Perplexing Perspective: Day 17

[B] Almost to 20k! (17,383 / 1,000,000)

Today I’m thinking that I’ll do a write up of my thoughts on perspective. I never thought to think about it, but are these posts first person or second person? I mean I am using I, but I also refer to you, my readers sometimes. But someone in the first person would say you sometimes… Anyway…

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First Person

Gasping for air, I sprinted through the city streets. I weaved through throngs of people and rows of honking cars. I glanced back to check on my pursuers. My foot caught on something unseen, and I toppled to the ground. Pain blossomed in my knees as I slid to a stop on the cement. I knew that I was caught.

From a storytelling perspective, I can see how writing in the first person could be tempting. First of all, when I read in the first person, I feel a natural inclination towards liking the character. I get invested in the story because I feel like I’m going through it - at least a little bit. Also, when you tell a story in the first person perspective, the reader has access to all of the main character’s thoughts. Some things are just much easier to convey from inside the mind of one of the characters. Ex: “Wow, Jimmy over there looks real pissed” vs. “Jimmy stomped his feet and yelled”. I have a question though. If you want to hide something from the readers, would you also have to hide that thing from the perspective of the character? I would assume yes. In first person, there’s no reason for a person to not think a thing that they notice which is relevant to the story, right? Final question: If I keep writing this stuff, am I at risk of dissociation? Just kidding of course, he typed.

Second Person

Gasping for air, you sprinted through the city streets. You weaved through throngs of people and rows of honking cars. You glanced back to check on your pursuers. Your foot caught on something unseen, and you toppled to the ground. Pain blossomed in your knees as you slid to a stop on the cement. You knew that you were caught.

Mild Spoiler Warning: Kingkiller Chronicles

Second person is kind of weird. Are many stories told from a second person perspective? The story above almost sounds like the character was captured by the reader. “You knew that you were caught”… Ominous. I can’t really imagine telling a whole story like that, let alone a book. Maybe if you made the reader be like the Chronicler in the Kingkiller Chronicles, the actual story of the book could be recounted to a character which is essentially the reader. Wait, it would still be in first person perspective for the most part… How about we just agree to skip second person for now? You agree? Awesome.

Third Person

Gasping for air, T sprinted through the city streets. He weaved through throngs of people and rows of honking cars. He glanced back to check on his pursuers. His foot caught on something unseen, and he toppled to the ground. Pain blossomed in his knees as he slid to a stop on the cement. He knew that he was caught.

I would bet that third person is the most common perspective told in fiction. Character X gets a magic ring, character Y bites character X’s finger off, yadda yadda. Crap, I hope I didn’t spoil Captain Planet for anyone. Side note, did you know that there are different types of third person stories? Because I did(n’t until I just googled it)!

Spoiler Warning: Dune (again)

Third Person Omniscient
Third person omniscient is just like it sounds - a third person story where the narrator/reader can know anything and see anything. If there’s an impending meteor strike that will wipe out all of humanity, but nobody in the story knows about it, the reader can still know about it. I think it’s pretty common in these kinds of stories to tell the reader things that the characters don’t know. It’s a great strategy for developing some juicy tension. Other than apocalyptic meteor strikes, the reader is also potentially privy to the thoughts of any of the characters - including the bad guys. Think about Dr. Yueh in Dune; we, the readers, knew that he was double crossing the Atreides family long before any of the characters knew. After we find out that the Doctor is betraying them, every scene featuring him and an Atreides is rife with tension. I was on the edge of my seat wondering when the other shoe will drop.

Massive Spoiler Warning: Mistborn

Third Person Limited
No surprises here, third person limited is just a story told from the third person without an omniscient narrator. The story usually can know the minds of a few characters, and the knowledge of the world could be limited to their perspectives as well. I’m drawn to this type of storytelling because I find it the most malleable. If I want to hide something from the readers, I don’t necessarily have to hide it from the characters (muahaha). At the same time, I would probably not include the thoughts of the bad guys in this type of story (unless it was that kind of story). This allows for some devious devilry to happen off-screen. Think about Ruin in the Mistborn saga. Throughout the story, we usually aren’t privy to his malevolent machinations until the characters become victims to them.

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“I think that about wraps it up,” Michael typed, taking a satisfied sip of coffee. He knew that he was a few words short of his goal, but he was confident the narrator could top the story off for him. He began to wonder from which angle his story was being viewed. “From my perspective?” he typed. He continued, “Or is it more like a floating camera angle like in Zelda?”. He turned his head to peer over his shoulder, and locked eyes with you.