Welcome to the third subtopic for the style workshop! Today we'll be going over 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, and how you can use them to help in your writing. Using different points of view is a good way to develop a style, so let's get started!

First, a quick review

• 1st person is one of the most common, and it's writing using I/we! It is from your perspective, as the author or main character. For example, “I walked upstairs, meeting up with my friends. We smiled at each other.”
  

• 2nd person is less-used - it's using you, through the reader's point of view. “You go outside, and pick up a notebook. Your hair flutters in the breeze.”
  

• 3rd person is also easy to find. It's writing from the outside, narrating the events that are happening. “She looked at him, her eyes warm. He smiled in response.”
  

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about what each of these are good for! Think about these strengths as you decide what would be the best for your story.

• 1st person is good for sharing personal thoughts and feelings, so if you're writing a story where the focus is more “inside” the character than outside, this might be a good choice. Also, this is the default for writing stories about yourself, so most memoirs and autobiographies are written in first person. It's also a really good way to show personality!
  

• 2nd person makes it all about the reader. You're immersing the reader into the story, by making the events of the story all about them. A lot of CYOAs (choose your own adventures) are in this format. There's a risk, though - you might accidentally make it harder to believe, as in the case of many (your/name) stories, where the character is so far-fetched and unrelatable that it becomes hard to read.
  

• 3rd person is more of a detached viewpoint. You can use it to display events in a more unbiased manner, which is how newspapers are. Or you can use it to display a wider scope of events, since an all-powerful narrator can be in places that your actual characters can't. And of course, it's a good way to get information across, without your characters finding out!
  Some people also decide to make their narrator not all powerful. Some narrators only see some people's feelings. Other narrators don't see any feelings at all. There's a wide variety even within 3rd person!
  

Of course, this is writing, and rules are meant to be broken. You can mix things up - like writing about yourself in second person, or making the 3rd person narrator themselves a character (although all-knowing and all-powerful). You can switch perspectives half-way through! Or you can do the strange but interesting idea of writing it from seemingly third-person, but later revealing that the narrator was a fallable human all along. It's your decision.

Also, feel free to experiment! You can start writing a story one way, but then decide that “hmm, maybe it would be better this way!” The great thing about being a writer is that you're allowed to do basically whatever you want. Go wild! Or not.

Like always, it's your choice.

pitau wrote:

Welcome to the third subtopic for the style workshop! Today we'll be going over 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, and how you can use them to help in your writing. Using different points of view is a good way to develop a style, so let's get started!

First, a quick review

• 1st person is one of the most common, and it's writing using I/we! It is from your perspective, as the author or main character. For example, “I walked upstairs, meeting up with my friends. We smiled at each other.”
  

• 2nd person is less-used - it's using you, through the reader's point of view. “You go outside, and pick up a notebook. Your hair flutters in the breeze.”
  

• 3rd person is also easy to find. It's writing from the outside, narrating the events that are happening. “She looked at him, her eyes warm. He smiled in response.”
  

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about what each of these are good for! Think about these strengths as you decide what would be the best for your story.

• 1st person is good for sharing personal thoughts and feelings, so if you're writing a story where the focus is more “inside” the character than outside, this might be a good choice. Also, this is the default for writing stories about yourself, so most memoirs and autobiographies are written in first person. It's also a really good way to show personality!
  

• 2nd person makes it all about the reader. You're immersing the reader into the story, by making the events of the story all about them. A lot of CYOAs (choose your own adventures) are in this format. There's a risk, though - you might accidentally make it harder to believe, as in the case of many (your/name) stories, where the character is so far-fetched and unrelatable that it becomes hard to read.
  

• 3rd person is more of a detached viewpoint. You can use it to display events in a more unbiased manner, which is how newspapers are. Or you can use it to display a wider scope of events, since an all-powerful narrator can be in places that your actual characters can't. And of course, it's a good way to get information across, without your characters finding out!
  Some people also decide to make their narrator not all powerful. Some narrators only see some people's feelings. Other narrators don't see any feelings at all. There's a wide variety even within 3rd person!
  

Of course, this is writing, and rules are meant to be broken. You can mix things up - like writing about yourself in second person, or making the 3rd person narrator themselves a character (although all-knowing and all-powerful). You can switch perspectives half-way through! Or you can do the strange but interesting idea of writing it from seemingly third-person, but later revealing that the narrator was a fallable human all along. It's your decision.

Also, feel free to experiment! You can start writing a story one way, but then decide that “hmm, maybe it would be better this way!” The great thing about being a writer is that you're allowed to do basically whatever you want. Go wild! Or not.

Like always, it's your choice.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome!!! Would it be okay if I was using 3rd person and said “Nina thought….blahblahblah”

peppapigX10 wrote:

Awesome!!! Would it be okay if I was using 3rd person and said “Nina thought….blahblahblah”

yep! though it depends who's saying that - are they an all-knowing narrator or just a fellow human? it might be a bit weird if a character who can't read minds said that lol

pitau wrote:

peppapigX10 wrote:

Awesome!!! Would it be okay if I was using 3rd person and said “Nina thought….blahblahblah”

yep! though it depends who's saying that - are they an all-knowing narrator or just a fellow human? it might be a bit weird if a character who can't read minds said that lol

Haha lol but yeah -it's kinda like a all-knowing narrator Thanks!!!

Thank you for posting this! This is awesome

awesome!! thanks for making this workshop!!

Wow! Thanks for the workshop! SUPER helpful. (OMG! I almost forgot what first,second and third person was) And OMG thanks!

when green flag clicked
say [Thank you for this helpful workshop!] for (2) secs

-Nikki_Maxwell15

pitau wrote:

Welcome to the third subtopic for the style workshop! Today we'll be going over 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, and how you can use them to help in your writing. Using different points of view is a good way to develop a style, so let's get started!

