person, present tense and it just feels right to me for a fantasy noir thriller and it has been super fun to write that way.

Blush: I did write some private erotic fiction for a boyfriend in second person once a long time ago and he was a sub and really liked experiencing the stories that way. Nuff said.

[Lensing]

I like third person for fiction and first person for autobiographic stories.
It both has pros and cons. I grew up reading a lot of Charles Bukowski and he does it like that too.

As a reader and writer I prefer third person, it leaves more room for my imagination as a reader
and the same for me as a writer. I can also create tension better when I use third person. I switch
between characters in exciting scenes and leave cliffhangers

[tyowens]

I think there's an argument that you will hear some people make that inexperienced writers may lean to a specific POV because that's all they have the skill to do. But I think any POV can be done well if written correctly, but it probably boils down to the goal of the writing. I love stories with imperfect narrators, as I think it creates a way for the reader to reflect more on the character than just experience the story, once the reader knows not to trust everything the character says.

If I were writing a story where I wanted to withhold information from the reader and have them experience the reveal through the eyes of a character, I'd lean towards first person. Personally, I think there's a lot of really bad third-person writing on tv shows where they have to make all sorts of poor choices in the name of suspense, (characters are beholden to what the viewer knows or less, and are not realistic to the situation) and in effect create characters that are entirely inconsistent in their behaviors for the sake of story arcs in an episode that do not match up with character development through time.

But there are also wonderful things that can be done in third-person limited and omniscient views. Such as being able to world build, experience different points of view of a story, show other sides of a conflict. Maybe understanding how others view your main character adds something to the story that a first-person view can not show. I do also love ensemble casts because I think it's important for stories to have good diversity and representation and a lot can be said for having all sorts of layered characters rather than another story with "the one true hero" that is the center of everything. I think it all just really depends on the story you want to tell for what POV makes the most sense, but a helpful exercise I was taught was to do a short story or excerpt of your longer story and write it in each perspective. Trying out different perspectives on the same story may really help you figure out what voice is the best voice for what you want to tell.

[cherrystark]

My preference depends on how the story I'm trying to write. My main series is written in 3rd person because I have a large cast of characters so switching to first person POV every time I cut to a new character to tell the story would be confusing.

Recently, I started writing a couple of stories in first person. I learned that if you're writing this POV, you HAVE to know who your character is, what their voice sounds like, and how much they know. I know this falls under terms like limited, omniscient, etc. When I started writing web fiction, I read a lot of web fiction to get a better idea of how web novels were written. I noticed that many first-person stuff was written very "exact". With every POV shift, the narrator at the time knew exactly what was going on in the world and in the story with complicated internal monologues. This technique isn't "bad", it just doesn't work for every story.

With my superhero satire, I decided to Deadpool it up. She makes a lot of random commentaries throughout the piece and she has no idea what's going on in the story. The information she relays is often 2nd hand from either the internet or her superhero friends. She's also a dumba** so readers rely on her asking questions and her trying to piece things together with context clues to figure out what's going on.

In my newer story, the MC is a well-educated immortal woman. She's lived through centuries of history under many identities and in several countries. While a complete history of her lives would be incredibly tedious to write, first person gave me the opportunity for her to recount her memories for the audience. It wouldn't have been the same in third.

[konori]

It's funny that this topic has come up, because I've just recently tried writing in first-person pov when normally I would write in third-person.

In my previous stories (mainly drafts) there was a lot of world building and multiple characters to follow, so it's easier to write about everything in third person. This latest story I'm writing is set in a post-apocalyptic-like world, and there wasn't much world building to think about. (It's also meant to be a short story, so I didn't put too much thought into it.) And since the story is mainly focused on the main character and his emotions, it suddenly made more sense to write in first-person. Like others have mentioned, this means having the reader's knowledge of events and the world limited to only what the main character sees and knows, and this approach works in a post-apocalyptic setting where uncertainty and fear of the unknown can add to the suspense.

So yeah, I guess it depends on the type of story whether to write in a third person or first person pov.

Still, I'm an amateur writer (with only having done comics previously), and writing prose is still a learning process for me. This short story I'm writing is meant to be a practice novel before I start writing "the big one".

[Sea.Cup]

The novel I’m writing is in third person BUT I prefer first person. I feel like I can become the person or understand my character better in first person if that makes since.

