#writing POV

[heywriters]

Second Person Point Of View

[gemmahale]

Talk Shop Tuesday (9/10/2024)

Changing the format for this one, because I can. Gearing this more toward writers, but readers, feel free to chime in (sub reading for writing, etc.)

Questions:

How do you determine what POV to use for your stories?

Do you have a preferred POV to write in? Why?

If you're writing a character study, do you ever swap to external POV's? Do you find that valuable?

Other thoughts on writing and POV's and voices as you wish to expound upon them are obviously welcome.

Feel free to reblog this post with your answers, or drop me a line in my ask box! (I'll tag it with #Talk Shop Tuesday.)

[navysealt4t]

please feel free to elaborate in the tags! is 1st person fanfic a complete no go for you? what about in original fiction? why? feel free to be as black and white or as nuanced as u want when answering the poll :)

[writing-culture-is]

Which point of view do you prefer to write in?

[ashersbraincell]

The steps I’m currently taking to hopefully write angsties mf POV short fic

1. Making a playlist from the POV of said character in the moment I’ll be writing

3. Re-read dialogue of the character in similar scenarios to get a feel for how their internal monologue might be

2.Listen to the playlist to get into character. Really feel the feels as best as I can

4. Repeat step 3 briefly so I don’t loose the feels momentum

5. Let the words flow

6. Clean up and potentially jazz up a little woth fancier vocabulary

(Don’t expect the fic soon or in a set time, life’s a little hectic)

[pearlypairings]

For your hellcheer fics, do you have a preference for writing in Chrissy’s POV or Eddie’s (or neither)? Is one of them easier for you to “get into character” with than the other?

Oh gosh yes, so far Chrissy's POV has been my go-to for all my Hellcheer fics! She's a lot less intimidating for me to get inside her head with my own headcanons about her background, motivations, history etc.

I love bearing witness to Eddie Munson and his antics (having Chrissy&readers guess at what they mean) more so than getting through to his POV in concrete writing.

But I'm actually considering the next update to "not a sound, but the wind" to show Eddie's POV of when he leaves Chrissy in his bedroom to show what he's thinking/doing/saying(reacting to the whole afternoon) before he comes back to her. I just like to challenge myself out of my comfort zone once I feel ready for that kind of push :) wish me luck 😅

Thank you for the ask! Again, anyone is open to ask anything about my fics or my writing process if you're curious 💕

[violetlunette]

To anyone who plays interactive fiction or Choose Your Own Adventure stories, I'm curious;

[heywriters]

^^^

You should only write in present tense with extreme caution.

not because it's bad or anything but because if you do it even once you're going to be editing the bits where you shifted tenses out of your writing for the rest of your life

[arynneva]

wait do people read first person stories and think they're the ones in the story???

Saw people talking about not liking first person, which is fair, but their reasoning was like "I would not do that" and I don't understand that mindset.

First person stories are still about a character. A character making their own decisions. First person isn't about you???? At least I thought it wasn't. What am I missing? I've always seen first person as just a more in-depth look into a character's mind and stricter POV. Not as a reader stand-in.

[heywriters]

Hi!

Is It okay to write a book with inconsistent pov changes?

Specifically, in my case, I'm writing the story in third person (that won't change), but I'm focused on the Main Character. Now, the inconsistent pov change I meant was like, once in a while change the view from following the Main Character to one of the other characters for some need.

As an example, say he gets hurt and passes out, but his friend is there when it happens. So I change the pov on the next chapter to follow that friend of his until the scene and action ends, and we can get back to the 'normal'. But these changes are far and few, not something like changing from chapter to chapter.

Is it 'allowed' or I shouldn't do it?

You can totally do that. I've read published novels before where the secondary main character gets less POV time for whatever reason. Others take a break from the main to show us some 'behind-the-scenes footage' of what's happening in another part of the story. Can it get messy or confusing? Sure, but that doesn't make it something you should avoid trying.

You know who your book is actually about, and you know what the other characters must bring to the table. It's a balancing act, but it's not going to break the book if in the end it feels unbalanced.

Trust yourself with this. It will all turn out okay!

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[abigailspinach]

Heists!

F: And there’s an entire scene, which I love, which goes by in about, what? Three pages? Where, once they’ve crossed the river and they’re invading this city, and the whole point is that someone has discovered that Emhyr is under sex/romance pollen and has kidnapped Geralt to hold as hostage, and they’re going to get him back. And there’s this scene where Emhyr gives like three orders and they keep going— and you’re in Ciri’s point of view, which is really effective because you can’t be in Emhyr’s point of view. Which I think we’ve talked about lots before. If you’re writing the Machiavellian mastermind, it’s much less effective if you’re seeing what he’s thinking.

A: Yes.

