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Revelation!
Jan. 24th, 2005 09:48 amMy favoritte mode of writing is Third Person Limited Viewpoint. Or more accurately, it's the type of fiction writing I seem to be most comfortable with. It's certainly easier than First Person, which requires a viewpoint character who can narrate the action for the reader and yet not have an irritatingly pendantic voice, or cheat on the knowledge he has and the knowledge displayed to the reader. It's a staple of mystery fiction (think Phillip Marlow), but FP is just something I've never been able to manage with any skill.
Omniscient narrative OTOH just comes across as a copout sometimes, and done badly it's the worst of the "telling not showing" sins of narrative fiction. I can't stand it, and the it's the primary reason I have a hard time plowing though most of the Classics of Literature, not to mention even most of the stuff in genres I enjoy, like sci-fi. It tends to suck away characterization for the benefit of showing Stuff Happening, which isn't my cup of tea.
Third person limited, which concentrates on a single or just a few characters, focusing on their POV, but not confined to it, seems to be the trick for me. It allows the author to show what's going on in a character's head, without the irritation of first-person narration, and without the godly distance of omniscient.
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.
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God that looks pretentious written down, he thought.
Omniscient narrative OTOH just comes across as a copout sometimes, and done badly it's the worst of the "telling not showing" sins of narrative fiction. I can't stand it, and the it's the primary reason I have a hard time plowing though most of the Classics of Literature, not to mention even most of the stuff in genres I enjoy, like sci-fi. It tends to suck away characterization for the benefit of showing Stuff Happening, which isn't my cup of tea.
Third person limited, which concentrates on a single or just a few characters, focusing on their POV, but not confined to it, seems to be the trick for me. It allows the author to show what's going on in a character's head, without the irritation of first-person narration, and without the godly distance of omniscient.
.
.
.
God that looks pretentious written down, he thought.
