[ SECRET POST #5311 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #5311 ⌋

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


01.



__________________________________________________



02.



__________________________________________________



03.



__________________________________________________



04.



__________________________________________________



05.



__________________________________________________



06.











Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 13 secrets from Secret Submission Post #760.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 1 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[fscom]

General comments:

(If the thread contains spoilery/triggery content please warn/post as 2nd comment so it collapses!
Please collapse images, too!)

Writing advice -1st person

[(Anonymous)]

I have a story idea I've decided would be well suited to a first person narrator. But I am aware that a lot of people dislike first person POV. What traits should my narrator/ protagonist or their narration style have to make the first person narration less unpleasant?

Re: Writing advice -1st person

[philstar22]

i'm someone who really hates first person and almost always am going to avoid it. but one thing that stands out among the worst first person is when the character spends a lot of time talking about themselves, describing themselves, or just focusing on themselves. so probably don't have them do that.

Re: Writing advice -1st person

[(Anonymous)]

I'd just flat out avoid it anon. Unless you have a very strong character voice in your head for them.

I can't think of traits to avoid, but two good examples of first person imo are the Thursday Next books and of course PG Wodehouse's Jeeves stories.

Re: Writing advice -1st person

[(Anonymous)]

First person POV is my favorite, but I don’t like it when the character spends pages and pages monologuing or waxing poetic about their appearance. The character also has to have a unique voice for me to connect to, but that’s pretty subjective. And I can’t stand when the POVs shift from first to third. That just takes me right out of the story.

Re: Writing advice -1st person

[icecheetah]

I think you might be approaching this a bit in the wrong way? Like, rather than think of a checklist of things that you should avoid, maybe think of WHY they are like that.

Take the idea of the "I describe myself in detail in the mirror scene." It's used to describe the protagonist, but is it absolutely NECESSARY for the reader to know what they look like?

It can be good if something about their appearance and/or their relationship with their image has relevance to the story, or at least ties into the personality. (e.g. mocking themself because they have low self esteem, praising themself because they love their appearance, they are sick or cursed and they look in the mirror to track the changes in how it affects them, the scene ends with a reveal that somehow they look completely different than they are supposed to... .)

The big advantage of First Person is that you get a real intimate view of the character's POV. But you must also put things through the filter of "Would they really do/notice this?". So, you do need them to be the sort who would notice the things readers are interested in.

You can do neat things like showing what the protagonist really thinks and how it contrasts with how they act. (e.g. I thought his tie was awful. "Your tie's amazing!" I said.) Yeah, you can do this with other forms, but all POVs have different strengths and weaknesses.

Re: Writing advice -1st person

[(Anonymous)]

There will always be people who reject first person POV just because it's first person POV, so that can't be helped. For the rest, I'd say that it can be pulled off with good writing. Personally, these are some of the things I dislike about first person POV:

* Too many "I" statements. Some are unavoidable, of course. But the danger in only being inside one character's head is that it can turn into a lot of navel-gazing, and that's both boring and annoying.

* Excessive self-description. This can be tedious no matter what the POV, but it's more conspicuous in first person. Having the narrator stare into a mirror/reflective surface and note their own hair/eye color, build, facial features, what they're wearing, etc. just doesn't feel very natural.

* Too much of the inner thought process. Again, some of this is unavoidable, but keeping it short and sweet really helps. Very few characters are so fascinating that you want to read paragraphs and paragraphs of whatever is running through their mind... especially since that tends to be mundane or unnecessary detail.

One huge thing that really makes first person POV for me is when the writer knows their character inside and out and the narrator has a distinctive "voice". When it's done right, you get to know this person by what they say AND by how they say it. A dash of potentially unreliable narrator is great, too, if you can swing it. But this is really, really hard to do and so many first person POV just don't sound very distinctive - or at least, not terribly distinctive from every other character in the story.

Re: Writing advice -1st person

[(Anonymous)]

I prefer third person because it doesn't limit what I can "see" or know as a reader but I think first person can play really well. It allows you to get to know a character well by riding with them and letting you see the story through their eyes. I hate dialect and have never seen it carried out well. And remember that your character isn't going to "see" themselves so I cringe at stuff like "My blue eyes sparkled with tears" or "Every eye in the bar followed the swish of my ass in a skin tight leather miniskirt." I am never ever thinking about how porcelain my skin, green my eyes, bouncy my breasts, or round my butt is so it feels stupid when the first person narrator is waxing poetic.

