Well, I like writing in either first person or third person omniscient because in 1st POV, you can get into what the character is feeling, thinking, doing, etc. You get into their emotions and mind. Plus, once you get the hang of it, the character just sort of sinks into you and you BECOME the character in a way.

I also like 3rd Person Omniscient because you get to know everything and what's going to happen. You get to know things that the characters don't know and unlike 1st Person, you're not as limited with what you can write.

It really depends on what the story needs. If in doubt, I say go with third person. Too often I've read first-person stories that just don't work because they seem like a person speaking objectively about themselves. There isn't enough put into what the character is thinking and feeling at the moment. The character might go on talking about tragedies and fun moments with no change in tone.

One, in my opinion, deadly mistake in writing first person is making believe you are the character or the character is you. Now I know characters are usually based on the author in some way or form (even JKR admit basing Harry on herself), but I see characters are other people, as my children almost, not as extensions of myself or as "wish-fulfilling" characters. In other words, the character should have eir own voice, thoughts, and feelings.

If you're interested, I wrote a story in second-person POV. It's called "Balance Broken" and is under my profile. I do like writing second-person but don't do so much because I feel it may be uncomfortable to read: it doesn't seem as natural.

Yeah, I understand your liking to bond with one particular character. Sometimes I feel like that, too. :)

-Lefty

Imalefty - Agreed. Second-person is also used in tutorials and tutorialish writings (e.g., "How to be a Writer" by Lorie Moore). I personally like POV switches rather than third person omniscient though I could be biased.

The Bartimaeus Trilogy (fantasy, I highly recommend them) is written from three different points of view. Two are in third person limited and one in first person. The books switch between these POVs every few chapters. Each character is on a different side, so to speak, and has very different views. Character A's actions will be justified in chapters concerning Character A, while in chapters concerning Character B, Character A could just seem like a jerk.

From Bartimaeus' POV, a convo between himself and Nathaniel:

"But we haven't time...." [Nathaniel]

I spoke gently to quieten him. "Just watch and listen."

I didn't show it, but I was worried myself now. The boy was right: we really had no time.

The same scene from Nathaniel's POV:

"But we haven't time—" Nathaniel began.

"Just shut up and listen!" The fly [Bartimaeus] was buzzing frantically around their prison. It sounded decidedly panicked.

I've also found that no matter what POV I work in, it's best not to choose more than 2-3 people to play narrator/focus on. If more than 3 people are all trying to assert their emotions and thoughts in the same story, it tends to get extremely confusing, so if you're going to, you may as well include a Cast of Characters sheet at the beginning of the story - just for people to keep track of who's who.

I usually work in (what I call) Past-Tense Limited 3rd, just because it's the easiest. Recently, I've started using Present-Tense 1st and Past-Tense 1st...in the same story. My series uses both for the first two books...it's kind of startling at first, when I switch tenses, but once you get used to it, it isn't so bad.

It depends on teh character I'm writing about, what POV I use. I'm thinking about it, but I guess that's all I can say about that. It's not like I write in first person if the character is the same gender as me, or if they really are "me". I just...they tell me which way they see the world. I'm having some trouble with POV lately, having to decide which to use on a story that's not posted yet (It's called "Across Favor's End", if it ever does happen to be posted).

1. Forums are not to be used to post stories.
2. All discussions, language and content, must be suitable for teens.
3. The owner/moderator(s) of this forum is solely responsible for content posted within this area.
4. All forum abuse must be reported to the moderator(s).

1. Forum admin/moderator
2. Fanatic (on site for more than 2 years)
3. Fan (on site for more than a year)
4. Regular (on site for more than 6 months)
5. Camper (on site for more than a month)
6. Apprentice (on site for more than a week)
7. Newbie (on site for less than a week)