Tutorial Writing Tips - from someone who has worked in the publishing industry

[AEONmeteorite]

Chapter 5: 1st, 2nd and 3rd Person

For the most part, I believe many of the writers on RPNation understand the difference between the three main persons. (There are subcategories when you include tenses. I plan to have a large chapter on tenses in the future, so I will not touch on those.)

The question that should be considered: What should you use when you are writing a book? It may not seem like a big deal. When you weigh the options, you’ll see how choosing the proper person can make all the difference.

Let’s break them down:
1st person: I/we perspective.
2nd person: You perspective.
3rd person: she/he/they/it perspective.

First and third person are the two we view most. Second person is usually dedicated toward speeches, essays and other things like those, as well as this chapter. I’ve referred to ‘you’ in the second paragraph of this post. There are books that use second person, and I wouldn’t suggest doing it unless you have an artistic, imaginative idea that cradles this perspective well. Otherwise, avoid it.

From polls and studies that my ol’company decided to do, we learned that there is a staggering amount of readers who will not read first person. That, in some ways, is something to consider when you write your story. As many of you know, I do not believe in writing for the readers before yourself. If writing in third person doesn’t sit well with you, don’t force yourself to do it. You’re digging a grave for your book if you already can’t stand writing it.


1st person:
You don’t need to write an exact moment in your life to use the I/we perspective. People claim that you must have experienced it yourself to use this point of view, and that is the lousiest advice you could receive.

That being said, you should hunker down and study why you feel like it should be in the first person. What is making you lean that way? It may not be you in the story, yet you can’t help but use the first person.

From my own experience, first person tends to show up when you reflect yourself off the character. They either have many qualities you have or they’re your polar opposite. In other words: they are you or what you could/want to be. A good example of what I mean for this is How to Train Your Dragon 3 (spoilers ahead):

I know a lot of people don’t like the 3rd Dragons, but it is my favorite and not just because I’m aiming at working for DreamWorks. Grimmel, the villain in the movie, is by far the most terrifying villain in the franchise. Hiccup willingly went after the previous villain, Drago, to change his mind. Yet he ran when he met Grimmel. Hiccup was so terrified that he abandoned entire island.

This is because Grimmel is the perfect reflection of Hiccup. Not only are both scrawny and lanky, thus, both being ‘hiccups’ in their villages, but also they experienced the same thing. They stumbled upon a night fury they could kill. One did, the other didn’t. One learned hate for dragons and wished to walk over humans. The other learned to love humans by finding him self in dragons. The two are inventive. Making contraptions that the world has never scene. They’re clever, cunning and precise. Hiccup panicked when he saw himself in Grimmel. When you think about it, they could have made Grimmel the main character and a near replica of the story could have been made, except with a hostile character instead. I imagine that once Grimmel realized just who and what Hiccup was, his fear reflected Hiccup’s.


Ask yourself the question: Are you writing yourself? Do you see yourself in the main character? I mean, each of your characters will have a little you in them, that’s what makes them special. But is this main character ambient of who you are, or, what you could be?

Well, then, it is likely that it is better to write it in the first person. You’ll harmonize with your characters better and your readers will feel that.

Sometimes, first person adds a better sense of mystery and excitement in action. As they aren’t aware of everything that is happening, any fear the main character is feeling, the reader will grab vibes off as well.

Let’s say a sub-character is attacked, and they’re forced to the bottom of a pit along with a villain. The main character has no idea what may have become of them. All they can do is pray that their friend is alright. The reader will gain that same hope. So, if you want suspense, first person may be the way to go.



3rd person:
There are a lot of positive reasons why the basic third person is the way to go. (I say basic due to its subcategories.) In third person, the reader isn’t stuck in a single person’s mind. In first person, the reader can only know as much as the main character does. A writer can either choose specific characters’ minds to dive into or go into all the minds, while valuing one, the main character.

