Comments on Wylie-Merrick Literary Agency: My Point of View on POV

A lot of writers say that in 1st person you can ge...

2008-08-10T06:37:00.000-07:00

A lot of writers say that in 1st person you can get deeper into character development than 3rd person limited. I disagree. If a writer really knows their character, 3rd person POV is just as powerful.

I also like 3rd person because it allows the writer to develop other significant characters in a work. I'm nosy--I want to know ALL the main characters--what they think, what they smell. :-)

First person can be really tricky for several reas...

2008-08-09T05:59:00.000-07:00

First person can be really tricky for several reasons. You've only got one pair of eyes to "see" the whole story. It's very easy to switch between tenses. (I see that quite a bit in contest entries I judge.) And if you don't immediately like the protagonist, you just walk away from the story. I think editors frown on first person because it's so easy to screw up. The irony behind that is that the first book I sold was the only one I've written in first person.

Go figure. :-)

Alicia Rasley has a brilliant book on POV that rec...

2008-08-08T07:00:00.000-07:00

Alicia Rasley has a brilliant book on POV that recently came out from Writers Digest -- The Power of POV. Thanks for the helpful post.

In non-fiction second person makes perfect sense, ...

2008-08-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

In non-fiction second person makes perfect sense, especially if you're writing a how-to article. In fiction I think it's a different story. ;)

Second person is often used in magazine articles, ...

2008-08-05T08:50:00.000-07:00

Second person is often used in magazine articles, most of which are informational in nature. It works very well in this form as the reader takes part in the discovery of new knowledge. I tend to use second person here, sometimes, even though I do rewrite often to avoid using it.

I really like the explanation for why unlimited om...

2008-08-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

I really like the explanation for why unlimited omni isn't so popular (I'm not a fan). I've never thought about it that way (that the authoritative air about it was more accepted back when it was used most often), but it makes a lot of sense. :) Thanks for that!

~Merc

P.S. Second person is just bizarre most of the time (I instinctively rebel against what the writer tells me I should be feeling :P), even if I did like those Choose Your Own Adventure books when younger. ;)

Scott, second person means a book written like so:...

2008-08-03T19:49:00.000-07:00

Scott, second person means a book written like so: "You did this. You did that. You did the other thing."

Weird, isn't it? The reader is the main character. Nobody reads books like that.

For anyone interested in POV, Orson Scott Card wrote a book called Characters & Viewpoint. Read it.

Second person? Are you kidding? It's rarely used i...

2008-08-03T17:39:00.000-07:00

Second person? Are you kidding? It's rarely used in fiction so we decided to not address it. However, for those who are wondering, you use "you" in second person. Who in the *^%$#* would ever use "you," for gosh sakes? Only those in certain types of journalistic nonfiction and totally experimental fiction. This POV has extremely limited uses.

And there you have a presentation of you (big bow, exit stage right). :)

Wow, that is a lot to take in. Can a non-fiction w...

2008-08-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

Wow, that is a lot to take in. Can a non-fiction work well without using 1st person? I am still deciding if I want my MS to be a memoir or if I should fictionalize it. If I go with fiction I have more flexibility, but I am not sure that it feels right. So much to take into consideration.

What about second-person POV?

2008-08-03T15:39:00.000-07:00

What about second-person POV?