First, a quick review

• 1st person is one of the most common, and it's writing using I/we! It is from your perspective, as the author or main character. For example, “I walked upstairs, meeting up with my friends. We smiled at each other.”
  

• 2nd person is less-used - it's using you, through the reader's point of view. “You go outside, and pick up a notebook. Your hair flutters in the breeze.”
  

• 3rd person is also easy to find. It's writing from the outside, narrating the events that are happening. “She looked at him, her eyes warm. He smiled in response.”
  

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about what each of these are good for! Think about these strengths as you decide what would be the best for your story.

• 1st person is good for sharing personal thoughts and feelings, so if you're writing a story where the focus is more “inside” the character than outside, this might be a good choice. Also, this is the default for writing stories about yourself, so most memoirs and autobiographies are written in first person. It's also a really good way to show personality!
  

• 2nd person makes it all about the reader. You're immersing the reader into the story, by making the events of the story all about them. A lot of CYOAs (choose your own adventures) are in this format. There's a risk, though - you might accidentally make it harder to believe, as in the case of many (your/name) stories, where the character is so far-fetched and unrelatable that it becomes hard to read.
  

• 3rd person is more of a detached viewpoint. You can use it to display events in a more unbiased manner, which is how newspapers are. Or you can use it to display a wider scope of events, since an all-powerful narrator can be in places that your actual characters can't. And of course, it's a good way to get information across, without your characters finding out!
  Some people also decide to make their narrator not all powerful. Some narrators only see some people's feelings. Other narrators don't see any feelings at all. There's a wide variety even within 3rd person!
  

Of course, this is writing, and rules are meant to be broken. You can mix things up - like writing about yourself in second person, or making the 3rd person narrator themselves a character (although all-knowing and all-powerful). You can switch perspectives half-way through! Or you can do the strange but interesting idea of writing it from seemingly third-person, but later revealing that the narrator was a fallable human all along. It's your decision.

Also, feel free to experiment! You can start writing a story one way, but then decide that “hmm, maybe it would be better this way!” The great thing about being a writer is that you're allowed to do basically whatever you want. Go wild! Or not.

Like always, it's your choice.

really good! I usually write in 1st person, so for the daily today i tried out 3rd! I feel like 2nd is really difficult for me for some reason. Do you have any tips to make my 2nd better? thanks!!

-_-Blue_Skies-_- wrote:

pitau wrote:

snip

really good! I usually write in 1st person, so for the daily today i tried out 3rd! I feel like 2nd is really difficult for me for some reason. Do you have any tips to make my 2nd better? thanks!!

i’m not pitau but i would suggest reading make your own adventure books (or something similar, i don’t remember what the genre is called); 2nd person isn’t super common but those are really good examples of the pov and may help you. another thing is find ways to pull the reader in, to make them feel like they really are there. there’s something special about that that other povs don’t have.

this might be super similar to what pitau said but hope this helps <3

ackkk ty for the tips!

-_-Blue_Skies-_- wrote:

pitau wrote:

Welcome to the third subtopic for the style workshop! Today we'll be going over 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person, and how you can use them to help in your writing. Using different points of view is a good way to develop a style, so let's get started!

First, a quick review

• 1st person is one of the most common, and it's writing using I/we! It is from your perspective, as the author or main character. For example, “I walked upstairs, meeting up with my friends. We smiled at each other.”
  

• 2nd person is less-used - it's using you, through the reader's point of view. “You go outside, and pick up a notebook. Your hair flutters in the breeze.”
  

• 3rd person is also easy to find. It's writing from the outside, narrating the events that are happening. “She looked at him, her eyes warm. He smiled in response.”
  

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's talk about what each of these are good for! Think about these strengths as you decide what would be the best for your story.

• 1st person is good for sharing personal thoughts and feelings, so if you're writing a story where the focus is more “inside” the character than outside, this might be a good choice. Also, this is the default for writing stories about yourself, so most memoirs and autobiographies are written in first person. It's also a really good way to show personality!
  

• 2nd person makes it all about the reader. You're immersing the reader into the story, by making the events of the story all about them. A lot of CYOAs (choose your own adventures) are in this format. There's a risk, though - you might accidentally make it harder to believe, as in the case of many (your/name) stories, where the character is so far-fetched and unrelatable that it becomes hard to read.
  

• 3rd person is more of a detached viewpoint. You can use it to display events in a more unbiased manner, which is how newspapers are. Or you can use it to display a wider scope of events, since an all-powerful narrator can be in places that your actual characters can't. And of course, it's a good way to get information across, without your characters finding out!
  Some people also decide to make their narrator not all powerful. Some narrators only see some people's feelings. Other narrators don't see any feelings at all. There's a wide variety even within 3rd person!
  

Of course, this is writing, and rules are meant to be broken. You can mix things up - like writing about yourself in second person, or making the 3rd person narrator themselves a character (although all-knowing and all-powerful). You can switch perspectives half-way through! Or you can do the strange but interesting idea of writing it from seemingly third-person, but later revealing that the narrator was a fallable human all along. It's your decision.

Also, feel free to experiment! You can start writing a story one way, but then decide that “hmm, maybe it would be better this way!” The great thing about being a writer is that you're allowed to do basically whatever you want. Go wild! Or not.

Like always, it's your choice.

really good! I usually write in 1st person, so for the daily today i tried out 3rd! I feel like 2nd is really difficult for me for some reason. Do you have any tips to make my 2nd better? thanks!!

tips: I would think about my own life! for example, something that's happened to you or to many other people would probably be relatable. like getting nervous at a piano recital. the trick is to not make it so specific if you want the reader to be able to relate to the story. hope this helps!