I like to explain third person as a bird’s eye point of view. Here is an example:

Let’s say a whole bunch of pirates in your story are fighting. There are in a few different groups on the deck tackling different things. From a first person’s point of view, like I said, we can only know what the main character does. So if they’re in a group, they won’t know what is happening in the other groups unless they glance that direction or hear something. In third person, the reader is above all the action. They can hop between the groups and know exactly what is occurring.

I wouldn’t suggest going overboard with this though. A writer should stick with one place at a time, and create a new chapter when they plan to switch places. If the reader is observing everything on deck, they shouldn’t be aware what is happening in the bilge of the ship until a new chapter begins. Then, it should stay in the bilge. Don’t make your reader jump all around the world, put breaks in places. But, if characters are adjacent to each other, there is no need to stick to just a single perspective unless you want to be selective.


Third person is gold for character development. Due to the fact that we can know what each and every single character is thinking, we are able to witness growth better. Let’s think of Avatar the Last Airbender:

Zuko, the banished prince, a man who must search for the Avatar in order to earn his honor once more and return to his kingdom. If we had watched this immaculate series through just Aang’s perspective only, I don’t think we could have quite grasped what changes Zuko made in order to become the respectable prince we all love today. We had a chance to watch Zuko and his Uncle Iroh’s ups and downs. When Zuko fell deep into his own selfishness and fished himself from his own abyss.


Third person gives us the same opportunity.

At the end of the day, just like with first person, you must consider something. Is this your story, or are you writing someone else’s story? Is this character you? Do you reflect yourself off them? No matter what you do, as I said, all characters will have ties to you, but is this truly your story?

If not, then push it toward third person. Saying, I, I, I, for a character you could never find any remote comparison with yourself will not synchronize well.


Overall:
You will surprise yourself when you think about which person benefits your story. Just a few months ago, I was reading over one of my main books. It’s been finished for the past nine years, but I couldn’t get myself to publish it. I hated it. I loved the story, idea and characters. Yet, I still could stand the thing. And then, it occurred to me; it shouldn’t be in the first person.

I had handwritten the original copy in Jr. High. Maybe, at that time, this main character was me. The more I read about her, the more I realized that she wasn’t. Bits and pieces, yes, but not me. Since then, I’ve been rewriting the entire thing in the third person. It needs to be altered everywhere, as now I can go between perspectives and it has become far better than it was before.

I won’t lie though, it wasn’t easy removing all the first person perspective. I felt like I was digging into my chest and ripping pieces of my soul out and giving it away to someone else. After rewriting two pages, I had to stop, put aside my laptop and just bawl to myself. Since Jr. High, I thought this female main character was everything I was. It was as if I had been weaving my words with lies. My husband had to come over and comfort me as I caressed my past self and said goodbye. It hurt. Now the story is being told how it should be. It was something that needed to happen.




LazyDaze Idea Melpomene Vergaan

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[Redfork2000]

This advice is very helpful! I'm been writing stories for a few years, and I've been slowly making progress, improving my storywriting skills. And although the experience of writing has helped me, I must say that most of what I've learned about storywriting was thanks to people like you who offered their advice and shared what they knew about writing stories. I really like how you analyze in-depth every aspect of storywriting, it really helps me think more about things that I didn't consider as much before. For example, I've been outlining my major stories before writing them for years, but I had never thought of planning the last paragraph or sentence of the story, and why it could be something to plan before actually reaching the end of the story.

Personally, I've always felt most comfortable writing in third person, even when writing characters that are very similar to myself. I've always liked the idea of being able to see what every character is thinking and doing, instead of being stuck with only one character's perspective. I once tried writing a story in first person perspective just to get out of my comfort zone and try something new, but I ended up not enjoying it really much. I felt so limited when I had to stay with only the main character during the entire story. I guess third person perspective is what feels most natural to me as a writer.

Thank you again for all this wonderful advice you're sharing with us. I really appreciate that you've chosen to take the time to share what you've learned to help us become better writers.

