First Person Perspective-why no one uses it?

[Sara Sidereal]

[QUOTE="Pretzel Heart]Unreliable narrators are the best! For me that's one of FPP major charm points. You really are only allowed insight into one character's head, and you are fully there, for the duration of the story. I personally don't use FPP all that much, though it's kind of depressing to see people dissing it as an automatic "Mary Sue" form. Uh, ever hear of John Hawkes? Brilliant writer, mostly in FPP. William Faulkner also used FPP like a frikkin pro in Sound and the Fury, which is only considered one of the greatest books of all time, partially because of the way he was able to so poetically get into the very different minds of his characters. Not to mention the entire canonical tradition of "I-Novel" confessionals in Japanese lit. Even freaking Dante wrote in FPP and how many centuries later are we still eating that stuff up? Maybe a more recent example, the book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn that recently got turned into a popular movie, made perfect use of FFP (as well as switching between narrators and narratorial styles) by tricking the audience using their expectations and the normative reading experience against them. That's nothing really to do with RPing, but just because Stephanie Meyer used FPP in Twilight or whatever else is rustling your jimmies, doesn't mean it's a shit form.
At the same time, I can easily see why it typically doesn't fit in well with RPing. Thinking about it, it's probably the immersive aspect that makes it uncomfortable and jarring. Sure, everyone's writing in an RP is typically different, but when Johnny comes along with his "I watched tepily from the sidelines as the birds began to attack," while everyone else is talking "he said she said," it kind of throws one off past the point of suspension of disbelief. It makes your posts stick out, not really in a good way, and highlights a character that maybe shouldn't be highlighted, since everyone kind of shares the "protag" spotlight in an RP.


That being said, I can imagine a really cool RP that makes use of FPP's benefits. But I think everyone would have to agree to stick with it in order to work. An example may be an RP where everyone is trapped in a new environment, trying to solve some mystery with complete strangers they may or may not be able to trust. That was completely off the top of my head, but I can see that kind of set-up benefitting from the exclusiveness and isolation of FPP, since it's truly every person for themselves.


Just my two cent, anyways. Breaks my heart to see people trashing an art form that can be so beautiful when correctly used.

[/QUOTE]
There are no Faulkners or Hawkes on any RP site in existence.


Yes, any style or character, even a sue, can be done well by a professional writer.


"Professional" being the keyword.

 

[Grey]

First person is easier to fuck up; most people are not half as good at writing as they think they are. If you've got some self-awareness you'll stick to familiar, comfortable, versatile third person.


I mean, practicing first person in a piece of more conventional fiction is fine because no one else has to suffer through it. Badly written first person narration in an RP - where other people need to read and understand it in order to contribute - is apt to be confusing and tiring. It means important points (and concrete points that the first person narrator may have been unreliable on) have to be shared OOC. More likely, they're going to be requested OOC because the perpetrator probably doesn't realize their post is borderline incomprehensible.


And then, most roleplayers having delicate egos and overblown ideas about their own competence, they'll be salty about having to clarify their post (and if the clarification is nearly as long as the original post, well, I'd be salty too).


Apfel is correct that second person is primarily used by GMs, and also choose-your-own-adventure novels. I cannot think presently of any other context in which I've seen it or would endorse its use - some obscure religious texts, possibly.


Sarc has reminded me of a quote I spotted in a writing advice article somewhere or other: 'You are not Stephen King. Do not attempt to emulate Stephen King at home'.

 

[Sara Sidereal]

Sarc has reminded me of a quote I spotted in a writing advice article somewhere or other: 'You are not Stephen King. Do not attempt to emulate Stephen King at home'.

I'm about to violate this rule in a thread I'm in bigtime. yolo

 

[Ensig]

Ignoring the fact that this thread was essentially necro'd at #23, I'll give my thoughts the original topic, as I have nothing better to do.


Essentially, 3rd Person is easier to navigate (and thus react to) than 1st Person. 3rd is not only more comfortable to the majority of people, but it also allows you to write out Thoughts, Speech, and (most importantly) Actions using Apostrophes, Quotation Marks, and the absence of the former two respectively, while 1st is almost all Thought, with Actions presented as reactions inside of said thought, and Speech being the only thing with its own specific boundaries (Quotation Marks).

