Most of my fanfic is first person. I just find the BtVS characters speak quite clearly in my head.

Second person may be the hardest to write.

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Ya'll know my feelings on the second person. We have a special and close relationship.

First person and I are not on speaking terms.

I just got the worst (best?) feedback:

What an amazing story that is?

Um. Well. Why don't you tell me? I probably already like it, if I was interested enough to write it.

::sigh:: Livejournal is a scary, scary place.

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Second person is pretty easy for me to write, but I don't do it often.

Hmm. Actually, I don't think I've ever posted any of it other than drabbles. But I do like it muchly.

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Do you think of it as an instinctive impulse?

For me, yes. Yinstinctive impulses are almost certain toV.

I'm trying to work out where my non-trained writing self would start, and I don't think it would be there.

I don't really recall where I started writing, but the first piece of fiction I actually remember setting out to write as a story was limited third-- I remember, because it was fantasy and I had to change points of view once to tell the whole plot. I was eight or nine, and incrediably pleased when I finished.

And the first piece of fanfic that got out of my head was limited third, too. It's crappy, but it's lmt3rd. Later I started playing with 1st-- which is always even more limited, although I have a vague plot bunny which I'd write as 1st from TPTB's POV, and thus write omni1st-- and sometimes I'll use omni3rd, but that actually takes more thinking. I don't think I've used 2nd, yet, probably because I've read so few good pieces that use it. And because I'm not that fond of reading it.

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I guess the question is basically about distant third -- it would seem that one could get away with less of an intimate grasp on character voice -- sure, all the dialogue needs to be true, but you don't have to keep up the internals for such a long time.

But in limited 3rd, you never need to know why a bad guy does a thing -- you just need to make your character react to it. (An omniscient viewpoint doesn't need to tell why someone does a thing, but it's a lot more obvious an omission.) It can be a lot easier to spring a surprise on limited characters, because your readers know only as much of the plot structure as the characters themselves. But especially, in fanfic, by using ltd 3rd you leap right into the eyeballs of a [canon] character, which leap tends to make it pretty easy for the reader to identify with that character (aside from the predisposition to like canon characters anyway).

Not all ltd 3rd characters are huge internal monologuists; that's just a trope of fanfic (that I find kind of irritating in its overuse).

They often start with 1st person because it's easier to write. While in that phase, often every story's protagonist sounds like every other, because they're all the writer's voice.

I will say, when I started writing fanfic, I did start using mostly limited viewpoints --1st and 3rd. I've come to the conclusion, though, that my own writerly voice is best suited by omniscience, because limited viewpoints don't go flying off into rhetorical similes enough for my purposes. Then again, omniscience tends to make it harder to win over one's audience, in the fanfic world anyway.

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Kat Allen just posted some musings on omniscient, and Elizabeth Bear responded.

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For myself, I think I've always written in ltd 3rd. When I started writing, I never dreamed of doing it first person. Thinking back, my naive self would have found it both too revealing and too arrogant, using the word "I" in these adventures. I hadn't gotten to the point yet of being able to separate myself from the characters. (Also, my first major fanfic was Star Wars with the dreaded Original Female Character, Riani, source of all my email address. I'm fond of her, dear psychotic, violence-prone alpha-bitch that she is.)

Some writers do tend to take the internal monologue to extremes, 1st or 3rd person not withstanding. There is definitely a place--heck, a requirement--for some internal thoughtfulness, but it's like sex scenes, you really can have too many.

I'm beginning to think I should make myself write some 1st person, just to see what I can do with it. Elena's work (I can never remember the entire series title, but the best bit is Les Noyades) is some of the best I've seen, heartwrenching and individual and making you go "Poor darling needs a hug!"

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Then again, omniscience tends to make it harder to win over one's audience, in the fanfic world anyway.

I'm a big fan of omniscient, FWIW, though I think I tend to give a tight POV more wiggle room on writing skill, just because dull omniscient is *really* dull. (Thanks for those links, Micole - very interesting, and yes, that's exactly what I find dull about boring omniscient or distant third. There's no life. Whereas with a tight POV, it's pretty rare that the story's completely lifeless.)

I tie that to my fondness for first person narratives that have a voice that's not only strong but obviously fixed in time - stories where you know the narrator is telling the story, and shading it themselves, and not necessarily telling you everything. (Of course, that kind of thing does run the risk of getting me to a point where I want to smack the author for getting cute.)

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I think the example offered way up above...

"Blair raised his incredibly beautiful azure eyes to Jim's adoring face."

would be appropriate in a 3rd-camera-eye viewpoint -- where the plot follows Blair's actions, but we don't get interiorization.

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a 3rd-camera-eye viewpoint

Aha. This is what comes of not knowing the terms. I think I'd thought third limited encompassed 3rd-camera-eye.

Thank you.

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