[Katzalcoatl]

Here we have opposite views. I prefer first person exactly because it limits information. That way when you create a side story from a different POV it creates a whole NEW story.

Imagine the POV through the eyes of a villain and then the story gets told from the victims eyes or from the hero's pov. 2 different stories are told. Where as third pov doesn't leave room for that imagination since you see everything from a neutral stand point with no surprises.

[cherrystark]

Imagine the POV through the eyes of a villain and then the story gets told from the victims eyes or from the hero's pov. 2 different stories are told. Where as third pov doesn't leave room for that imagination since you see everything from a neutral stand point with no surprises.

See, that scenario doesn't sound that great to me. I've noticed the trend for a lot of writers is to change POV every couple of chapters. Those stories give me whiplash. I remember one story where the writer would tell the story in one POV then in the next chapter retell the events of the previous chapter from the other POV. I DNF.

From the imagination/surprises standpoint, the POV shouldn't matter if you are doing your job right as the author.

[Katzalcoatl]

Haven't read a writer like that. Usually the POV change is done many chapters ahead as side stories. Not the next chapter. And if it is done the next chapter it is done in a summary type scenario with continuation of current story. The retelling of the whole story is something I haven't encountered except with many chapters of difference (not a couple).

From the imagination/surprises standpoint, the POV shouldn't matter if you are doing your job right as the author.

Guess you are right with this. I would also apply it to 1st Pov vs third POV. It shouldn't matter in which pov it is made if you are doing your job right as an author. And the scenario you described sounds like a bad job of a 1st Pov author (again haven't encountered it yet).

P.S. Most works I read in 1st POV are japanese and korean in nature. With big editorials backing them up. I haven't read any self published works so maybe that's why I haven't encountered such scenarios? Or maybe I did encounter it but it was so well written I didn't notice it?

[Katzalcoatl]

Ah man this is such an interesting subject!

Agreed. Although I did mention I prefer 1st POV over Third POV i have to clarify this only applies to Novels. On comics and cartoons I prefer third POV.
I probably prefer 1st POV novel since I love videogames FPS and I also love classical RPG's.

A 1st POV novel makes me feel like being part of an RPG. Got to say I love Kotor star wars. It has a huge influence in my writing.

I do enjoy reading third POV novels but I prefer writing 1st POV. It also brings a challenge since you have to be careful how you write it. Each POV has their charm. One thing I don't like from very few 3rd POV books is how they abuse the "(s)he thought" but it is rare to see someone abuse it so much (except self-published books/novels it is more common to see people abuse such phrases).

I prefer styles like @cherrystark in which the author expands their vocabulary thus writing the same thing in 20 different ways.

I could probably go on for hours talking about 1st POV vs 3rd POV darghmongoose was right by saying it is such an interesting topic.

[cherrystark]

Haven't read a writer like that. Usually the POV change is done many chapters ahead as side stories. Not the next chapter. And if it is done the next chapter it is done in a summary type scenario with continuation of current story. The retelling of the whole story is something I haven't encountered except with many chapters of difference (not a couple).

The retelling one was a one-off but the switching POV thing - that happens all the time. The trend that I'm seeing in paranormal romance is switch every 1-2 chapters between the romantic leads. It's also really common to insert random POVs from side characters or the "narrator's" POV (which is 3rd, haha) Sometimes they don't even bother to switch at the start of the chapter, they'll switch every cut scene.

I haven't read any self published works so maybe that's why I haven't encountered such scenarios? Or maybe I did encounter it but it was so well written I didn't notice it?

I saw this happen a lot on Wattpad and Inkitt and unfortunately, it's also gone over to Vella. The chapters are usually labeled with X's POV and the POV the heading on every chapter.

[Katzalcoatl]

That explains a lot.... Can't say I would like those POV changes.

If you abuse a writting technique it can tire the reader pretty fast. Gotta be careful with that.

Hopefully, I don't fall down that rabbit hole.

[powerplantanimations]

When I write I sorta freestyle. I think it's fun when each arc is their little mini story. That said, I do love when a story cuts between different perspectives. Resident Evil 2 Remake did it, Sonic Adventure did it, The Suicide Squad did it, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure did it, etc. etc.

It adds to the whole "the main character isn't really the main character" vibe.