DECEPTION!: An Anthology is PUBLISHED!
I’m a published author!
Many thanks to the Writing Bloc Indie Publishing Team and all the other authors involved, it was a huge group effort. And I’m obscenely excited about it!
Category: Uncategorized
Second Person Narrative
You won’t often find a story written in second person. I chose to write my science fiction novel “Mutants: Uprising” in second person, but usually I write in third person, or first. The author picks a point of view that best serves their story, as you can invoke different feelings and reactions from the reader with each.
First person narrative is what you use when you want your main character to be the narrator of the book. They are personally relating the story to the reader in some fashion, and the author can ONLY tell you what the main character is feeling or seeing.
Example: I ran down the street, my flip-flops slapping the pavement noisily, trying to memorize the license plate before the car drove out of sight. As it turned the corner, tires squealing, I skidded to a stop, gasping for air like a fish. Why don’t I exercise more?! “I only got the first four numbers,” I said, turning to Sarah, who somehow looked fresh as a daisy despite running after me. “Did you do any better?” She shook her head.
Third person narrative will allow you to enter the head of one or MORE characters – third person limited means you are still experiencing the story from the POV of one character, but you can also write in third person omniscient, which means you can reveal the thoughts and feelings of every character whenever you like. Many books, like George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, will use third person limited but ALSO switch characters in every chapter. So for one chapter you are experiencing Main Character 1, and the next you’re switching to Main Character 2, et cetera.
Example: She ran down the street, her flip-flops slapping the pavement noisily, trying to memorize the license plate before the car drove out of sight. As it turned the corner, tires squealing, she skidded to a stop, gasping for air like a fish and bemoaning her fitness level. “I only got the first four numbers,” she said, turning to Sarah, who somehow looked fresh as a daisy despite running after her. “Did you do any better?” Sarah shook her head.
Second person narrative puts the READER in the action. The reader becomes the main character, and the story becomes more immediate and urgent than First or Third person. You will find this POV used most often in Choose Your Own Adventure books. I wrote Mutants: Uprising in second person because I wanted to invoke that feeling of a CYOA book, and let the reader really get involved in the story.
Example: You run down the street, your flip-flops slapping the pavement noisily, trying to memorize the license plate before the car drives out of sight. As it turns the corner, tires squealing, you skid to a stop, gasping for air like a fish and cursing your fitness level. “I only got the first four numbers,” you say to Sarah, who still looks as fresh as a daisy despite running after you. “Did you do any better?” She shakes her head.
I hope this helps you understand the different point of views a little better. 🙂
Here be Dragyns
Dragons can take many forms. For me, personally, they take the shape of Anxiety and Self-Doubt. They sit on my shoulders and whisper into my ear that I’m not good enough. They reach down and pull from their hoard of memories just exactly the worst one for me to think about, and shove it inside my head.
If the movie Inside Out were real, Fear is sitting at the emotion console, trying to press the buttons.
Anxiety makes me worry about things I can’t do anything about. It squeezes my chest and makes it hard to breathe sometimes. To get rid of it, I try to ignore my fears – but when they come back they remind me that I was purposefully setting them aside, and that nothing has changed in my circumstances. Money is tight. Raising three kids is difficult. My relationships grow more strained, or distant.
Self-Doubt tells me that I’m just not good enough to overcome whatever it is that’s making me anxious. And the dragons circle around me like vultures, waiting to feast as I crawl into bed and pull the covers over my head.
So hear this, Dragons. I’m going to keep moving forward, even when you grab my ankles and try to slow me down. I may fall short of my goals, but at least I am moving toward them.
