donutsweeper | Babble on POVs

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Babble on POVs

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?

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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. :-)

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.

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.

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

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. :-)

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

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.

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

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 ;-).

I love drabbles (and double and triple drabbles) for that boxed limit.

But I'm a sucker for ficlets too, just enough room to have a sceme play out

Never works for me. I get them almost naked and Tony starts stressing over his commitment issues and Gibbs starts stressing (internally, at least) over his inability to maintain a relationship and it goes from porn to angst in .6 seconds. :-)

my inability to write slash or smut prevents me from having that kind of problem

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tejas.livejournal.com - 2009-01-09 01:27 (UTC) - Expand

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donutsweeper.livejournal.com - 2009-01-09 01:29 (UTC) - Expand

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tejas.livejournal.com - 2009-01-09 01:43 (UTC) - Expand

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

My thoughts exactly.

I'm always careful to label them for that reason. Lord knows, I do write enough of them

A good crossover is a thing of beauty. :-)

I think they are just the best. very fun

You said it, tejas! Maybe that's why I don't get those sort of comments, I seem to have gained a rep for writing virtually nothing except crossovers - can't think why *g* - so it's rare that I'll get a non-crossover fan reading my stuff. I get the odd one who will tell me that they aren't usually a crossover person but for some reason I suckered them in... those comments always make me smile.

a good story is a good story. Whether or not you're really familiar with the characters

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aeron-lanart.livejournal.com - 2009-01-08 22:08 (UTC) - Expand

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donutsweeper.livejournal.com - 2009-01-08 22:09 (UTC) - Expand

Those are *nice* comments! I love the ones I get from people who read my mpreg and tell me, "I don't usually read mpreg, but I liked yours."

Makes me beam. :-)

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