 

[NekoQueen49]

Aye

Thank you for writing this! Your style of writing is very easy to read which surprising considering what exactly you're writing about. I really appreciate that. An odd thing to comment on but oh well.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

NekoQueen49

I purposely try to make any sort of my lessons easy to understand. I do writing workshops as well, and I've come to learn what resonates with students. And thank you!

 

[Baconhands]

Aye!
Slowly but surely writing a story and putting it on here. I intend to go through this thread properly tomorrow and would love to be included in the tag list whenever new chapters are posted!

 

[AllGoodNamesRGone]

aye

I have been reading this entire thing thorough, and I really love the advice you have been giving so far. Would love to be tagged for updates.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Hello everyone! I'd like to inform you guys that a large chapter will be coming out Wednesday. Get prepared!


LazyDaze Idea Melpomene Vergaan AllGoodNamesRGone Baconhands NekoQueen49
(If you want to be added to the tag list or if I have missed you, comment on the thread with the word, "Aye!" You do not need to quote anything, just a stand-alone comment will do.)

 

[Redfork2000]

Aye!

 

[Darkmaster006]

Aye!

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Chapter 6: Characters

There are a few things that will make your story and a huge one would be your characters. If people dislike the characters they’re reading about, the book will be shut, it’ll be sat down, it will collect dust. Given, you will have some characters people can’t stand. Perhaps you want them to be hated, maybe you don’t, either way, so long as they find enough value in a single character, you’re golden.

Is there a right or wrong way to create a character? Yet, another yes or no moment. There are certain aspects you should be aware of while creating a character. Things one should consider avoiding or enhancing. Rules to follow. Steps you should take to mold and create a stunning individual. However, almost every rule and guideline set for writing begs to be broken. There is nothing more fluid in a story than a character. They are styled after: break to create.


Break to Create

The best animators are those who create memorable characters. It takes a lot of practice to achieve a master level of character design. Let’s put it into practice:

Let’s say someone has a parent who isn’t the biggest fan of video games, but their son plays games on a regular basis. If he is playing Halo, the likelihood of said parent to pass by and say, “Oh, look, Master Chief,” is near impossible unless they watch their son regularly.

That same parent could walk through a store and see Pikachu and declare it to be a Pikachu without knowing a single bit of gameplay. This could be the same for Sonic, Kirby, Sora, Zelda/Link (many non-gamers don’t know who’s who,) Mario, etc. Of course, they will recognize some more than others, but it is far easier for these characters to stay ingrained in this parent’s (non-gamer’s) memory.


This is largely due to the stylized look of the character. And, if the parent (non-gamer) has watched or seen the character before, it probably also has something to do with the personality of the character as well. It doesn’t mean Master Chief is a bad character, nor is his animation below the recognized characters above. Nonetheless, a (semi) normal human is far less likely to stay rooted in the minds of those who see them. Even Cayde-6 would be tough for onlookers to recognize until they witness him along with his voice acting. (And who doesn’t love our beloved Cayde-6).

Altogether, character designs that are unique gain more attraction. But, some of these designs are strange and obscure, such as, Sonic. His eye(s) is like one giant goggle. It doesn’t make any anatomical sense. His head is huge, shoulders small, etc. As animators, we are taught to learn the human body. Redraw proportions over and over and then, break it. Break the laws of the human body. That is what becomes recognized. But, breaking won’t work until we know the proportions of a normal human body.

It whittles down to character design in stories. You need to know the rules, the laws and the expectations before you break it. First learn how to make an all around good character. Someone that people feel neutral about and then destroy the character.


Rule 1 - Backstory

As one was expect, you should give your character a backstory. Here on, RPNation, we are all about backstories. We eat them up. It adds depth, background, reason and a foundation. Even if you only have threads of their past, be sure to continue sewing until it is filled to the brim with information.

