Question: point of view

[maskedfangirl]

Because I'm curious...

Poll POV in ficIn the Supernatural fandom, I've read almost exclusively third person fic, with a handful of second person (all of them astonishingly well done!) and zero first person. First person, in this fandom, for me, was a deal-breaker. I'm not sure why it had me clicking the Back button - maybe something to do with the fact that it

Comments

[erisinia]

Oxford commas are the bomb. Never apologize for loving them.

I have a strong, nearly monomaniacal attraction towards third-person-limited. Not omniscient, just limited.

[maskedfangirl]

Oh, third person limited. <3 When I do write third person, it tends to be that type. It lets you get nice and close to a character without actually being in their head, so you can use a lot of the same tricks as first person pretty effectively.

I do love omniscient in certain contexts, though - particularly when the narrative voice has a dry sense of humor paired with an encyclopedic knowledge of dumb little details about the world/characters. (Think Good Omens or the narrator in Pushing Daisies.)

[maskedfangirl]

Oh, good point! I suppose it's a lot easier to trust that the author of an original piece of fiction is getting their character's voice right in first person since they're the one who invented the character. And we have had six years at this point to develop our own ideas of what the inside of the Winchesters' heads sound like, so there might be an even stronger "No, that's not right" reaction from readers if something isn't working.

I wonder if a fic being AU might make it less tricky? (I'm plotting a Doctor/Master human AU and am debating telling the story through one of their POVs, first person. Might write an opening in a couple of different POVs and decide after.)

[quiddative]

THE OXFORD COMMA RULES! I learned what it was in the third grade and I never looked back since. Wheee, English majors unite!

When it comes to fic in fandom, I'm pretty much the same as you. I read a lot of third person fic and sometimes second person ones, which are usually really good but also hard to find. I tried reading first person fics and I think I've read maybe one or two that were really good but I tend to avoid them like the plague. I suspect this has something to do with my experience in LJ roleplaying. I don't trust other people's representation of a character's opinions and feelings unless they've proven to me that they have a good grasp of the character. IDK.

Haha, again, like you, I love reading first person POV in original fiction (Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver trilogy comes to mind). IDK it's weird.

[stripedsockscat]

I generally don't like first person at all in anything. Though I've read 2 books in the past couple weeks that were in first that I loved. (How to live safely in a science fictional universe & Hunger Games) Though on both those books the first person is the only real issue I had with either.

I like to jump around from character to character in the third. I like getting the story from multiple points of view. But third, not first.

[tawg]

I really do like first person fic, but I am so much more fussy with it. I think it requires a better handle on the character, because it's their stream of consciousness and their responses and their interpretations. Which is exactly what I love about it, but sometimes the author's voice will shine through and I'll think "Would Sam really have that impression? Would John really use that word?" and I get too busy thinking and forget to enjoy the fic. I love third-person-limited because it's like the lovechild of the two: all focus on one character, but enough distance for the author's voice to shine through without being OOC

[maskedfangirl]

Third-person limited is where I'm most comfortable in fic for that exact reason!

a self-indulgent coming of age story, and those (IMHO) work best with first-person.

YES. First person works so well for that sort of thing, probably because it lets you get so thick into the characters' feelings. Young adult fiction is what I normally gravitate toward as a reader (YA fantasy as a writer), and there's SO MUCH first person in YA. I bet you anything that's why.

BTW, I would absolutely read first-person SPN AU. FINISH IT! :D

[tawg]

Will you read it even if it is not a self-indulgent coming of age fic where Cas is a cheerleader and Sam is in the marching band? WILL YOU?

YA fiction, how I loves it.

[maskedfangirl]

I will! I will! (Although I would totally also read cheerleader!Cas/marching band!Sam.)