Morgen Bailey's Writing Forum

Hi

When I start to write a short story I have the POV uncosciously decided along with the rest of the necessary elements. Some stories work better in first person, especially if you are trying to create tension, suspense and empathy in the reader. Others where muliple characters feature are best told in third person. Occasionally I will even tacke 2nd person which is an intensely poweful way to write.

There are pros and cons for each differing POV and I basically let the story decide which POV fits best.

To explain to anyone who isn't sure.

1st Person = Writing as a character "I, Me, My"
2nd Person = Writing to a character as a narrator "You"
3rd Person = Writing as an omnipresent eye. "They, He, She"

I enjoy writing in First Person. I like to get into my character's head. I have even used multiple first person for three characters in my upcoming novel.
Writer Dave
www.writerdave.com

Alternate first and third person viewpoints are becoming more and more popular and switches are fine as long as there's a gap, ideally separate chapters. Out of the two I'd say I prefer first because it gets right inside the character and I adore writing monologues.

I'm hooked on second person at the moment which is my favourite pov but only really suits short pieces.

I think that Graham is right, the POV almost seems to choose itself for any particular story.

I also agree that second person is best suited to short pieces - I sometimes think that second person is more fun for the writer than the reader. Morgen, you probably know the answer to this - are there any major novels written in second person? I don't think I've ever read one; closest I can think of is Italo Calvino's "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller" which alternates chapters between second and third person.

One more thing on the subject of POV - I do think it's worth drawing a distinction between monologue and first person fiction. People often use 'monologue' to cover anything written in first person when they just mean a story written in the first person. A monologue is something written to be spoken or performed, not just to be read. As such the considerations in terms of the language use and structure are very different. I've written a number of monologues and tried to convert a few to first person short stories, sometimes it can be very difficult: what makes a good monologue doesn't always make for a good short story and vice versa.

Gary

Hi Gary

The most famous second person book is Jay McInerney's 'Bright Lights, Big City' but it's a novella (<200 pages) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_person_narrative mentions Jay's first two opening sentences and a list of other authors (including Calvino).

It's interesting what you say about first person vs. monologues. They do feel like different beasts when writing but I'd not thought of the monologue as being something to be read out loud but it makes sense, and Alan Bennett did such a great job.

I have Calvino's short story collection 'Marcovaldo' in my 'to be read' - at 18 stories totalling 121 pages - my kind of short shorts.

Just spotted a comment re. second person on LinkedIn:

"I think this would be an interesting approach to all or parts of a memoir."

My reply...

I wonder how different it would be (feel) if the subject was alive or otherwise? (biographical obviously - redundant question if autobiographical)

I wrote my first and second novels in first person. How else would I know what this character would do if I wasn't inside her head? My characters are unruly and take off in their own directions but I have a little more control over the main character. Seriously, I agree with Graham. Some stories just work better in first person.

They do, and it's been especially popular over the past few months / years (although agents have told me they've had more than enough of it but then one also told me that chick lit is dead!).

The only disadvantage is that you can't get other characters' feelings but then if you 'show' what they're doing and the protagonist's interpretation of their feelings that can work just as well.

All my novels thus far have been written in first person POV. About half of my short stories have been in first person and the other half in third person limited.

Really, for me, it's just the story I want to tell and what's the best way to tell it to the reader.

I've never tried first person present tense, nor have I ever tried 2nd person. I've only seen present tense first person done well twice (well, two novels I read written that way that I really enjoyed). Most of the time, when I see writers attempting it, it becomes almost play by play.

Second person, I've rarely seen done well. It is possible. I'm an editor (mainly slush reader) for a small ezine (MindFlights) and we get 2nd person short stories. I think we've only ever accepted one. Usually it's not the story, just that 2nd person wasn't the way to tell it, or the writer just didn't have the skill to pull it off.

Personally I love second person but it rarely works beyond a few hundred words (I think my longest is 628 words - http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/books ... -dark-side).

I know some writers who have written an entire novel on one pov and have known it's not worked because of the pov and have gone through it changing it all to the other (never second, very sensibly) and it's been a very different (and much improved) novel.

My chick lit (http://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/books ... list-novel) is written in first person present tense because it's about a journalist who's sent off by her boss to meet 31 men in 31 days so she's relaying what happens and in present tense so it feels like it's happening as the reader's reading it... hopefully anyway.