F: So you’re either seeing Geralt’s point of view or Ciri’s point of view through the entire fic. And this entire series from Ciri’s point of view, you just see him give like three different orders that just seem a bit weird, and then two pages later he turns up in front of this thing and is like, “As you can see, we have conquered this city!” and suddenly the three orders that he made make sense.

[M cackling delightedly] 

F: Because he is literally bluffing his way into invading an entire city with a very small force, and you see it all fall into place. 

A: Yeah.

F: That’s where you’re just like, “astolat...why.”

A, sobbing: Whyyy?!?

F: How?!

M: He orders the ships in the harbor burned and the main square torched, but not actually fighting with the troops who are stationed there. He kind of just goes around all of the fires.

F: And then he finds some extra horses and puts some people on the extra horses, so it looks like— 

M: So he’s running around like, it’s like Birnam Wood has come to Dunsinane, you know?

A: That’s exactly what it’s like, actually.

M: And then he’s like, “As you can see, if your eyes are sharp, my ships are coming to reinforce me,” and everyone is just like—

F: Then he just gestures to this cloud of smoke.

M: Yeah. [laughs]

A: It’s so good. 

M: Ciri is just sitting there with stars in her eyes because, you have to understand, she is an imperial heir but she doesn’t really know her father. She’s been on the road stabbing zombies for most of her life. And is like, “Why can’t I stab it?” And Emhyr is like, “Because politics.”

[kurlyfrasier]

OHMYGOSH THANK YOU!

I have struggled with this an embarrassing amount and has sometimes stopped me from continuing the story.

YOU, MY NEW FRIEND, ARE A LIFE SAVER

if you’re ever in doubt about what pov to write a scene from, a good rule of thumb is to pick the person who knows the least about what’s going on. lots of pros!

you automatically have some level of tension in the scene, as they either struggle to figure out what’s happening or completely fail to notice it

if they know as much or barely more than the reader, the reader is learning things alongside them, which will help make exposition feel more natural

if they know less than the reader you now have dramatic irony! great for humor and/or agonizing tension

helps you keep secrets from the reader longer, since your pov character doesn’t know them either. (I mean you could also just carefully omit major info and pretend you thought it was obvious. see the Queen’s Thief series for several examples that span a whole novel!)

helps add a fun little mystery for the reader as they try to figure out those secrets (fun little mysteries are great attention hooks!)

“what’s going on” can mean anything btw, it could be the plot or the worldbuilding or another character’s motivation or the location of the buried treasure.

for best results, think about what each character in the scene wants to get out of this scene, and then pick the pov of the person who has least control over/knowledge of whether they get what they want. failing that, figure out which character has the most important secret that’s affecting the course of the scene, and write from the pov of someone who doesn’t know the secret. (the secret can be stuff like “I’m in love with you,” “I’m a spy for the spider queen,” “I’m the one who stole the muffins,” just whatever’s adding an undercurrent of tension to the conversation.)

this rule won’t be right for every occasion and you should trust your gut, but it’s served me well for years, so I encourage all you writers to consider it when figuring out how to approach a scene :)

[grell-writes-stuff]

I wanna write this one wip I have in 3rd pov (mainly bc my protag uses they/them and I love getting to use it for every single thing they do) but by god am I a 1st pov girlie at heart

Basically all my 3rd pov starts sounding like middle grade - which isn’t a bad thing, of course, the world needs more middle grade fiction - but I’m going for new adult here.

3rd pov-ers I have no idea how y’all do it and make it good, but godspeed 🫡

[dcxdpdabbles]

Danny: I was told to report to you

Alfred: Who told you that?

Danny: Didn't get his name, but it was a man with black hair, blue eyes, tall and sad?

Alfred: That's could be so many in this manor. Can you be more specific?

Danny: um, he was pretending to be stupid at last night gala?

Alfred: More specific

Danny: He yelled "Eat the rich" before nose diving into the glass tower.

Alfred: That's was Master Jason. Did he tell you why you needed to report to me?

Danny: He told me to give this to you when I found you *hands over folded paper*

Alfred reading: Dear Alfred, here is a boy who agreed to work part-time as a cook for the mannor while you recover from your broken arm and broken legs . Let me know if he becomes a problem. I'll kill him for you. Heart Jason

Danny: ....He was joking about the killing part right?

Alfred: No, he put a heart. He is rather serious.

Danny strain nervous smile: Oh

Alfred: Not that it matters. If you ARE a problem, I will put a bullet between your eyes before you can beg. Working legs or not. Now then, how about I show you the kitchen, yeah?

Danny: .....the pay is what again?

Alfred: Five hundred for each meal you prepare and an hourly salary of twenty-nine dollars for how long it takes you to cook.

Danny: Aight, I'm desperate enough. Lead the way sir.

Alfred studying him: You may survive the Waynes yet.

Danny: Wait. What does that mean?

Alfred: This way *rolling away in wheel chair*

Danny: SIR!? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?