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Developing a style – part 4

Posted: under writing.
Tags: book, element, style, write, writer, writing

A huge element of style is the point-of-view a writer is most likely to write in. Is everybody clear on exactly what ’3rd person limited’ is? If not, here’s a quick run-down of the POVs.

1st Person:

First person’s easy. Your second grade papers were most likely written in first-person.  And of course I’m writing in first person now. In a story, the writer assumes the main character’s (MC’s) viewpoint and writes only what s/he is thinking.

Avoid:
…making the main character psychic. The MC shouldn’t know what someone else is thinking, etc.

The advantage:
It’s immersive. The reader gets into the story by living in the main character’s head, experiencing exactly what s/he’s thinking and seeing.

The disadvantage:
If other characters split up and leave the MC, the writer might have the tough task of showing the reader what happened to those characters. It can be problematic. Should the writer have the characters catch up with the MC later and fill him in? Or  jump into another person’s head for awhile (This method can be used, but it’s jarring to the reader to adjust to a different character in first person)? Either way, it’s difficult to pull off.

2nd person:

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Comments (4) Feb 16 2009


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