First person, third person, or other?

[Palamon]

Which point of view do you tend to write in and why, or do you do a mix of both, or even second person?

For me, 90% of the time, I do omniscient third person point of view. I'm not a huge fan of first person anymore. I want to go into the heads of multiple characters instead of one, so I almost always do third person unless it's a poem written for that character specifically. When I'm doing first person, it's usually only for that specific reason.

I will honestly never do second person. I do not want to. It's not my cup of tea.

 

[Aquacorde]

I use third limited a lot but I wasnt to get back to playing with narration more, which is more comfortable in third omniscient. First person isn't something I do or enjoy reading nearly as much. But I'm also one of the fewer people who enjoy writing in second person- I think it can be very evocative! unfortunate that most of the second person content I end up seeing online is character x reader smut that i think is really gross lmao

 

[Hyzenthlay]

Third person omniscient from my days of fiction writing! When there's a whole world to delve into and multiple characters to write, I like having the freedom of exiting my protagonist's own point of view. Especially when there are things I want to talk about that they wouldn't know or be interested in.

That's why I struggle with first person or limited third person actually. Descriptive writing is my favourite thing and I can't get away with that easily if my character isn't the type to stop and practically think up poetry whenever they enter a new setting etc. ^^;

Second person can actually be very engrossing when done right! Can't say I've tried it myself (yet!).

 

[gimmepie]

I mostly write in limited third person. It allows you to write in a broader perspective while still focusing on a character's PoV. It also makes it easier to logically keep secrets. That being said, I sometimes write first person - especially in short stories - for that personal and intimate vibe. I'm not really a fan of second person. It almost always reads weird to be told I'm doing something by a story lol.

 

[Bay]

I've done both third person limited and ominiscient, the former shorter works while the latter longer works. I've also done first person a few times but not my favorite. I don't think I've done second person yet but I've read a few (stress on few ) fanfics that did that point of view well.

 

[moon]

I tend to fall most easily into third person, and typically limited feels better for longer works or for individual RP posts, but when we do JPs I know some still try to use limited perspective and I just can't seem to vibe with it lmao. I feel like if a long JP is only seen from one char's limited viewpoint, we miss a lot of what's going on with the other main chars, and in a RP the point is kind of to see what all players/chars are doing since everyone controls their own important person. So omniscient third person is preferred there.

First person isn't something I do very often, and naturally it doesn't work very well in RPs - unless used in an isolated solo post of course.

Present tense is fun, and I've been trying to do it more often in recent years. Usually with third person limited. It conveys a sense of presence and focus that past tense can't really manage imo. Many popular YA books use first person present and while I personally feel a bit writing it, I can't deny it hooks a reader easily. See Hunger Games for example. Actually, I think I generally do prefer to read books and longer fictional works written in present tense, because past tense tends to feel more like a history recital ahah. More serious and retelling rather than getting me Into The Events. Depends a lot on the writer of course; there are certainly past tense third person works that commands attention in an attractive way too. I myself hope I'm usually one of them 😅

Lastly I want to clap my hands for anybody brave enough to dabble in second person. It's so much fun to write haha. I do it every once in a while in RP posts if I really want to make the reader blink and read more closely hehe. But it's not something I would use more long form.

 

[Palamon]

I tend to fall most easily into third person, and typically limited feels better for longer works or for individual RP posts, but when we do JPs I know some still try to use limited perspective and I just can't seem to vibe with it lmao. I feel like if a long JP is only seen from one char's limited viewpoint, we miss a lot of what's going on with the other main chars, and in a RP the point is kind of to see what all players/chars are doing since everyone controls their own important person. So omniscient third person is preferred there.

What's a JP? Never heard of that before.

A shame a lot of second person is just character x reader. Can't say I'm interested in that genre in the slightest in the fanfiction community. I do applaud anyone who does second person for anything else other than that, even those "choose your own adventure" narratives.

 

[moon]

What's a JP? Never heard of that before.

A shame a lot of second person is just character x reader. Can't say I'm interested in that genre in the slightest in the fanfiction community. I do applaud anyone who does second person for anything else other than that, even those "choose your own adventure" narratives.

A JP, a "joint post", is where instead of making many very short posts directly in the IC during a conversation or battle or other such interactions between different players, the 2 or more players craft a single longer post together by taking turns to write somewhere else. Typically these days, we use public googledocs since they autosave and let us type in different colors etc which helps clarifying what player is adding what. Once an interaction is over, one of the players can then copypaste the whole thing into the IC thread.

As for using second person, here was my very first RP attempt with it c: https://www.pokecommunity.com/posts/8687930

 

[CiCi]

I normally write in third-person. Sometimes it's omniscient, and sometimes it's limited, depending on if the narrative sounds better intimate or not. My current Mecha Pokemon fanfiction is done in a mix of omniscient and limited. It depends on if the character is going full existential crisis or not. The switch to limited POV is an indicator that Shit Is Going Down^tm.

I am very guilty of using second person for x Reader stories. Usually for NSFW or fluff. I'm a filthy fangirl, sue me. 😇

Rarely do I write in first person, but I have been trying for a Death Note fanfiction (Near POV). I always wind up forgetting and writing instinctively in third person, lmao

 

[RadEmpoleon]

Normally I write in third person. I think it's easier to be able to explain what multiple characters are thinking without having to drastically shift perspective in third person rather than in first person. I tried writing a story in second person just to try it and because I didn't want to specify a gender for the narrator, but it felt kinda awkward to write. It almost seemed like writing in first person, but saying "you" instead of "I". I don't foresee myself ever writing in second person again, unless I really feel like challenging myself.