First or Third Person POV: What do you prefer writing/reading?

[MinnesotaWriter]

All the stories I've written so far have been exclusively first person. I've tried a few times to write in third person, but it never felt as natural. I like being able to dig deep into the protagonist's thoughts and perspectives. 

The challenge with that, of course, is making sure that the protagonists from different stories have distinct voices. That's been tricky to manage and would be the only reason I'd consider switching to a third-person perspective, if I could find a way of writing it that I liked.

As a reader, though, I don't have any preferences. Most stories I read end up being third person, simply because I often go for Fantasy/Sci-Fi stories that have a vast number of characters. Though several of my favorites are told from a first-person POV.

I'm curious about what everyone else's preferences are, either as a reader or a writer.

[Babypants]

If only one character has narrative POV, then it follows that the story will be told in the first person.  When two characters have narrative POV, the text will become stilted if its reduced to a ping pong match with each character acting in the story exclusively in his/her own voice.  In real life, people have a hard time understanding themselves, never mind others, and stories don't play out well when this dynamic is ignored.  For one character the glass is half empty, but for the other it is half full.  One character say XYZ, but the other hears VWY.  Writing in the first and third person in the same scene often captures this complexity of the human experience that a first person narrative misses.

[spark]

22 minutes ago, MinnesotaWriter said:

All the stories I've written so far have been exclusively first person. I've tried a few times to write in third person, but it never felt as natural. I like being able to dig deep into the protagonist's thoughts and perspectives. 

The challenge with that, of course, is making sure that the protagonists from different stories have distinct voices. That's been tricky to manage and would be the only reason I'd consider switching to a third-person perspective, if I could find a way of writing it that I liked.

As a reader, though, I don't have any preferences. Most stories I read end up being third person, simply because I often go for Fantasy/Sci-Fi stories that have a vast number of characters. Though several of my favorites are told from a first-person POV.

I'm curious about what everyone else's preferences are, either as a reader or a writer.

Most of my stories are first person and most of the stories that I like are first person.  It is easier for me to write in 1st  person, and I like it for ABDL stories because so much of it is based on an inner conflict.   That's a big part of all of your stories, and mine as well.  

I wrote a 3rd person narrative where the protagonist was a female and that one worked easier for me than trying to write it 1st.   I have a college regression that I'm nearly ready to start publishing which I've written 3rd person, but almost exclusively through the eyes of one character.  Although I was able to go into the thoughts of other characters.  I wrote a discussion between two characters relating to the protagonist without the protagonist being present.  However, I'm not sure how clunky some of those sections are.  When I go back to edit them, they might sound like I've written a text book.

2 minutes ago, Babypants said:

If only one character has narrative POV, then it follows that the story will be told in the first person.  When two characters have narrative POV, the text will become stilted if its reduced to a ping pong match with each character acting in the story exclusively in his/her own voice.  In real life, people have a hard time understanding themselves, never mind others, and stories don't play out well when this dynamic is ignored.  For one character the glass is half empty, but for the other it is half full.  One character say XYZ, but the other hears VWY.  Writing in the first and third person in the same scene often captures this complexity of the human experience that a first person narrative misses.

I hate that Ping-Pong idea, and it's always weak.  However- the story development is usually weak and stilted in general.

I do have a shell where I write the same story, but once from the POV of the regressor and the other from the regressee.   But in that case, I'm planning to write the complete narrative and then rewrite the complete narrative from the other POV.

[ValentinesStuff]

I wrote a long story in multiple first person. Odd chapters were in the main character's POV, and even chapters in other character's POV.

 

I find it difficult to write in 3rd person. 2nd person is right out.

[Cute_Kitten]

I usually write in third person in a blend of limited and omniscient point of view. It's not a conscious choice; it's just what feels natural to me. The last time I wrote in first person was years ago when I co-authored a story with Personalias, Of Leopards and Their Spots. We talked about and chose first person because we felt it was easier to blend our narrative voices and our writing styles together that way. Even friends who know us well had trouble telling who wrote what scene. 

I can write in first person, I just naturally default to third. I read novels of a variety of points of view. I've read novels that successfully blend and balance third and first person narratives and other novels that have been a jarring, confusing mess and disaster.  I think second person POV is hard to pull off successfully and I generally avoid it  both as a writer and a reader. It just doesn't appeal to me. The only exception was for WB Daddy's A Little Legal Issue, which I read for the diabolical plot twists and humiliation WB is so good at. 

[Little Sherri]

I don't have a preference, in terms of what I'm reading, as long as it's done well (and you do it well). When I'm writing, I sometimes wrestle with which approach to take, because first person allows for delving deeply into the thoughts and motivations of the character, but the writer is limited to what that character can see, or what they could logically infer, in terms of what might be going on with other characters or outside of the room or the timeline. "Show, don't tell" becomes more of a challenge. 

Whereas third person lets you wander into the skulls of any characters you want to, and to pan over to scenes where the protagonist isn't involved, or to travel through time. 

For a couple of stories that I've been working on recently, I've played with melding the two a bit, via employing a first person "soliloquy" insertion of sorts, here and there. For example:

Jake looked up as the car perceptibly dropped speed, in preparation for stopping at an upcoming red light. He realized with mounting terror that the Tetris of traffic patterns, coupled with the chance timing of the traffic lights, was going to result in his mom's car coming to a stop directly in front of the crowded bus stop, in front of his high school, at 3:30 PM. A passel of students stood right at the curb, exhaling vape fumes and laughing, while waiting for the city bus that would take them home, or to whatever their next destinations were; guitar lessons, drug dealers, the mall. He glanced frantically around the car, for something, anything, that he could use for cover, but there was nothing at hand. He was strapped into a car seat, wearing a snap-crotch onesie over a partially-visible diaper, with a pacifier clipped to his shirt, and no way out. 

