point of view: 1st person/3rd person

[Bowers]

I usually write in first person but im trying third and im finding it difficult portraying my characters thoughts.
I dont want to ennd up saying, for example, "im tired, he thought" all the time and I was wondering if anyone else has found a way past this prolem by using other methods.

Thanks very much
Bowers


 

[aslidsiksoraksi]

maybe I'm not the best person to say anything about this as I write in both pretty interchangeably

but you can just say: "he was tired."

people don't have to think their emotions/thoughts. They can have them, be them, be gripped by them, etc

[Bowers]

thanks thats really usefull,

what about when they are having thoughs in their head though?
for example is someone though "how the hell did I get here?"

[neoeno]

I have trouble with perspective and tense also... writing present+first is the most personal (which is what I want for many of my pieces), but writing with it feels so clumsy.

I've no idea :p

[aslidsiksoraksi]

if they're having thoughts you can make it dialogue... and if saying "ladeeladeeda," thought billy joel 
is annoying for you, you can just sort of imply it somehow? Dunnot if that makes sense, but I've seen it done well.

but if someone is thinking something serious like, "How the hell did I get here?" and you don't want it to be 'clumsy' the person can just be surprised to find themselves somewhere, or in extreme cases, they can say what they think out loud. But if you want them to think those exact words, there are of course dozens of synonyms for thinking

like, 'a thought suddenly gripped him: "How the hell did I get here?"
'and she thought to herself, "what a wonderful world..."
'suddenly, it came to him, "five and ten are fourteen!"

and more.
personally, I don't think its clunky unless you use the same thing over and over, but its the same as speech, just not directed at anyone. It would be boring if someone wrote he said she said he said she said etc. but you can mix it up or do without them altogether.

ugh sorry this is so long... but... ... ... @ neoeno: the point of view doesn't necessarily make things personal, as I see it. In fact, first person present can be annoying to me, like all these emotions/experiences are being forced upon me. I think its subject matter etc that make things personal, not any tense/point of view. Though those can help.

[neoeno]

Eh, I've found certain aspects can only be properly expressed in 1st person. When you want to get deep inside the head of a character, for example. Diaries work, but they're kinda limited by the fact that the character has hindsight.

As for the bit about subject matter, I know what you mean. I tend to think about psychological stuffs in my writing though, which is why I prefer 1st person for exploring such things.

Of course, IANAEW (I am not an experienced writer), so don't place any credence in what I say. (non-sarcasm)

[Kluny]

Try writing the thought without quotation marks, ie.

He woke up and looked around. How the hell did I get here? he wondered.

That way it's a little less obstrusive.

[radtastic]

Going off of the "how the hell did I get here?" example, you could do something like:

She awoke and felt not the plush comforter she was sure she'd fallen asleep on, but instead the surface of cold, unfeeling stone.  Pushing herself into the sitting position, she tried to get a better understanding of her surroundings.  The dark pervaded, and though she tried, she found she could barely see her hand in front of her own face.  Finally, she allowed herself to panic--how the hell had she gotten here?




(excuse the terribleness, that was off the top of my head)

I like dashes.  A lot.  I don't know if they're gramatically correct, but...eh, whatever.  Ha.

I guess there's not exactly an owner's manual for third person.  Just try things.  Read a book that's written in third person (MAY I RECOMMEND SOME HENRY JAMES!?) and see if you notice anything the author does that you like, stylistically.

...is that how you spell stylistically?  Stylisticly?  ajlskdjfa?

[Bowers]

thanks for the help guys, I think im starting to get the hang of it

 


Bowers

[TheMilkman]

Try second person

"You walk into a gay bar and pick up a stranger. Then you have gay sex in the back of your dirty van."

Oh, bowers, I didn't know you were like that!

[Bowers]

Oh, bowers, I didn't know you were like that!

thats not what you said last night!

[TheMilkman]

Oh, bowers, I didn't know you were like that!

thats not what you said last night!

youre right, last night i said

"ew i'm not gay, i dont want you to stuff my fudge"

and then i left

[subliminiminal]

I wish I had your problem. You've seen my work, actually. I'm good with detailing things but once I throw in a voice or a dialouge, Pbth. There it goes.


Third person (for me) is as if I were watching a video of that person doing something and I describe it, quoting when he's speaking, but most of the time simply trying to describe how he is or what's happening around him.

[InTheCafeteria]

I've discovered that I write in first person a lot.  This surprised me when I finally realized it [after writing the second part of Tower].  To me this is kinda weird, seeing as how I've never really read a book in first person.  I don't know exactly why it is I started doing that and why I can't seem to stop.

But I think it has something to do with trying to experience what's going on in the story.  To me the best kinds of stories are those you can almost feel happening as you read them, the ones that draw you in and surround you.  Especially the strange, fantastical ones.

Honestly, though, I just improvised that explanation.  It sounds good, but it could be anything.