NationStates Jolt Archive

What is your favorite point of view for a narrator of a story. A first-person diary? A second-preson Choose Your Own Adventure? A third-person pretty much everything else? Or the obscure fourth-person?

I don't even know what the others are. I know 3rd person is "[my name] doesn't like [insert what I don't like here]," or something along those lines.

What is your favorite point of view for a narrator of a story. A first-person diary? A second-preson Choose Your Own Adventure? A third-person pretty much everything else? Or the obscure fourth-person?

Third-person limited. Partly because A Song of Ice and Fire, that pinnacle of third-person limited, is my favorite book series.

I like third person limited. Allows you to explore and understand a given character without eliminating the surprises.

Then again, I also like plays... third person objective (mostly), which isn't on your list. Talented playwrights can convey mental states through action, and there's a beauty to that.

First person, especially an unreliable narrator. Or multiple narrators.

It depends. First person is an interesting angle, especially if it's broken up in to vignettes for different characters. Overall, I'd like to say third person, preferably third person limited. since it creates an air of mystery and makes events in the story more surprising.

Grrr... my evil scheme failed...or maybe it is just to late in the day for a lot of answers...

i've no idea how second or fourth person works, so third person omniscient for me. 1st person generally feels a bit awkward for me until the character is well established and someitmes that takes a good while. i don't know that i've ever read a 3rd person limited book, don't know why that is desirable at all. i just thought of a book that worked well as 1st person: 'tokyo doesn't love us anymore', that was good cuz it was so twisty it had t be 1st person for the narrative to keep up with the story.

I personally like the 1st person narrative. I find it so much more engaging when the narrator is part of the action.

When writing it though, it must be handled carefully, lest the narrator/character become a carbon-copy of the author.

EDIT: FOURTH PERSON?!

I have no strong preference, really - it depends on the work and what the author is trying to accomplish. I've used both first and third person regularly in my own writing, and appreciate both.

Second person, on the other hand, almost never works (hence why its use tends to be limited to Choose-Your-Adventure books and the occasional piece of excruciatingly bad fanfiction). :p

That is a difficult choice; all have their strengths, and can be used to explore a story in a very interesting manner. I suppose it relies most on the writing itself, rather than the point of view.

It depends on the work. Palahniuk's works wouldn't work nearly so well with a third-person POV, but stories with multiple points of view almost always require third-person. I've seen a few multiple point of view books use first person, but the voices rarely sounded different enough to keep them from blending.

I suppose I prefer first-person or third-person limited. Omniscient just isn't as fun. With third-person limited, you see through the lens of a single character at a time, much as you would with first person, instead of being in everyone's heads at once. On the poll, I chose third-person limited, because it's the most versatile, and can be used to essentially the same effect as first-person. Plus, it's the POV I use most often (except in forums like this, of course).

Second-person is just irritating and affected 99% of the time. Best to be used for a sentence here and there, not an entire story, let along a book. Fourth-person...sounds like it would be awesome. Maybe that's what Mark Z. Danielewski's next book will be, or possibly Pynchon's.

And yes, Deus Malum, A Song of Ice and Fire does indeed kick some serious ass. :)

Really, it depends on the book. Probably the best first person book is The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie. It wouldn't have worked nearly as well as a third person, but there are plenty of books that work better as a third person than a first person.

i've no idea how second or fourth person works, so third person omniscient for me. Second person, to use Sel Appa's example, might be something like this.

"You walk into the mostly empty pub. A woman sits alone at the bar nursing a drink. A man sits in a dark corner smoking a cigarette. You're bored, so you think you'll try sitting down near one of them and striking up a conversation. Which do you choose?

If you choose to sit next to the woman, turn to page 65.
If you choose to sit near the man, turn to page 17."

That's what second person is. I dunno what fourth person would be. I suspect Sel Appa made it up.

i dont classify my stories by narrators point of view. all i ask is that it be a good story well written.

The term fourth person is also sometimes used for the category of indefinite or generic referents, that work like one in English phrases such as "one should be prepared", when the grammar treats them differently from ordinary third-person forms.

or

In some cases, the term fourth person may apply when several people are conversing and one person begins referring to another of the conversants using terms that seem to exclude that person from the conversation. For example: Andrea, Bethany, and Chelsea are having a conversation with each other and Andrea says a phrase such as "Did you know Bethany enjoys accounting?" Andrea must be speaking directly to both people while referring to Bethany as though she were a fourth person.

it depends...
Third Person Limited: the best IMO.
Third Person Omniscient: not bad. the stories have to be well written.
Third person objective: not bad.

first person narrative: hate... I don't like First Person stories. The writing has to be exceptional for me to read it.
autobiographical fiction: depends on the story and how well it's written. But the fact that it is First Person is a strike against.

Second-person narrative: only examples of this was all the Choose your own adventures books I read... and I like those.

Fourth person: not too many of these I read... so no judgement on them.

Variable a la Moby-Dick...inanely difficuly to do, but when it works, it is amazing.

Otherwise, 3rd limited

or

One walks into Sel Appa's thread about literary point of view, and one wonders what fourth person is. Curious, one reads the posts on the thread, and one finally reaches the clarifying post.

Enthusiastic, one proceeds to write a post detailing one's epic encounter with fourth person - in fourth person, naturally.

(Did one get it right?)

Being well written and imaginative is more important than voice. PoV is only a tool. If you write, don't be afraid to try casting your story in a different voice, just to see what it's like. Makes a fun exercise!

I have actually tried my hand at 1st person before, it is incredibly hard, mostly because of dealing with what your character actually knows, I think in an omniscient 3rd person having the reader know something that the main character does not, it's more of a dramatic tool if you get me.

Italo Calvino uses second person narration really well in his book "If on a winter's night a traveller"