Point of View

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Anglkate

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Well I've been experimenting once again with writing from different points of view! So I thought why not give some light on this topic. I realize that third person point of view is the most used for RPing here. However i've been experimenting with first person point of view with one of my RP's (The Many Shades of Reality) as well as i'd long ago started a very cliche story to practice first person POV writing. I believe that to be a well rounded writer you should have at least an understanding of different POV to give different perspectives. First off lets get some definitions:

We know that there are three points of view to write in yes? First Person, Second Person, and Third Person.

First Person is written from the "I" perspective. The story unfolds through the character's eyes so you really get a sense of what that character sees, feels, thinks etc. However this also limits you in that you only see what's happening from that ONE perspective and can lose outside perspective unless the character happens to be in the same room or passes by at key points. Getting a description of the character can be difficult. I found a little article that describes first person POV after i'd finished writing a post to get some description of my character and realized that I had been cilche in my methods. It happens haha. anyways check this out: First Person Point of View Pros/Cons

Second Person is written in the "you" perspective. It is very rarely seen in writing from what I've gathered. Once more the website from above gives a good example of second person POV: Second Person Point of View Sample. What I think of most often are some of the text based mmorpg games and such. I think I vaguely remember one of the goosebumps books I'd read as a kid (where you get to choose the endings and such) was written either fully or partially in second person. But again this is a form I very rarely come across in literature.

Third person point of view is what i'm sure we're all familiar with. There are three subcategories: Third Person Objective, Third Person Limited, and Third Person Omniscient. Third Person Objective you are simply giving the facts. You don't get any real insight into the characters true emotions or thoughts, you just get the objective viewing as the outside party. Sort of like in real life where we can only judge by what we see. Objective Third Person.
Third Person Limited you are getting to know what's going on from ONE person's point of view at a time. This is much more intimate than Objective, and you get more detail than first person since you are acting as the disembodied writer who really knows the cha. Third Person Limited.
Finally, Third Person Omniscient you are in the heads of ALL the characters at ALL times. It truly encompass the 'all knowing' feel. Third Person Omniscient.
 
Re: Writing Exercise: Point of View

So know that we have a little knowledge on writing in different points of view...here is a CHALLENGE for you. I will post a topic after this little blurb and your challenge is to choose one of the POV (or all) that you are perhaps not familiar with and try to write a scene in that POV :) It's a good challenge to expand your writing and explore other outlets. By no means do you have to change your style suddenly but it's good practice!

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