Which POV?

[Julie]

Just out of curiosity... as a reader, which point of view do you prefer a story to be written in?

1st person (a character narrates the story; i.e. "I did this... then Brian told me that...")?

Or 3rd person (there is no narrator; it's just "Nick did this... then Brian said that...")?

I usually write in the third person, but I know some authors really like to write first person. I was just wondering if there was a preference either way from the reader standpoint.

[ErinBee]

To me, it really depends on the story. If it's more a journey for a character than I would rather it be in 1st person. That way, I can feel their emotions better.

[Laureen]

I'd have to agree! Although I do like 3rd person too! Its basically whatever fits well with the story and if its still able to get across the emotion and what not!

[mare]

First person to me is always much more entertaining to read. I feel like the flow of the stories tend to be more natural when written through the character's eyes.

[jellicle]

I prefer the 3rd person usually cause then it's just easier to tell the story from everyone's eyes. Writing the 1st person only shows their side of the story most of the time. But it really depends on the kind of story that i write. If it's one of those where the person tells the story from the past, then it's better.

[Julie]

I voted no preference because I'm not sure I really have one; I think it does just depend on the kind of story and what works best for it. 1st person is fun to read in because it is more personal, and I think it's easier to add humor that way. I always think of "Ground Zero" by Chaos and how much I loved his Nick as narrator in that story.

But like Gosdie said, the limitation of 1st person is that you can only tell the story from one person's perspective, unless you're changing the POV all the time (which usually bugs me, unless it's just between maybe two characters and stays that way the whole story). I guess the reason I rarely write in 1st person is because I usually have more than one perspective to write about.

[Gravity]

Third person all the way. I have an exceptionally hard time reading first person for some reason, I really don't like it and I don't like writing in it, though I have.

I'm not sure what it is, but it's not comfortable for me as third person is. To me, you lose a lot of the story a lot of the visual and description with first person. Then again you are seeing things specifically through that characters eyes. It limits the story to just that one person's pov, which is something that I don't like either. I like to be able to see what both of the main characters are thinking and whatnot.

[Jenna]

I voted no preference - like Julie said, it depends on the story.

[frickfrackgirl]

I voted 1st person because most of the stories I've read in the 1st person gives you a really good understanding of the charaters from their pov, your seeing them thru thier eyes. And it gives you a great understanding of the character that is talking. You almost become them. Ok, I know, I've read waaaaaay to much ff. lol. I'm just stuck on it right now and it's free. That's in my price range. lol. Plus I absolulty love Nick stories.

[A-RokzStalker]

I think it's great reading 1st person, because you get a LOT of what they're feeling and what their intent is. But I also like 3rd person, because it gives you the emotion of a little bit of everyone. So, I vote no preference.

[kristy]

I like the third person the best. It just makes more sense to me that way. But I have read some in the first person.

[HeathenMaiden]

I prefer 3rd person POV but 1st is OK as well. The one thing I hate though is when a story keeps jumping between the different characters' POV's. If it's just for a chapter or two that's OK but I've read whole stories that were like that and it drove me nuts

[kristy]

heathenmaiden said:

I prefer 3rd person POV but 1st is OK as well. The one thing I hate though is when a story keeps jumping between the different characters' POV's. If it's just for a chapter or two that's OK but I've read whole stories that were like that and it drove me nuts

ITA! If I start reading a story like that I can't even finish it.

[Julie]

Me too. The most I can handle is two different characters' POVs... like especially in a romance, where you see both people's perspectives. That's okay. But when it's like "Brian's POV" for a paragraph and then "Nick's POV" for two sentences and then on to "Howie's POV," that gets really hard to follow and annoying LOL. If you want to show all those perspectives, write in third person omniscient.

[A-RokzStalker]

I totally agree! While I don't mind 2 different POV's, I don't likea million. There's been one or two good ones that were like that, but it got a little difficult to keep track of who said what.