fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #2936 ]

[ SECRET POST #2936 ]

⌈ Secret Post #2936 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

__________________________________________________

02.

__________________________________________________

03.

__________________________________________________

04.

__________________________________________________

05.

__________________________________________________

06.

__________________________________________________

07.

__________________________________________________

08.

__________________________________________________

09.

__________________________________________________

10.

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 066 secrets from Secret Submission Post #420.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ], [ 1 - text secret ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

When you're browsing for fanfic..

"OH NICE! A longer 10k+ word fic! The summary and tags look so awesome to me!! Right up my alley, yes!"

*Clicks*

.... it's in first person POV.

Ugh, I hate first person POV in fanfic. There are some books where it works well for me, but it's uncommon.

ayrt

Yeah, books are fine.

But .. fanfic? NOOOOOPE.

OMG. This problem has been killing me lately. I got into MI:4 fic with the Will Brandt/Ethan Hunt pairing. There is one author whose summaries seem like a fic I would love but they are first person POV. I have tried my damnedest to get used to that but I just can't.

I don't really get the hate-on people have lately for first person POV fics. As long as it's well-written and in character, I don't care what POV a fic uses.

IA

I usually only dislike first person POV if its badly done, or the POV character is annoying or a jerk. Or both.

Thiiis. I've lived all my life without being aware that there was supposed to be any quality difference between 1st person POV and other types of POV. And then fandom randomly has this huge issue with first-person narration.

I tend to avoid first person fic (though there are some that are wonderful) because I find it off putting to get that level of insight into a character's thoughts when it's not present in the source material. But I've read some that were really great so I wouldn't be adverse to reading more.

Ugh, averse. Ducking autocorrect.

I have been in 8 different fandoms over about 20 years, and I have read tens of thousands of fics. I don't usually sort them until after I've been in the fandom for a while, so I read absolutely everything. Of all these fics, I have read one first person fic that I consider good. One.

There may not be an innate difference in quality between the two POVs, but fandom certainly divides itself out to make first person POV the bad fics, it seems.

First person is a pretty uncommon POV, except in fandoms where the source material is in first person, so, uh, that might have something to do with your figures there.

I don't think it is a quality difference so much as personal preference. I personally almost never like first person POV, whether it is fics or books. I just can't seem to get into them. Reading for me is about being sucked into the universe of the story, and I can't seem to do that if it is written in first person.

As long as it's well-written and in character

Therein lies the problem in my fandoms. For me, first person POV doesn't work for me the moment a character thinks something that I don't think that character would.

When it's third person, it's easier to assign my image of a character to the character based on their actions. When the character is right there, saying things and observing things while giving their constant stream of specific feedback, it's very easy to go "off the rails" to me.

I don't think first person POV is inherently bad. I just don't read it out of preference because 99 times out of 100, the writer's view of a character isn't the same as my own.

Yes.

Just yes.

This is a really short-sighted thing to be upset over. I get it if it's poorly written but if you're looking to explore a certain internal/closed perspective in a fic, that's what first person is for. It can feel totally out of place if you have something meant to be introspective for a particular character, and you try to smash it all into a third person pov. It's so much harder to have huge paragraphs of free-flowing thought when you're telling them through a separate narrator, second hand.

tl;dr It's a specific tool that can make for a really interesting work if it's done right.

First person is great if it's done right.

Animorphs comes to mind, most of those books are first person and people write fics in first person to "match" the source. (The results vary...)

I don't really understand why so many people in fandom hate first-person POV?

First-person is just like any other narrative device to me. It can be done really well and add a great deal to the story.

I don't see much first person POV, but I don't think it'd be a deal-breaker for me. Second person POV, on the other hand... Eurgh.

I'd read past the first paragraph before throwing in the towel. First person rarely works in fic but once or twice I've been surprised.

Chiming in that I also don't get the first person hate. I get it's more difficult to do well because it assumes the thoughts of the character, but I think it certainly can be done. One of my favorite original fics is first person, so there's no canon to be compromised, but I genuinely don't think the story would've worked in third person.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #2936 ]

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances

Re: Fandom Annoyances