The funny part is that you shouldn’t mention the entire background for each of your characters. Yes, you need to dissect every bit of it yourself, but that’s just it, the backstories are first and foremost for you, the writer. You may never mention a character’s backstory once throughout the entirety of your series, but because you know it, you are able to decide how a character would/should react in certain situations.



Rule 2 – Necessity

Do you need this character? Are they worth your time and energy to compile and create? Are their ripples covering enough of your story to make their existence necessary?

My first large novel was an absolute wreck and, one of the biggest issues was the sheer volume of characters. I had fifty…fifty characters in a single book. Some only showed up for a few pages before being whisked away into the floods of letters. I had to buckle down and scratch out characters that didn’t need to be around. For the minor characters, the ones that only lasted a few pages or a chapter, they were easy. I had no ties to them. I didn’t care if they go.

So, how do you get rid of the big guys? The characters that have nothing wrong with them, but you want to cut down more. I had four main villains in the story. The head and three “dogs” that followed. (I usually call the smaller villains dogs.) I had designed each of these dogs in a special ways. I took considerable time imagining their personalities, powers and abilities. All of them could be loved as villains. (Love to hate that is.) It seemed like too many. Each had distant personalities that it was almost circus-like when they were together. I needed to cut down and this was the best place to do it. Choosing one was the challenge.

Just because you cut out a character doesn’t mean they’re gone forever. Save your precious creations for future projects. Remove them, yes, get rid of the unneeded extras, but never forget them. That thought made it far more painless to remove one.


Rule 3 – Think of the World and Where they Stand

This should be common sense. If your book is set in the 1400’s, your character should dress, speak, act and attend events as one would in the 1400’s. If your character is set in a sci-fi world, then one would assume they’d know how to work a mobile phone.

You should consider their age, wealth, career, mental health and education. If your character has been a soldier for fifteen years, it is unlikely that they’d be scared of blood unless they are dealing with PTSD. While creating characters, I always suggest to list these five things and write them down. Such as:

Age: 17
Wealth: Middle Class (Average)
Career: Cobbler
Mental Health: Too happy for his own good
Education: Third grade level

Summary: John is a 17-year-old man who earns enough money to live on by repairing shoes. So far, he hasn’t had anything major happen to him and he views his life as a great one. While he doesn’t have much credible knowledge, he knows enough to get by.

I encourage writers to add to this list. Relationships, family, physical health etc. Keep the answers short and sweet. (It may seem like a grocery list, but remember, this is to help you more than anything. You wouldn't write it like a list in the book.)



Rule 4 – Antagonist, Protagonist, Neutral?

We see many role plays have writers choose what their character falls beneath. Lawful good, true neutral, chaotic evil, etc. I do not find the need to splice them into their perfect category, especially at the beginning of the book. A writer should figure out where their priorities are at the beginning, (evil, good, neutral), and then let the story take the reins for the rest of it.



Rule 5 – Humans Have Dimensions

The final rule: do not create a one or two-dimensional character. At this time, I would like to remind everyone that I love anime. I watch it every day. That, however, does not retract the fact that anime deals with this issue all the time. Remember how I mentioned that a character’s personality and appearance isn’t a grocery list. Same goes for this. It shouldn’t be:

She’s the kind one.
He’s the angry one.
He’s the smart one.
She’s the hyper one.
He’s the charming one.


Nor should it go:

She’s kind, but will protect her friends no matter the cost.
He’s angry, but secretly misunderstood.
He’s smart and loves delinquent women.
She’s hyper, but it is to cover up her severe depression.
He’s charming and will go help homeless people whenever he gets the chance.

While the second one, or known as two-dimensional, is better than one-dimensional, it still lacks humanity. Humans are more than just one or two things. We have a plethora of emotions, reasons, goals and attitudes. We are far more beautiful and complex than a list. Shoving characters into these grocery lists obliterates the immaculate construction of humanity.

Vision said it best:

“Humans are odd. They think order and chaos are somehow opposites and, try to control what won’t be. But there is grace in their failings. I think you missed that… Yes, but a thing isn’t beautiful because it lasts. It’s a privilege to be among them… Well, I was born yesterday.”