3rd Person Example

'I wonder what I should use as a proper example...' Bob thought, stroking their chin in their dimly lit room. He had been contemplating on this subject for more time than they'd be proud to admit, but, after seeming to have a strike of inspiration, they let out an audible "Ah." before their hand left their chin and returned to the laptop in front of them.


"I suppose anything would work, wouldn't it?" they asked aloud, despite the fact that no one was around to answer them.

If the above was a post in an RP, it would give other roleplayers the ability to react to:

1. Bob's chin-stroking.
   
2. How long Bob had been sitting there thinking.
   
3. Bob speaking aloud.

In 1st... It's a bit more complicated.

1st Person Example

I could really use anything here, right? First Person is just navigating a person's mind, so Apostrophes don't surround anything. Ah, but then how will I put in that 'I wonder what I should use as a proper example...' bit? Damn. I'm chin-stroking again. I can't believe that turned into a habit after I started doing it as a joke... But I've gotten off topic. How should I put that quote in...


"Ah."


I already did, right? What the hell, me. I can't believe I wasted over 10 minutes thinking about how to implement that... Now, I should use some form of speech to demonstrate how that's different than all this thinking... Mmmhhh...


"I suppose anything would work, wouldn't it?"

As I said before, in 1st you're essentially writing the character's thoughts 99% of the time, with the remaining 1% being audible speech. Actions are 'hidden' among the thoughts, making it difficult for some people to recognize what they could react to. Sometimes, actions simply don't show up at all, leaving the character's outward reactions up to the reader's imagination... For example, the 1st Person Bob didn't give any queues for moving their hand off their chin, and onto their laptop -- so, did you imagine Bob taking their hand off their chin, or is he still holding it?


Usually, actions that are left out are largely insignificant (or they should be at least), but it still makes 1st a bit harder to react to than 3rd, especially because Roleplayers usually shy away from using how they see the scene play out as something to react to, and will simply use what they know happened with 100% certainty in their reactions. In that case, someone could react to the 1st Person Bob with 'How long will Bob keep his hand on his chin? It's already been more than 10 minutes now...', as they know that Bob stroked their chin, but do not know whether or not he stopped doing so. In comparison, it was clearly written out that Bob took their hand off their chin, and moved it back to their laptop in the 3rd Person example.


It should also be noted that the amount of actions left out of 1st can vary depending on the character's personality. Using a real example: ＴＨＩＳ is a post I made with a character I roleplayed in 1st. Why did I choose 1st for it? Because it was a better form to express their utter insanity, of course! They were really fun to write, but their outward reactions were simply too out of place inside of their thought process, so actions simply aren't there. Instead, I placed Footnotes amidst the madness, which correspond to the accordion at the bottom. Note that the actions were written in 3rd there, as they can't be expressed in 1st. You can also see I wrote a 'Visible Summary' at the very bottom, expressing the entire post in 3rd for the convenience of others.


So... There's my two cents.

 

[MechanicalHeart]

I think first person perspective isn't used much, because it only fits the narrative style of writing that resembles the film noire genre of movies. Like the over-stylized Sin City.

 

[augmentedspartan]

I think first person perspective isn't used much, because it only fits the narrative style of writing that resembles the film noire genre of movies. Like the over-stylized Sin City.

I think it's more about style than genre. You can have a first-person pov in horror, comedy, romance, etc... if it suits the style. House of Leaves has both third and first person perspectives, but each one works well because they are used for completely different aspects of the book, both having different styles. Like @Ensig explained, each pov has their ups and downs, so one has to know when to use them and how to take advantage of their differences. RPs tend to gain more from third person than first person, as explained by others in the thread.

 

[MechanicalHeart]

I think it's more about style than genre. You can have a first-person pov in horror, comedy, romance, etc... if it suits the style. House of Leaves has both third and first person perspectives, but each one works well because they are used for completely different aspects of the book, both having different styles. Like @Ensig explained, each pov has their ups and downs, so one has to know when to use them and how to take advantage of their differences. RPs tend to gain more from third person than first person, as explained by others in the thread.

Hence, narrative style versus descriptive style. The film noire was an example of narrative style.

 

[augmentedspartan]

Hence, narrative style versus descriptive style. The film noire was an example of narrative style.

I understood it as the noir genre. My bad.