For the love of Christ, NO! Why did we have to take this route!?! 

He tore the pacifier off, threw it to the floor, and turned his head as hard to the left as he could, shielding his face with his arms as though warding off an impending explosion. 

I hope they don't recognize the car!

***

This lets me not have to add an "he thought to himself", or a "Jake wondered", etc. Assuming it's obvious to the reader what I'm doing. 

[Babypants]

46 minutes ago, Cute_Kitten said:

  I think second person POV is hard to pull off successfully and I generally avoid it  both as a writer and a reader. It just doesn't appeal to me.

Done well, second person is like the announcers up in the booth doing the play by play, offering a perspective that the players on the field do not have.  Done poorly, it reminds the reader that there is a god or goddess up on Olympus controlling the whole story.  A classic example of getting it right in film comes near the end of The Pink Panther, when the old guy pulls up a chair to watch the chaos in the street unfold.  In writing, I have found that it broadens the range of verbs that you can deploy to speed up or slow down the pace at which a given scene is unfolding.

 

[Babypants]

22 minutes ago, Little Sherri said:

Jake looked up as the car perceptibly dropped speed, in preparation for stopping at an upcoming red light. He realized with mounting terror that the Tetris of traffic patterns, coupled with the chance timing of the traffic lights, was going to result in his mom's car coming to a stop directly in front of the crowded bus stop, in front of his high school, at 3:30 PM. A passel of students stood right at the curb, exhaling vape fumes and laughing, while waiting for the city bus that would take them home, or to whatever their next destinations were; guitar lessons, drug dealers, the mall. He glanced frantically around the car, for something, anything, that he could use for cover, but there was nothing at hand. He was strapped into a car seat, wearing a snap-crotch onesie over a partially-visible diaper, with a pacifier clipped to his shirt, and no way out. 

For the love of Christ, NO! Why did we have to take this route!?! 

He tore the pacifier off, threw it to the floor, and turned his head as hard to the left as he could, shielding his face with his arms as though warding off an impending explosion. 

I hope they don't recognize the car!

This is good-- action/ snapshot/ action.  Mounting terror on the front end / frantically, tore, threw on the back end / stood, waiting in the middle.  Now, put Howard Kosell across the street, and have him turn to Dandy Don Meredith and have him say "would you look at that."  And looking at Jake, Don would of course reply "turn out the lights, the party's over."  

[~Brian~]

19 hours ago, MinnesotaWriter said:

All the stories I've written so far have been exclusively first person. I've tried a few times to write in third person, but it never felt as natural. I like being able to dig deep into the protagonist's thoughts and perspectives. 

The challenge with that, of course, is making sure that the protagonists from different stories have distinct voices. That's been tricky to manage and would be the only reason I'd consider switching to a third-person perspective, if I could find a way of writing it that I liked.

As a reader, though, I don't have any preferences. Most stories I read end up being third person, simply because I often go for Fantasy/Sci-Fi stories that have a vast number of characters. Though several of my favorites are told from a first-person POV.

I'm curious about what everyone else's preferences are, either as a reader or a writer.

@MinnesotaWriter

i have read many authors, and each has their own style, and ways of writing:  for me, I notice that the best stories are those which are DESCRIPTIVE, and allow the reader to become PART of the story, so that for example someone says they are DOING or SAYING something to, or interacting with a character, the READER is the character, and everything that happens allows the reader to use sight, sounds, smell, taste, and touch to become that character: everything that happens is what happens to a character, and I have MANY authors that write in The Story and Art Forum, as well as Roleplay, and like I've have said to many, including people like @Cute_Kittenand @Kita Sparklesor @Kaylaindiapers, they have a "knack" for being able to "DRAW IN" the reader, and help the reader BECOME the Character, which means then you can then IMAGINE someone doing an action to you.

My feeling is that the best POV should be based on what the author thinks is appropriate:  I had NEVER written a story until I had my "dream" and wrote ~Brian's Dream Comes True~, which I think was kinda "silly", but because of a LOT of support and love, I posted my first story.  I am not sure how to go with it now, but I would LOVE to be able to add to it, because the story could be expanded, and I have received a LOT of support, and been told to move forward.

As a Reader, I think It's based on the author being able to put you in "little mode" and keep you there, based on the way the main character(s) are interacted with.  Just like when you mom used to, and then they would "treat you like the age that you are, or what age they think you are acting like".  Each author does that in a different way, and it is unique, and i think that is VERY special indeed, because IF you can WRITE in such a way that someone's SENSES are intrigued, and keep their interest, THAT to me says that a person is interested.  You wonder what comes next, or you want more:  @Emily Ruby Rose is another writer that can do the same thing, because she can write in such a way that she can hold her audience, and each one of these authors do it in specific ways:  She can write about something TERRIBLE that happens to her, and then you feel the same as her, or you REACT, like when you save the heroine from the monster.  @Mia Moore also does this in her way as well, and the way she does that for me  is to Bring our childhood memories forward so that YOU are the one that is dealing with the situation.

ALL of these authors do First and Third Person POV.  In My mind, it means that When you use it, you decide when to, where to, and why to, and authors can change the POV, and I know that it can be hard to do that, and writing can be tough:  However, READING books or listening to them, allows you to imagine things, and take you AWAY from this CRAZY world, and then what happens is ANYTHING can happen!

Thank You ALL for your stories and for being the wonderful people you are

Brian