Seriously, look up this scene and delve into it. Two robots in a forest talking about humanity. We, are, breathtaking. We are sick and twisted, yet can find charm in the simplest of things. We will destroy lands and people, but we can’t hurt a butterfly due to its mere beauty. We are human. And, our characters shouldn’t be taken so lightly. Our characters deserve that privilege. Give it to them. Make them as complicated as you. We are not if’s, but’s and and’s, we’re so many words, so many things, we are a concoction of the world. Let’s not belittle our characters with just one or two dimensions.

At this time, I’d like to remind you that once a writer perfects the art of creating a character, they should break it. A character could be one-dimensional because of such and such an issue, while all the other characters are normal. You could have a character that lives in a sci-fi world not know a single thing about technology. You’re welcome to break the norms. Do so sparingly, though. Make it special to certain characters. And, most of all, have fun!



LazyDaze Idea Melpomene Vergaan AllGoodNamesRGone Baconhands NekoQueen49 Darkmaster006 Redfork2000

(If you want to be added to the tag list or if I have missed you, comment on the thread with the word, "Aye!" You do not need to quote anything, just a stand-alone comment will do.)

 

[Redfork2000]

This is by far my favorite chapter so far. I've always seen characters as the heart of any story, and usually, creating my characters and developing them fully is one of the things I take the most time doing when I'm planning out a story or roleplay. I've always loved the art of creating lovable and memorable characters. I'll admit that I'm sometimes guilty of making my characters too cartoonish in roleplays at times, but I do think that I've learned a lot about creating unique characters throughout the years.

One tip of advice I've heard a few times already is getting to know your characters better through questions. They suggest using a list of questions that you should ask for every new character you're creating, and the objective of them is getting to know your character, how they think, what they feel, etc. What are your thoughts about the advice of answering a list of questions to help to get to know your characters better? Are there any questions you would recommend using for this purpose?

 

[Darkmaster006]

Unrelated to the chapter but: is there any book that you'd recommend that touched upon the in-and-outs of the writing-editorial-publishing process?

 

[Belle_Sorciere]

Aye! =3

I’m enjoying reading all the posts...and checking to see how many of these mistakes I’ve been making. (I’m doing better than I expected!)

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Darkmaster006

I actually don't know any books to help such in-and-outs. I'm not someone who can sit down and read such stuff for long periods of time. I went to workshops to help refine the craft. I suggest many other to do the same. You can't ask a book a question, but you can ask a human. Well, hopefully.

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Redfork2000

The three main questions you should ask your characters are.

1. What is their goal?
2. What motivates them?
3. What stands in the way?

After that, I suggest you look up questions you can ask on a date. Cheesy, I know, but it works. Go take your characters on a date!

 

[ashwynne]

Aye!
I chose a different lifelong career path than full-time writing, but I still have a few books I've been working on and I've found this really encouraging. It looks like I've been doing a lot of good things and this has given me some ideas for things to improve upon too. Really looking forward to reading more of these, it's given me a new feeling of hope for my writing that I haven't felt in quite some time

 

[Sacrosanctis]

Aye!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge, I'm learning a lot of useful stuff here. I'm looking forward to the next chapter

 

[Zer0]

Thank you for writing this AEONmeteorite , this is very nice of you!

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Guys, GUYS! I am BACK!

Questions for my threaders at the bottom.

Some of you may be wondering why it has been so dang long. Well, as some may know, I returned to university this fall. I chose classes I knew I'd struggle in and boy, guys, I'm struggling. While I can animate like a champ, scripting and 3D rendering do not come as natural for me. I'm starting to get the gist of it and into a good flow. I'm returning to my thread and RPNation. That being said, I won't be joining any RPs as of yet, nor will I be returning to any besides a single one which I love so much that I refuse to leave.

