Before the post: When I\u2019m in New York City, I\u2019m always aware of homeless people. I read their signs and often drop a quarter in their cups. Last week, I passed a young woman, sitting against a building on Fifth Avenue. Her placard described her sad circumstances, which I won’t burden you with. I had no change and walked on. A few blocks later, a man swayed in the middle of the sidewalk. He had no shoes; his socks were just holes at the heels; his shorts bagged; his tee shirt showed an inch of skin at the waist. His hand on his begging cup trembled. I couldn\u2019t ignore him. I stuffed a bill in his cup. I meant it to be a single, but I may have given him a ten. I didn\u2019t care.<\/p>\n
As I rushed into Grand Central Station and tried to recover my composure, the realization hit. I had just seen a writing maxim brought to life: Show, don\u2019t tell.<\/p>\n
(Of course, as has been stated here many times, writers have to do both, but the contrast between those two homeless people revealed the raw power of showing.)<\/p>\n
On April 23, 2016, the Florid Sword wrote, How does one know which view to use? Picking POV characters and MCs is never the problem for me, but sometimes I have trouble figuring out whether to use first person or third person. Second person really appeals to me, but I\u2019m not brave enough to try it. How does one pick a person view?<\/em><\/p>\n A few of you offered ideas:<\/p>\n Christie V Powell: I think it might depend on you. I\u2019ve tried first person, but it just wouldn\u2019t click for me. In third I can be a little more descriptive and have more fun with imagery, which is a strength of mine. Here\u2019s a line from my WIP:<\/em><\/p>\n The predawn gray was silent except for the river\u2019s roar, and Keita was alone in an empty yard.<\/em><\/p>\n Maybe I could switch \u201cKeita\u201d to \u201cI\u201d, but I feel like if it were 100% in her voice she\u2019d be more pragmatic. She notices things, and thinks about them that way, but if she were the one putting them into words instead of me she\u2019d say it differently. Maybe: \u201cThis was the perfect time to practice walking again, when no one else was awake to watch me fall.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Melissa Mead: I find first person most helpful when the MC has a really distinct personality\/voice, and that\u2019s a big part of the story.<\/em><\/p>\n Bookworm: Just start writing. Don\u2019t bother with POV yet, and that will come naturally.<\/em> I applaud Bookworm\u2019s willingness to experiment. I haven\u2019t written in second person, because I haven\u2019t had a story that seemed to call for it, but I did read a YA novel in that POV, and it immediately set the story apart. The book was about the MC\u2019s depression, which was embodied in the way she (or he\u2013I don\u2019t remember) couldn\u2019t seem to own herself with an I.<\/p>\n What I suspect is hard about second person is the danger of confusion. We want to be sure that the reader always knows to whom the you<\/em> refers, whether it\u2019s to our narrator or to someone else. So if we decide to go that route, we need to examine every sentence until we\u2019re certain that clarity prevails.<\/p>\n I\u2019m dreaming up other reasons we might use second person:<\/p>\n \u2219 a group-think kind of culture in which people are discouraged from individualism.<\/p>\n \u2219 a traumatized MC who wants to distance himself from his pain.<\/p>\n \u2219 someone, say, whose parents always called her You rather than by name, and she\u2019s come to think of herself that way.<\/p>\n \u2219 our MC is ambitious but reluctant to own her ambition. She finds it easier to work out her schemes (for good or ill) in second person, as in, You say this. He says that. You shake his hand. He believes he\u2019s found an ally in you. She begins to think of herself this way even when she isn\u2019t scheming.<\/p>\n I agree with Christie V Powell that some writers may instinctively prefer either first person or third, and we can make a good case for following our natural bent. Writing a story is hard enough without forcing ourselves in every possible way.<\/p>\n On the other hand, we may want to challenge ourselves sometimes and try an uncomfortable voice. As Christie V Powell demonstrates with her examples, the different voices can bring different character and story aspects to the fore.<\/p>\n If we\u2019ve decided to write in third person, we need to keep in mind the difference between omniscient and limited third person. In omniscient third, the narrator can relate the thoughts and feelings of all the characters. In limited, unless our MC has ESP, the narrator can reveal only the inner life of the POV character. I sometimes read books in which the author occasionally forgets, and I get pulled right out of the story. The mistake can be subtle, and many readers won\u2019t notice, but we should still get it right.<\/p>\n But if our story needs us to inhabit more than one character in a scene, then omniscient third may be the way to go. Let\u2019s imagine, for example, a panel of judges who are deciding the fate of our MC, who has committed some crime according to this society. Even though she\u2019s guilty, she\u2019s an ethical person, and we want the judges to understand that and not give her a long prison sentence or\u2013gasp!\u2013death in the viper pit. We may want to use omniscient third in our story so that when we get to this scene, we can jump in and out of the judges\u2019 perspectives to heighten the suspense.<\/p>\n Even in first person, we can make a POV-jumping error. Our MC Jackie can be with her best friend Carly; they\u2019ve known each other for years. Something happens that gets the friend mad. Jackie knows she\u2019ll have this reaction to this stimulus. In my opinion we still shouldn\u2019t write, Carly saw red<\/em>, because the reader may think, How does Jackie know that? Better is, Carly\u2019s chin went up. I knew from experience what that meant. She was seeing scarlet.<\/em> Now we haven\u2019t switched POVs because Jackie has explained how she knows Carly is angry.<\/p>\n We can write a contemporary now-feeling story in either first person or third, but I think it\u2019s harder to write a story with an old-fashioned tone in first. I may believe this because the classics of my long-ago childhood\u2013Heidi<\/em>, Bambi<\/em>, Peter Pan<\/em>, Anne of Green Gables<\/em>, Black Beauty<\/em>\u2013are all in third, and I can\u2019t think of a single example in first. So the tone we’re aiming for can guide our choice.<\/p>\n I don\u2019t mean we can\u2019t write in first person and set our story in the past or in a fairy tale world as I\u2019ve done many times. I just mean that there will be a more modern mood. Ella, for example, may wear a bodice and live in a manor, but she still has the perspective of a late twentieth century girl. In my books for the Disney Fairy series, I was trying for that days-of-yore mood, so they\u2019re all in third person.<\/p>\n I find it easier to get inside my MC\u2019s mind and heart when I write in first person. In third, I have to keep reminding myself that she has thoughts and feelings about whatever action is going forward. It can be done, and I\u2019ve done it, but it\u2019s more effortful. More effortful for me, maybe not for other writers.\u00a0I\u2019m more inside her when I\u2019m using I<\/em>, and that\u2019s a factor in my choice of first person or third.<\/p>\n Here are four prompts:<\/p>\n \u2219 You think of another reason to choose second person. Write a scene in the story. If you like, keep going.<\/p>\n \u2219 Use one of my reasons for second person. Write a scene. If you like, keep going.<\/p>\n \u2219 Write the scene in omniscient third person with the panel of judges.<\/p>\n \u2219 Write the fairy\u2019s dining scene in \u201cSleeping Beauty\u201d from the first person point of view of one of the fairies, who can read minds.<\/p>\n Have fun, and save what you write!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Before the post: When I\u2019m in New York City, I\u2019m always aware of homeless people. I read their signs and often drop a quarter in their cups. Last week, I passed a young woman, sitting against a building on Fifth Avenue. Her placard described her sad circumstances, which I won’t burden you with. 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\nFor one of the novels that I abandoned, I\u2019d been trying to write in 1st Person POV. It turned into 2nd person POV, so I kinda went with it. It was so much fun, and then I got stuck, so sadly, like I said, I did abandon it in the end. . .<\/em><\/p>\n