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

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Ergh. Yes. Those I just close as soon as I notice the lack of quality.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Some things, to me, are just unforgivable. Like the spelling of a character's name

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Yes. Absolutely. If you can't even get that right... >>

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I mean wiki is RIGHT THERE. As is imdb. It's not that hard to check

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Plus, if you're a fan... The first thing you should know is the characters name, no?

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I mean, it's okay to mistype once- Gibs or Tomy or something where the author just hit the wrong key, but Cait just annoys the crap out of me. Yes, it's Caitlin, but it's shortened to Kate

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Yup. I can definitely relate.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

When reading older things, I have to steel myself to take into account canon changes since then. Like the reveal that Tony's mom is dead. Or that Gibbs lost his wife and daughter. If it's something written 1st season the author wouldn't know. If it's something written last week the author's an idiot

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Yeah. Agreeing with you on that account, too.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

what's your opinion on british/american terms being used? Do you notice or not?

i.e. the Doctor takes a lift, Gibbs an elevator. Jack grabs something from the boot of a car, Tony from the trunk

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I notice, sometimes I don't. I usually don't particularly care, I just figure that the author will use whatever term is the one used where they live, i.e. a British person would use lift, an American one elevator.
... But that,too, depends on the POV. In the first person, you'd have to use the term the character would use, else it gets ooc. In third person, though, I don't particularly care. Or notice.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

What if Gibbs demands Tony "get in the lift" and it's in dialogue that way?

[chatona.livejournal.com]

ooc, then.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

I get that using terms that aren't yours is hard, but there are so many just basic ones that drive me batty when misused.

[chatona.livejournal.com]

That's why betas are so important, methinks!

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

Oh YES. Although, admittedly, I'm guilty of not necessarily using a britpicker for my TW stuff. But between _medley_ and myself we catch most things. And my flist will point out anything we missed

[chatona.livejournal.com]

I post a lot of unbeta'd stuff, so am probably very guilty of not making my fic as good as it could be sometimes, but... I warn when it's unbeta'd. Does that count for something? ;_;

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

as long as it's warned for I think it's fine. And short stuff (<500 words) doesn't even need that, I think.

You know though, anything NCIS you can always throw my way. You have my email and I'm online a LOT

[chatona.livejournal.com]

I know! And it's awesome to have such a standing offer! ♥

But, I guess for my shorter stuff (~1,000 words), I'm just too lazy. I don't like editing >>;

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

*sighs* I'm pretty much only writing shorter stuff these days

[chatona.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much not writing at all these days ;___;

Anyhow. Going to curl up with a book now for a bit, I've spent too much time in front of the computer today.

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

have fun!

[chatona.livejournal.com]

I did! :D

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

what did you read?

[chatona.livejournal.com]

A girly romance novel. Perfect to relax my brain after forcing it to deal with Roman law all day long \o/