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Difference between First and Second perspectives



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Thu Jul 27, 2017 4:55 pm
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deleted221222 says...



There's a certain problem some people have when writing a story, and I see it often enough that I'm going to write down the problem here and link to it during reviews.

As you should know, there are three perspectives: first, second and third-person. There are slight variations between some, such as third person limited and omniscient, but generally, perspective is split between the three easily.

First-person is when the narrator is also the protagonist of the story. Second-person is when the narrator is listening to the story being told by someone else. Third-person is when the omniscient gods are the narrators of the story.

Each one has its own uses. First-person gives a more personal touch to the story and allows for things like thoughts and monologues to be used more liberally. Second-person can be used as a way to easily explain things like the settings and natures of the story. Third-person shows all sides of a story.

I want to clear this up so I can address one of the main problems I see with some stories. Many newcomers like to write stories in first-person, as chances are they relate to the main character in some way and it's much easier for them to write that way. The problem with this, however, is that sometimes they're not writing a first-person story. They're writing a second-person story and substituting the narrator for the author.

There's a chance that when you read someone's first story, they'll try to explain very small details, such as the colour of their clothes or how their bedroom looks. When someone writes like this, it's less like the protagonist is narrating everything, but rather the protagonist is trying to explain everything to a second party. You don't regularly comment on your apparel or your bedroom, but you may do it when someone asks you about it.

This is when your first-person story has devolved into a second-person story. The narrator, however, is the author, who's trying to write something based on how the protagonist would explain it. This, of course, isn't how you would properly write a story. Doing this often leads to info dumps, pronoun games, and other things you'd want to avoid.

If you want to become a better writer, then you need to learn how to differentiate between the two. If you want to write a first person story, then you can't comment on everything like a person would. First-person protagonists don't explain things, they react to them. If you want to try writing a second-person story, then you have to have someone other than the author as the second party. The second party would generally ignore the small details, trying to focus on the overall picture.

So those are my general thoughts on the difference between first and second perspectives. This is a problem that can happen between second and third perspectives as well, but it'd take another long paragraph trying to explain, so I'm going to leave it off here. If I've sent this in a review, then I'll have tried to suggest some ways you can split the story from second-person to first or third.
  





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Thu Jul 27, 2017 11:25 pm
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Virgil says...



Depends on the newcomer on what perspective they're going to first write in or adapt to. The first person perspective can give more of a personal touch to the story, though the same can be said about the third person perspective when well-executed. Again, depending on how the writer decides to execute these elements comes the quality. Third person can show all sides of a story, but what about third person limited? That's purposefully kept to a single character to be the center of narration.

Second-person is when the narrator is listening to the story being told by someone else.


Hate to break it to you, this is false. The second person perspective is when 'you' are the narrator. When the literal reader is written in as the narrator. I don't know how this is mistaken because in my experience, I've found second person to be the most distinct seeing as it's the least popular in writing. Second person point of view is not when the narrator is listening to the story being told by somebody else because...the narrator is the narrator! The speaker of the story can be anonymous, which is often the case when second and third person is being written. In first person, the narrator is the main character.

There's a chance that when you read someone's first story, they'll try to explain very small details, such as the colour of their clothes or how their bedroom looks. When someone writes like this, it's less like the protagonist is narrating everything, but rather the protagonist is trying to explain everything to a second party. You don't regularly comment on your apparel or your bedroom, but you may do it when someone asks you about it.


I'm not completely sure of what you're attempting to say here, though from what I've deciphered, this is a claim that when the main character in the first person talks to the audience, the story changes into the second person. That simply isn't true.

This can be called 'breaking the fourth wall' when the speaker addresses the audience or even just telling and not showing. The narrator commenting on the apparel of their bedroom isn't the second person, it's more purple prose where the description goes into too much or unnecessary detail. More of a term that gets thrown around for critique because purple prose is usually attached to a negative connotation.

I hope this helps clarify a couple of aspects of the different perspectives and points of view!

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Sat Jul 29, 2017 9:01 pm
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Rosendorn says...



The only correct part of this post is that describing a bedroom in first person is unrealistic if it's done wrong, but even then, that's only a partially true statement because there is a way to do it correctly that is completely and utterly ignored here.

First person requires the story be told the way the protagonist would see it, and this can include description of a bedroom. It just must be done properly. By "properly" I mean in a way that characterizes.

An infodump is not wrong. A patch of description is not wrong. Giving descriptions period is not wrong, especially not in first person, which this post seems to insinuate.

First person does indeed require describing some things for the benefits of the reader. As Nikayla said in the above, a second person story is when the prose uses "you" as the pronoun. In this, the persons are very easy to differentiate: I, you, he/she/they. First person by its nature requires that you be unrealistic because description of the setting and character is nice to have, and in some cases required.

The thing about description— in third person as well, although you have more freedom— is you must use it for characterization purposes. Describing a bedroom in the sense of "I had a green comforter given to me by my grandmother" is a perfectly fine description, as is "my sheets were worn from a cat playing— I really needed to replace them." Same deal with "I had clothes strewn everywhere because I hadn't had time to clean them up, and all my energy went to just surviving till the next day."

Descriptions are characterization opportunities, and should most certainly be included.

I would also very strongly challenge that first person narrators only react. Have you never done anything proactive in your life? A purely reactive narrator is a narrator I get tired of very quickly, because they are being controlled by the story instead of controlling the story.

If you want to look at a story where a narrator is telling the story to another person, look at A Series of Unfortunate Events. These types of stories usually have some sort of framing device where it's very obvious the narrator is repeating the story, which most first person narrators fail to pass as a test.
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Sun Jul 30, 2017 4:24 am
Mea says...



I think you make a really interesting point, Thundah. I have read first person narratives that feel like they're describing everything to an outside party, and first person narratives that don't, and to be honest I tend to prefer the latter, though I'm pretty sure it's personal preference. I definitely for a writer who's having trouble with their narrator's voice and/or info-dumping to decide how much of the narration should feel like it's directed at an outside party could help the problem.

Although the comparison to a second-person narrative is thought-provoking and useful to explain the difference, I wouldn't call those sort of first person narratives "second person narratives" in general, just because it would conflate them with the actual and rather rare "You walk over there and sit down" second-person narratives. Maybe call it "outward-directed first person" or something like that.
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