Babble on POVs

[donutsweeper]

Just a question, and I'm not sure of the correct terminology here, but when reading (or writing), do you prefer a tight 3rd person POV  (where all events are seen and interpreted through one character's eyes) or switching between people's 3rd person POV with obvious page breaks or markers to show the new POV?

For example- my entire Charming the Pants off the Pashahads SGA/Jack crossover is told from Sheppard's POV, there is no scene where we see what Jack thinks about falling into the Pegasus Galaxy.  At points there are Sheppard's interpretation of Jack's actions (he notices a hedged answer, an avoided question, but doesn't know why Jack  answered that way).  If it had been written with switching POV's there could be the scene from Shep's perspective, noticing what he notices and wondering about it, followed by the same scene retold from Jack's, where he explained the reasons for saying what he did.  There also could have been scenes left out from the story the way I told it- I never did explain how Jack managed to get his hands on the Pashahads (because Sheppard wasn't there and wouldn't know).

I've been noticing more and more of the latter showing up in stories lately.  Presuming this babble actually makes sense to anyone, do you notice the difference between those types of POV styles and do you like one more than the other?

Comments

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

I actually don't mind POV shifts - I'm nosy, I like to know what everyone is thinking - but I do like there to be some delineation between pov shifts and I kind of prefer a broad omni to a tight pov that switches. If that makes sense.

I'm trying to keep my 3rd person pov much tighter now than I used to, the Mystery We Are, for example, was pretty much written as 3rd person omni/switching but I tried to make sure there were at least paragraph breaks between each shift and I rarely wrote the same scene from more than one pov at the same time, with one major exception that springs to mind, but it was smut so I'm not sure that's as important and it worked for that part of the fic anyway.

In comparison my current WIP Eight Hours is mostly from Jack's pov, though it actually starts out from Ianto's pov. Once you get two paragraphs into the second part it switches (with a nice properly marked delineation, natch) and then stays with Jack no matter what is going on for the rest of the fic (or it will do once it's finished).

To me it's actually a lot easier to write 1st person rather than a tight 3rd person pov, but I know a lot of people don't really like 1st person stuff. It depends on the fandom and the character as to whether 1st person works or not I think for instance that Dresden Files lends itself more to 1st person as that is how the books are written, but there's no way in hell I could write Jack or Methos from a 1st person pov. However I think they both work well as characters being seen from a 1st person pov though I suppose I would, having written them both that way.

And none of that is probably any help at all.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Dresden Files also has canon based 1st person, something I screwed up with my main foray into that fandom.

[tejas.livejournal.com]

I've got a crossover WIP that's being written in 1st person for that very reason. I'm trying to copy the style of the book (I NEVER write book fic, but this one just reached out and grabbed me). The result is we get to see the characters from the other fandom through this one guy's eyes. My goal is to carry through the whole piece from Cal's POV, but *man* it's far harder than I thought. :-) Fun! But hard. :-)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I almost never write 1st POV and didn't think the issue was a big one because, for Dresden Files anyway, there is a book AND tv fandom and while my story was set in book!verse (the books are all 1st pov) a lot of stories written for tv!verse are 3rd. But I got complaints.

I like (and most often write) tight 3rd person POVs. I just think they work best for me.

[tejas.livejournal.com]

I've done drabbles from 1st person, mostly because I was experimenting. Once because it was the point. 1st person is difficult to do well, so the crossover is a terrific exercise for me. Omni is one I simply can't do and really don't feel any need to attempt, though I probably will someday, just for the workout.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Sometimes a story just screams for 1st person. I've written it occasionally for that reason. Same goes for present vs past tense. I tend to lean towards past, but my most recent NCIS just didn't work that way so I switched it to present.

I've done 2nd person or twice. It's damn hard, but really works when done well

[tejas.livejournal.com]

UGH! 2nd! :-) Hair pulling time. :-)

I switched, once, between 1st and 3rd (Battle Cry - SG1) and it was the only way to tell the story. There was also a time shift with the first person being in the 'present' (journal entries) and the 3rd being the actual story the journal entries were about. That's also the only story where I did both a gen version and a slash (no smut, sadly ;-) version. I can never really decide which version I like best. :-)

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I did 2nd because it was a scene between two people with the exact same name and the point was the reader wouldn't know which was the 'main' pov until the very end.

That actually sounds like a really good reason to switch POVs and tense, combining past/present events like that

[tejas.livejournal.com]

Interesting! I can see why 2nd called to you on that oen.

It felt right at the time and it's still one of my favorite stories.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

It was a lot of fun. And I kept it short (I to tend to lead to ficlets more than anything else) But it's not a technique that should be done too often

[tejas.livejournal.com]

I have a hard time with ficlets. Drabbles work for me because I have a conscious limit - 100 words, no more, no less. I started writing an email equivalent of a comment fic last night and three pages in, I'm still not finished. *sigh* Hey, at least it's NCIS porn (if I can get Gibbs to cooperate ;-).

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

You got complaints about it not being 1st person? Bollocks to that! It's fanfic FFS, you're not bloody Jim Butcher! TBH when there's such a well known 1st person 'voice' in a fandom it makes it really hard to write that way yourself.

Stick with Dresden 3rd person, I for one absolutely love it.

Nyah Nyah.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

yeah- got kind of ripped into. First as a comment or two and then with a very mean PM.

I need to reread canon I think. I can't hear the characters well enough anymore.

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

got kind of ripped into

You know that makes me *so* mad. Concrit is all very well but to rip someone apart because their fic is from the 'wrong' POV? That STINKS *gnashes teeth*. I'm lucky I've manage to miss comments like that on the whole.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I think the person just didn't like the crossover. They said the plot was thin and lacking the correct tone. *shrug*

I don't let negative comments bother me. Or I try not to anyway

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Allow me to bothered in your stead, then. Grrrrr.

I think you just got one of those non-crossover purists who wanted to pick holes.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

for some people, crossovers just don't work. and that's fine. But, you know, if the story's labeled as a crossover then they should know not to click the link.

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

I think it's good to read Dresden fic that *isn't* 1st person simply because the canon is like that, it gives a different perspective to the characters that you don't usually get.

I was terrified the first time I wrote from Harry's pov, not being that confident that I'd got the voice right. I feel much happier writing it now but it's probably significant that it wasn't until my 5th Dresden fic that I tried 1st person, though admittedly Harry wasn't the focus in those first fics.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I've really lost my DF voice. I tried and tried to write something as a present recently, but couldn't. I'm only good for little ficlets in that fandom I think

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Ficlets are good, there's nowt wrong with them! *g* Most of my Dresden stuff is on the short side too, it was only the last non consci_fan_mo one that hit over 4k words.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

ah yes. that one was great!

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

Hopefully writing the follow up to that soon; Harry discovering McAnally's secret. Am gently feeding the bunnies at present.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

*offers carrots to plot bunny*

[aeron-lanart.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the bunnies will thank you, but I'm trying not to let them run rampant until I've finished the current wip. Then they can do what they want. It's going to be kind of weird going back in time as the 3 mid-winter ficlets (the 2 for consci_fan_mo and the follow up) are set much later in the bookverse so Mouse isn't around (and neither is Thomas).

I loved ending up with a muse for a dog, that just made my day!

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Mouse is a wonderful muse