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Diane's avatar

This was very helpful. I’ve found myself irritated with first-person books where the narrator spends a fair bit of time describing their own facial expressions, because who thinks that way? And how would you even know? (“My face darkened in anger” or “I looked at him through slitted eyes.) I appreciate the larger picture you paint, that some first-person narration ends up being a weird visual thing that contributes little to learning anything at all about the narrator.

Thinking a bit more, (and this is probably widely discussed discourse that I’m unaware of), but there seems to be a “movie-fication” in some writing, where the author goes into exhaustive detail about the visuals of the scene. I have enjoyed fantasy writing throughout my life, and have, in the last few years, run into books that do what I guess is called “world building” and which I find painfully dull. I’ve felt as though the author wants me to see exactly what they see in their mind, and that is some boring reading.

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Joyce Reynolds-Ward's avatar

I'm a solid tight third person writer, myself. Oh, I've tried first person and the voice just doesn't work for me as a writer.

As a reader, I also have a stronger preference for third person POVs than I do for first person. Part of that is due to the frequency of it being used in YA and specific genres; part of it is that in my opinion it's rarely done well. I've found that I really don't care for first person in mysteries or urban fantasy (I'm trying now to remember if the Mercy Thompson books by Patrica Briggs are first person but I think Briggs mixes it up as she gets deeper into the series).

I've written one POV in a multi-POV book that was second person and *that* was interesting...and chilling. That particular POV was someone in the throes of being possessed by a malign entity and becoming delusional...and lemme tell you, a very delicate touch is required. But...when I was done with that book, the results gave me chills because to me, at least, it was a strong depiction of that particular character's decline...and how she escaped and recovered.

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