So, I have a question for my threaders. As chapters will be posted again, I'd like to know what you guys are wanting to know. What chapters would you like created? Why am I asking this? While I have time again in my schedule to post, thinking up which chapters to come next is a bit of a chore. (Though, I'm all for it if you guys don't have anything in mind.) If I get a list of what you guys want to know, then I can combine some and create predetermined chapters. Let me know!

Another question! This is more like a, "if you could", type of question. If there was an RPNationCon, one where we dress up as our character, go to booths, and all that other fun stuff, would you guys go? I've always wanted this to be a thing. And I would love to create workshops for everyone as well! I've always wanted to do a workshop in general. I am just curious.

Don't mind my poor writing, this is a lax post. I'd like threaders to know that I never mind lax posts. Unless you're showing me a sample of writing, don't feel as though you need perfect grammar and punctuation!

Love you guys!


LazyDaze Idea Melpomene Vergaan AllGoodNamesRGone Baconhands NekoQueen49 Darkmaster006 Redfork2000 Sacrosanctis ashwynne
(If you want to be added to the tag list or if I have missed you, comment on the thread with the word, "Aye!" You do not need to quote anything, just a stand-alone comment will do.)

 

[Araellion]

If you wish to be tagged on any future posts on this thread, please quote this post and say, "Aye!" I'll add you to a list so you are aware of all updates.

Aye!

 

[Idea]

Guys, GUYS! I am BACK!

Glad to have ya back XD

So, I have a question for my threaders. As chapters will be posted again, I'd like to know what you guys are wanting to know. What chapters would you like created? Why am I asking this? While I have time again in my schedule to post, thinking up which chapters to come next is a bit of a chore. (Though, I'm all for it if you guys don't have anything in mind.) If I get a list of what you guys want to know, then I can combine some and create predetermined chapters. Let me know!

Hmmmm...there's not much that comes to mind. Perhaps a little bit about worldbuilding? As someone who loves worldbuilding, and tends to worldbuild, a good story will generally only be able to dive into a snippet of all the thought I put into the world's design (otherwise the whole book would be an exposition dump). How would you propose one approach sharing more about the world, without it necessarily being connected to the story (and thus not included in it).

Maybe it's not a great question, but best I've got.

Another question! This is more like a, "if you could", type of question. If there was an RPNationCon, one where we dress up as our character, go to booths, and all that other fun stuff, would you guys go? I've always wanted this to be a thing. And I would love to create workshops for everyone as well! I've always wanted to do a workshop in general. I am just curious.

Timing, money and the fact I live in Europe would be massive obstacles, but since it is an "if you could", I'd probably attend. I doubt I'd dress up as a character though, since the majority of my characters are girls, and pretty young ones at that, and dressing up as one of my male characters probably wouldn't amount to much of a difference? Either way I'm not generally one for cosplay.

 

[deer]

AEONmeteorite , this is absolutely an incredible source! thank you so much for your time and effort for posting this guideline for us to use and learn! the amount of work and detail that was put into this is astonishing and as many, perhaps, mentioned on this thread before, it's quite simple to follow and easy to understand, especially with examples! thank you so much, AEON ! i'll be bookmarking this thread ♡

 

[AEONmeteorite]

Okay guys, one last call before I begin the next chapter!

I'd like to know what you guys are wanting to know. What chapters would you like created? Why am I asking this? While I have time again in my schedule to post, thinking up which chapters to come next is a bit of a chore. (Though, I'm all for it if you guys don't have anything in mind.) If I get a list of what you guys want to know, then I can combine some and create predetermined chapters. Let me know!

 

[honeylemon]

Aye!

Ah this is exactly what I’ve been looking for- thank you AEON!!!

 

[Redfork2000]

One topic I think would be helpful is how to keep the reader invested in the plot. How to maintain the suspense in tense moments, how to make a reader want to read just one more chapter to figure out what happens next. I've read (and probably written too) several stories that seemed to have interesting concepts, but didn't turn out to be engaging enough to want to continue reading.