Writing Perspective

I've been trying to write a story or two lately and have been struggling with deciding what perspective to use. When I'm writing I find that using first person perspective comes much easier to me, probably because the online roleplaying I've done usually uses first person perspective. All my favorite stories in the library use a 3rd person perspective though.

I guess what I'm wondering is do other people have a preference in terms of what perspective they like to write in or read? And if anyone has any tips about getting more comfortable writing in different perspectives?

I prefer to read stories in the third person perspective. The author is able to adopt a "God" perspective. He can write about everything that happens, even what the characters are thinking and feeling as the events happen. And there can be flashbacks if appropropriate. So many things are possible with the third person perspective.

It depends in part on the nature of the story you're trying to tell. Read my article in the 7th issue of LSF's Well-red Weekly. (Interview with Rick Marlowe)

I agree with you. I don't have a favorite perspective, it's just a matter of how the story flows when I first set up the plot.

I use first person for more "narrative" stories, where I'm trying to impart what either the spanker or spankee is experiencing (both physically and emotionally). What's impressive to me is when an author can have several different parties all narrating their personal impressions to create a cohesive overall story.

I use third person for stories that are more "descriptive" in nature. These generally tend to be longer since they usually involve a lot of back-fill to set up the story before arriving at the actual punishment.

It might be an interesting intellectual exercise to go back through the stories I've posted and see what percent were from each perspective. I'd guess that it would be around 50% for each but I might be surprised with the actual results.

I find it comes naturally from the start depending on whether I feel 'I am or was' that character, rather than speaking of a character that I have created from various parts.

I enjoy writing stories from both first and third person perspective. I think it's the nature of the story that governs (maybe should govern) which is best. First person means the reader is right there with the action and sees everything through that one 'eye'. Third person is more god-like as someone else said and does allow opinions etc from more than the one aspect as in first person.

I have tried a couple of stories in second person perspective, so the reader is actually in the scene. It's worth a thought, even if the writer just wants to experiment.

I naturally tend towards writing in the first person, usually from the point of view of the spankee, as I find it easier to capture the spankee's feelings, especially if they are a naive or gullible type of person. However, readers seem to prefer it when I write third person stories. I think this may be because third person allows them to identify with either the spanker or the spankee, or else just be a fly on the wall, whereas first person tends to be more restrictive and forces them into the mind of the narrator. So the decision, to some extent, may depend on whether you are writing for yourself or for other people.

Just did a random sampling of 50 of my stories: 17 first person, 33 third person. Apparently, if the sample is an accurate representation, I write a lot more third person stories than I thought.

No preference, Nswitch, but, like you, I find first-person flows more freely because I'm writing as a character, so the language tends to be more colloquial and the perspective simpler. In some stories, I've used two, three or four different "I" narrators, giving a section to each and switching between them so the narrative unfolds from different perspectives (though it's best to signal the switches clearly so readers don't get confused!). The epistolary form (having characters write letters to each other), works this way too. Arguably, this gives you the best of both worlds - escaping the straitjacket of a single viewpoint while enjoying the freshness of "I" narrators.

But third person can also allow you to describe a character's thoughts/feelings quite intimately, using the 'over-the-shoulder' technique - just be careful not to jump from character to character too suddenly.

My tip for effective 3rd person (or any) narrative would, in a word, be "variety". Narrative consists mainly of action, description, dialogue and reflection, so mix them up: avoid too long a passage of any one at a time. Dialogue's particularly important for keeping it engaging: even if it's just a couple of exchanges, dialogue is immediate and can be a good way to 'show' character rather than 'tell' about it.

Here endeth my tuppence-worth!

For me, it depends on what I want the emphasis to be on in the story. I think most of mine are in third person, though a fair number are in first person. I have one on the site that is in first person, but is as if part was written by the young lady being paddled and her thoughts on the process, what lead up to it, how she felt, how it felt. Part was purpotedly written by the teacher who paddled her, and how she felt about it, both the students behavior and how she felt while administering the punishment and after it was done.