Character perspectives and narrator styles

[Shocker]

What do you imagine to be difficult about that? I simply don't view men as being harder to understand than women so the gender of the character I write about usually is not particularly interesting for me. I bet if you were to write a story from a female point of view and published that under a female alias nobody would be able to tell.

I've tried, and the inner monologue seemed a bit off to me. My female characters seem to work better in 3L when the narrative distance is greater. Oh yeah, 'my cunt' etc. might have weirded me out a little.

I might give it another go, let's see what comes out.

You are not alone in that. I have very much the same problem.

[Lucius]

Hey, I'm autistic. Writing any gender "correctly" is a challenge for me! But I don't let that stop me doing 1st person perspective. I think it does just come down to reading a lot of stuff by other writers and using that as signposts.

Oh, I read A LOT. However, my attempts at convincing girlish voice have -- by my lights -- failed. And I'm the first reader of my stories, after all.

FWIW in 1st person, I tend not to do inner monologue, instead give the character a voice the same as for any person-perspective, and just write the whole thing in that voice unless quoting another character. Like, the protagonist is telling the story.

I have to disagree, I'm afraid. A girl being raped wouldn't have 'a voice the same as for any person-perspective'. Indeed, if it's the same, why bother with the whole first person business and not just let a god tell the whole story?

Also - practice helps. The more tools you have available, the better your writing overall will be.

I should imagine so.

[Vela Nanashi]

In first person I describe a lot of things with normal text, then saying something with "saying it" and thinking words/inner monologue 'thinking words' not sure how that compares with how you write @KittyUmbrass also I wonder how many of us on the autism spectrum there are here

[KittyUmbrass]

FWIW in 1st person, I tend not to do inner monologue, instead give the character a voice the same as for any person-perspective, and just write the whole thing in that voice unless quoting another character. Like, the protagonist is telling the story.

I have to disagree, I'm afraid. A girl being raped wouldn't have 'a voice the same as for any person-perspective'. Indeed, if it's the same, why bother with the whole first person business and not just let a god tell the whole story?

By "voice" I mean, the way that that person speaks and uses language in dialogue. So, in the ame why that you would distinguish characters in dialogue in a 3rd-person perspective, you use those techniques to give the character a distinctive voice that is also the narrator voice.

So, a victim wouldn't have the same voice as a 3rd-person narrator, she'd have a voice in the same way that a character in a 3rd person story would.

Maybe some people would consider writing that as "inner monologue", but to me, it's them narrating what happened. I tend to write in past tense (it's different if it's present tense, that is more inner monologue to me). Incidentally, if I want to tell a story in present tense, I'm more likely to make it 3rd person.

[Lucius]

By "voice" I mean, the way that that person speaks and uses language in dialogue. So, in the ame why that you would distinguish characters in dialogue in a 3rd-person perspective, you use those techniques to give the character a distinctive voice that is also the narrator voice.

So, a victim wouldn't have the same voice as a 3rd-person narrator, she'd have a voice in the same way that a character in a 3rd person story would.

Maybe some people would consider writing that as "inner monologue", but to me, it's them narrating what happened. I tend to write in past tense (it's different if it's present tense, that is more inner monologue to me). Incidentally, if I want to tell a story in present tense, I'm more likely to make it 3rd person.

Narrative distance is key. First person isn't deep POV by default, but I think one should go for it in our kind of stories -- do a Holden Caulfield, in a manner of speaking. Sure one can have the Empress Julia Mamaea telling to her son Alexander that she had Heliogabalus' favourite slave-girl gang-raped by the praetorians during her coup years earlier, but what's the point and benefit of choosing first person for that?

'But Lucius,' I say to myself, 'Doesn't Dr Watson narrate The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes well without all that Salingerian deep diving?'

'Of course he does,' I answer. 'But who cares about Dr Watson?'

[RapeU]

By "voice" I mean, the way that that person speaks and uses language in dialogue. So, in the ame why that you would distinguish characters in dialogue in a 3rd-person perspective, you use those techniques to give the character a distinctive voice that is also the narrator voice.

So, a victim wouldn't have the same voice as a 3rd-person narrator, she'd have a voice in the same way that a character in a 3rd person story would.

Maybe some people would consider writing that as "inner monologue", but to me, it's them narrating what happened. I tend to write in past tense (it's different if it's present tense, that is more inner monologue to me). Incidentally, if I want to tell a story in present tense, I'm more likely to make it 3rd person.

Narrative distance is key. First person isn't deep POV by default, but I think one should go for it in our kind of stories -- do a Holden Caulfield, in a manner of speaking. Sure one can have the Empress Julia Mamaea telling to her son Alexander that she had Heliogabalus' favourite slave-girl gang-raped by the praetorians during her coup years earlier, but what's the point and benefit of choosing first person for that?

'But Lucius,' I say to myself, 'Doesn't Dr Watson narrate The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes well without all that Salingerian deep diving?'

'Of course he does,' I answer. 'But who cares about Dr Watson?'

Ultimately the story narration depends on the story. As a fellow writer, I would encourage you to try new things. If they don't work or you end up not liking it, at least you tried something different. If it sort of works but the story falls flat you can try again. And if it works, then hey it works!

As for me, I went to somewhat of an extreme to get the female perspective. I found a CnC group online, pretended to be female, and participated in a few online CnC roleplays as a female. Some of those roleplays gave me good material to work with story wise. You might not want to go to that extreme of course, but it doesn't hurt to think of diving into a female character as an actor/actress would do with other characters. Just of a different gender.

[Lucius]

Ultimately the story narration depends on the story. As a fellow writer, I would encourage you to try new things. If they don't work or you end up not liking it, at least you tried something different. If it sort of works but the story falls flat you can try again. And if it works, then hey it works!

I agree. I've mentioned earlier that my attempts at 'first-person victim' have left me unsatisfied, but I might well consider giving it another go -- if the plot is a right fit.

As for me, I went to somewhat of an extreme to get the female perspective. I found a CnC group online, pretended to be female, and participated in a few online CnC roleplays as a female. Some of those roleplays gave me good material to work with story wise. You might not want to go to that extreme of course, but it doesn't hurt to think of diving into a female character as an actor/actress would do with other characters. Just of a different gender.

Indeed I might not!