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Opinions on POV

6 years ago

I'm writing a storygame right now (not for the summer contest, just because I want to write) in first person POV. Now, I've already read the help article on point of view and have some experience with writing already, but I'm new to writing storygames (not reading them, mind you!). The writer of the POV article emphasizes that writers should never blend perspectives. That makes sense because you don't want to confuse the reader by writing something like: 

"I tripped into a giant, steaming bowl of pasta. You died."

(Who is You? Why did he die as a result of your mistake?) 

However, writing death scenes - which I now recognize as unfortunate but necessary in storygames to slim down the number of branches - is tricky . Unfortunately, death scenes written in first person are notoriously cheesy and usually sound like: 

"I teeter on the edge of the monstrous pot of swarming spaghetti noodles, but before my faithful companion, You, can grasp my hand, my foot slips down the steamy surface of the pot and hurls me into the writhing noodles. The noodles consume me and soon everything turns black. The End." 

First person deaths lack context, I think, and you can't do anything after the death unless you rise from the dead. My solution: making it clear that perspective is changing by moving to a new paragraph, using italic font, and writing in third person whenever I need to write a death scene. If you need a professional example of this in action, you should read the last page of All Quiet on the Western Front, where the author retells the death in third person on a separate page. 

So far, I've only seen storygame writers use second-person POV. Perhaps I should just replace all my "I's" with "You's" and configure the wording a bit to convert. Still, I enjoy using first person and I find it appropriate when I'm writing the main storytelling part of the game. 

Another idea: perhaps the spirit of the dead body still lives and can continue in first person by narrating regrets, hints to the reader, last thoughts, etc. Just a random idea. Let me know what you guys think.

Opinions on POV

6 years ago

I usually stick to third person POV, because that has the most freedom and bang for your buck. For example, you can follow the main character, tell what he thinks, why he thinks like that, acts, etc., and still show the gruesome details of death and whatnot and not be completely revolving around the character.

?And to respond to your point about changing perspectives- don't. I don't know, but there is something about it that irks the inner OCD in me. Also the whole spirit thing would seem to only work if that also works in the lore of your story, in a fantasy setting, otherwise it would seem drastically out of place.

These are just my opinions, and I'm just a lowly nub, but do whatever you like.

Opinions on POV

6 years ago
The switch to third person might be okay if clearly marked as an epilogue and placed on a separate page. Sort of a zooming out the camera moment. It could probably even cover things the character wouldn't know about or the impact of their death on...whatever the larger plot situation is.

Really, anything is better than the character describing their own death. First person is annoying that way. (Well...it annoys me in general, but especially in that kind of situation.)

The spirit idea would get overused fast, though maybe you could use it once or twice, assuming it makes any kind of sense for the setting.

Opinions on POV

6 years ago

Well, I've written storygames here in the first person, but I also had one in the third person. From experience, third person is "easier" for me to use. It's unrestricted in the material I can give the reader, but first person gives a more personal yet limited take on the story.
I'd experiment a bit if I was you. See what pov gives you the best results in your writing. If you find that second person is hard and/or annoying to use (as in my case) then don't do it just because everyone else is. If you do have a significance amount of death scenes for the protagonist, however, you probably would want to refrain from constantly writing first person deaths unless you can make it read-out adequately (which is bloody hard for me which is why I avoid those in first person narration).