31
votes
Accepted
Is head-hopping always bad?
It's fine if the switch is clearly intentional and well sectioned-off. It's fine to jump between POVs for say, chapters or whole scenes. What isn't all right is a book that mostly is one POV, but ...
- 9,154
30
votes
Accepted
When the main character talks to the camera, is that 3rd person or another technical term for point of view?
For a character to reveal private thoughts by talking is a soliloquy. The pretext is that the character is just thinking but has to talk so the audience knows them.
On the other hand, if you mean the ...
- 8,762
28
votes
How do I portray irrational anger in first person?
To the person experiencing anger, it won't appear irrational. To them, there's a very good reason why they're angry, why they're infuriated. What you need is to show the reason.
Now, the reason might ...
28
votes
How can I portray a character with no fear of death, without them sounding utterly bored?
Psychopathy is characterised by persistent antisocial behaviour, impaired empathy and remorse. (source: Wikipedia)
Your character needs to care for others.
Watching a person get hurt, let alone ...
18
votes
How to replace overuse of "I" in a short story, fiction, written in the first person
A technical term for this is "filtering," meaning you're often reminding the reader what POV (or filter) rather than leveraging the context of the situation to make the filter implied and ...
- 321
18
votes
How do I portray irrational anger in first person?
Well, you can try using short words to display bouts of rage, using really simple words in the speech with a slurry of verbs scattered intermittently. You can also emphasize repetition because people ...
- 311
16
votes
Accepted
Is using first person in academic/technical essays always bad?
This depends on your style guide and potentially your teacher/school/boss/etc.'s guidelines. If your teacher (for example) says to avoid using the first person you may be able to negotiate to change ...
- 4,003
16
votes
When the main character talks to the camera, is that 3rd person or another technical term for point of view?
This sounds like the TV trope Breaking the Fourth Wall:
tvtropes - Breaking The Fourth Wall
But the precise thing that you remember might be a related trope. In the sitcom Liv and Maddie, the ...
- 2,497
13
votes
Is head-hopping always bad?
Dune head hops the whole way through and is still held up by many as an example of a Sci-fi great. The rule to any writing mechanic is that it must be executed smoothly, consistently, in a way that ...
- 7,600
13
votes
How can I portray a character with no fear of death, without them sounding utterly bored?
I would challenge her lack of fear, if her ability can't trigger automatically as stated in comments she should still have some fear of death, things can happen around her that she isn't aware of and ...
- 636
12
votes
How can I portray a character with no fear of death, without them sounding utterly bored?
What I suspect you're really asking here is, "How do I make scenes involving this character feel adrenaline-filled and emotional?" To answer that question, you have to realize that portraying this ...
- 691
11
votes
Accepted
Can a scene be written to be disorienting and not be too confusing to readers?
If you want the scene to initially be confusing, go ahead! Since it's written in first person, that's just realistic.
However, keep it brief. It would probably be rather annoying to try to read ...
- 226
9
votes
How to find different ways to express things that happen to the reader?
For the sensory input, instead of "you see/feel/smell/touch/taste," try moving the thing to the front of the sentence or phrase to make it the subject.
Instead of "You see a shiny red rock," try:
...
- 24.1k
9
votes
Can I state a fact in a first person story?
The subject of your sentence can be something other than the MC when you're writing in first person. For example:
My phone rang
or
Footsteps were coming down the alley behind me
You don't need ...
9
votes
How do I portray irrational anger in first person?
A trick I have learned and have been practicing recently is to stop every now and then and observe myself living in the moment instead of just living it. Its hard to do, but gets easier as you ...
- 1,429
8
votes
New style of first person pov
The narration. I'm thinking of not using the narration at all.
Please don't do this.
It is very, very hard to understand even when handled by a master. If this is your first book, it will be almost ...
8
votes
First Person vs. Third Person: Advantages and Disadvantages?
Although I have read a few things I liked written from the first person, I can't write that way myself; it is far too limiting and constrained. For one, the POV character has to be in every frikkin' ...
- 100k
8
votes
To what extent can a first person narrative tell someone else's story?
The most famous example of what you're describing is Sherlock Holmes, told of course from Dr. Watson's POV. Watson never becomes the protagonist of the story - the focus is always on Holmes, Watson ...
8
votes
Is head-hopping always bad?
Take a look at The Couple Next Door. There is a fair amount of the more traditionally-accepted head hopping and it works fine. It's a recent title.
The advice against head hopping is, I believe, ...
- 23.8k
8
votes
How do I portray irrational anger in first person?
Personally, I don't think there IS an internal monologue; irrational anger is all feeling and emotion, perhaps single words, and I would describe those, not try to transcribe those thoughts. The ...
- 100k
8
votes
To rewrite or not to rewrite?
Great question!
I believe that the person you write in does not limit stylistic choices. You can still have descriptive passages in first person.
Just to illustrate this, I modified your first person ...
- 1,285
7
votes
Accepted
How to write from a rich "bad boy's" perspective?
I think the best way to write from his perspective would be to emphasize the way what he means is quite different from the way people perceive him, so as to show that his 'bad boy' nature is, in fact, ...
- 303
7
votes
Is head-hopping always bad?
I am a scientist, and my first reaction to poorly argued questions is often to criticize the logic. Which I will do here, but before I do, I will say there is nothing inherently wrong with head-...
- 100k
7
votes
first point of view and the problem of opinion
You can expose opinions in third person POV. In "close" third person you're extremely likely to expose the third person POV character's opinions. And even in third person omniscient, you could have an ...
- 1,396
7
votes
Accepted
How do I portray irrational anger in first person?
Ask yourself (or inquire) what such a person is experiencing.
It could be "I remember shaking, and then the next thing I knew was...", and they know how they felt (hot, exhausted?) and are told by ...
- 1,118
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