Re: Writing advice -1st person

[(Anonymous)]

My thing with first person POV in original fiction is that so much of it sounds very same-y. IMO, first person is the laziest POV and the hardest to do well--everyone knows what it sounds like in their own head, etc.

The trick, I think, is to have a narrator who really *feels* like a person, and who is very distinctive. Two of my favorite books that are in the first person are Gone Girl (particularly Amy's sections) and Robin McKinley's Sunshine.

But a lot of times in first person fiction, I feel like the narrator could be anyone, because it's just a lot of "I said this, I did this," etc. A successful story in first person is like writing fantastic dialogue, except your whole story *has to be fantastic dialogue*. Because you have to capture the "voice" in every single line.

How are we today?

[(Anonymous)]

I'm still melting, but I managed to finish a library book I've had since 2019 and was able to return it today.

Re: How are we today?

[kallanda_lee]

I had my second shot...so hurty arm and a bit woozy, but all in all relieved?

Re: How are we today?

[philstar22]

migraine plus hormones, so not particularly great. currently in my room, avoiding the world. not even watching anything, have ear plugs in. currently uploading new icons while hoping the ice on my head and the tramadol i took does something.

Re: How are we today?

[pantswarrior]

So much pain/nausea/reflux still.

I thought Thursday night it might have been food poisoning (new jar of Nutella I opened was really runny, I think my sis-in-law who brought it over had it sitting in her car all day while she was at work -_- Smelled/tasted okay and I wouldn't have thought it would go bad from sitting in a hot car while still unopened) but since I've felt similarly horrible for at least part of every day since then, probably not.

On the bright side if I ever feel okay enough to want to eat again that probably means Nutella is back on the table, but... so far I haven't wanted to.

I just wish I felt okay enough to go be outside at the park in the nice weather, or to have done some raiding tonight with the usual PoGo raid train, or even to focus enough on something that isn't pain/nausea to be able to get back to editing the fic that was on hold this weekend due to Go Fest. Or clean my house. Or do anything other than lie in bed with the laptop looking for something I can idly distract myself with.

Re: How are we today?

[kaijinscendre]

Have a headache and am just increasingly stressed by a shipment we are having a problem with.

Re: How are we today?

[(Anonymous)]

Oooooooh, what was the total of the late fees?

Last book you read or currently reading?

[(Anonymous)]

Just finished Annie on my Mind by Nancy Gardener - which was alright. It was recommended on every LGBT book post on Tumblr at one point so I can finally cross it off my to-read list.

Also reading 'Tove Jansson - Life. Art. Words' by Boel Westin and 'You Will Get Through This Night' by Daniel Howell.

Re: Last book you read or currently reading?

[philstar22]

well, besides cases plus Kurban's immigration guide for work, I'm currently reading:

1. A dream given form: the unofficial guide to babylon 5 by dale koontz
2. the medical detectives ii by berton roueche
3. the complete works of lovecraft

Re: Last book you read or currently reading?

[kaijinscendre]

I am currently reading The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by Tess Gerritsen. Pretty good so far.

Re: Last book you read or currently reading?

[(Anonymous)]

Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I've read very little Fantasy in my life, but I liked Uprooted a lot. Which is funny because, despite being very well-written, the author's fanfic has never done much for me.

Re: Last book you read or currently reading?

[(Anonymous)]

Nineteen Seventy-Four by David Peace, and The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez.

Gone but not forgotten

[(Anonymous)]

What are your fondly remembered fics that are no longer available online?

For me, all of Lyrebird's Man From UNCLE TOS fic.

Tumblr Posts+

[(Anonymous)]

Thoughts?

Advice

[(Anonymous)]

How do you guys handle someone who brags non-stop and you have to get along with them? I mean there’s ignoring, but this person is in a position of power, so it would look weird to ignore them constantly.

Random Thoughts

[(Anonymous)]

I have some random thoughts related to my fandom that I can't really put out anywhere else so here we are. Sound off any random thoughts F!S

Rant of sorts

[(Anonymous)]

I need a tee shirt or something with 'I am weird and awful with people' printed on it. It's so awful being this bad with other humans, and I really worry that they think I'm crazy or racist or hate men or other women or anything. Aaaugh.