First Person Stories: "It" is said way too much...

Hey. well, this is not pokemon specifically, but for writing in general. Do any of you find when you write in firts person perspective, that you say "it to much? like, it ________, and it _________. It _________.

i find that happening to me, and do you guys have any advice for changing that, and using other words?

I happen to be writing a first person POV fic and I have to say that this problem crops up occasionally. I suggest you alternate with using 'it____' and 'the_____'. Sometimes, I use the objects actual name instead of 'it'. The trick is to not let the word 'it' come up in sentences too close to each other.

*This coming from an amateur writer* Hope it helps.

Mizan Nix Zamnie said:

I happen to be writing a first person POV fic and I have to say that this problem crops up occasionally. I suggest you alternate with using 'it____' and 'the_____'. Sometimes, I use the objects actual name instead of 'it'. The trick is to not let the word 'it' come up in sentences too close to each other.

*This coming from an amateur writer* Hope it helps.

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but what "it" has no name? D=

This doesn't seem like a problem centered on first-person perspective, so although I normally write in third person, I'll give you a bit of tips.

1. Practice varying sentence structure. If you always begin a sentence with "it," then your problem is probably in that you'll need to start playing with how you start your sentences. Try using dependent clauses or introduction words.

2. If the problem is the word itself, try describing what the object is and using it as a name. If the object is a furry rodent, call it a furry rodent from time to time. If it's a creature, then you can call it a creature.

3. The answer that does center on first-person perspective: Know your character's voice. The point of first person is that the story is told by a particular character in the story. Thoroughly understanding how that person speaks (their tendencies, their use of language, et cetera) will help you figure out how they'd refer to things. If they would call everything an it, then you can leave it alone and get away with it. If they wouldn't, try to think of what they would call it instead.

Hope that helps a bit.

Also reusing that same word, that 'it' was replacing is okay too (not all the time of course). This sometimes helps to place emphasis on the subject/object.

The man took the grenade out of his pocket. It was a delicate object.

Vs.

The man took the grenade out of his pocket. The grenade was a delicate object.

--

The reader is basically forced to read about the grenade. Perhaps if an "it" was still being used, the reader might pass it off as nothing. The second way, at least the grenade seems to have been placed with more importance.

Feign said:

The man took the grenade out of his pocket. The grenade was a delicate object.

Click to expand...

Or you could do even more things:

The man took a grenade out of his pocket; an uncomfortably delicate grenade.

The man took a delicate-looking grenade out of his pocket.

If you combine descriptions into one sentence especially, it helps you avoid repeating the word "it" too much. Now in all honesty, I haven't encountered this problem before, and I'm writing a first-person fic. I'll have to go back and see if I totally overlooked this issue.