You are at a nightclub talking to a girl with a shaved head. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy. You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. Jay McInerney used second-person present tense in Bright Lights, Big City this way: I wouldn’t dare attempt it and don’t recommend it. Though rare in fiction and far more popular in nonfiction, it’s been said that because it plunges the reader into the action of the story, second person can bring a sense of immediacy to a novel. This point of view uses “you, your” construction, and the narrator makes “you,” the reader, become the protagonist.
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Need help fine-tuning your writing? Click here to download my free self-editing checklist. She must have had bad dreams and climbed in with our mother. My fingers stretch out, seeking Prim’s warmth but finding only the rough canvas cover of the mattress. When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold. If you have colossal writing talent and an idea as cosmic as hers, feel free to ignore my counsel and go for it.
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On the other hand, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins is rendered that way and has become one of the most successful novel series ever.
While I recommend first-person, I think you’d find present tense awkward and difficult to sustain. Some years ago, never mind how long precisely, having little or no money in my purse and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick begins in present tense but immediately switches to past:Ĭall me Ishmael. The most common use of first-person is past tense. My first 13 novels (The Margo Mysteries)were written in first-person past tense. In this POV, the perspective character tells the story.įirst Person is the second most common voice in fiction, but I recommend it for many beginning novelists, because it forces you to limit your viewpoint to one Perspective Character-which you should do with all POVs except Omniscient. While POV is limited to one perspective character at a time, each of the three primary voices may be written in the present or past tense. In essence, I’m limited to his or her perspective. I avoid that by imagining my Point of View or Perspective Character as my camera-I’m limited to writing only what my character “camera” sees, hears, and knows. Point of View is worth stressing over, it’s that important.Įven pros have to remind themselves to avoid sliding into an Omniscient viewpoint. (Yes, that’s a common amateur mistake, and it results in head-hopping-a giant Point of View no-no I cover in more detail below.) That means no switching POV characters within the same scene, let alone within the same paragraph or sentence. Limit yourself to one Perspective Character per scene, preferably per chapter, ideally per book. Not to be confused with the tone or sound of your writing (think of that Voice as your writing attitude), this is your choice to tell it in First Person (I), Second Person (you), or Third Person (he, she, or it).īasically, that answers “Whose story is this?” 2. The Voice with which you tell your story. Things to understand about Point of View before we break it down: 1. Martin's Press, NY, NY)/RD/Type/Annot/AP>endobj77 0 obj/Encoding>endobj78 0 objendobj79 0 objendobj80 0 objendobj81 0 obj/Type/XObject/BBox/FormType 1>streamĮndstreamendobj82 0 obj/Type/XObject/BBox/FormType 1>streamĮndstreamendobj83 0 objendobj84 0 objendobj85 0 objstream A\ Pocket Guide to Writing in History, 3rd Edition, Mary Lynn Rampolla.