Free Indirect Style & Other POVs

[Jamie]

It seems counter-intuitive to me that on the one hand it's called 'closed' and on the other 'free.' But otherwise... it's simply a mode of story telling.

[Christina]

Let's just call it all writing. ;)

[[deleted user]]

I always write in 3rd person. I once tried a short story in 2nd person, and the editor of the magazine I submitted it to said he liked the idea, and the story, and maybe I could try to rewrite it in a more conventional way. I did. He didn't like that one either. No more 2nd-person for me. Since I usually have more than one POV character, I also never write in 1st-person.

[G.G.]

I only wrote a couple of second POV story. On an online writing course we had to write one story in two different POVs. I was tired of the regular POVs so I chose second POV. The thing is for short stories it can work well. My classmates seemed to like my second POV stories.

I don't mean to write it to publish but it's fun to practice.

Oh, and I was told that although Free indirect style is often called close third, there are still some slight differences between the two of them.

Here's what I found on Wiki:

Examples of direct, indirect, and free indirect speech

Quoted or direct speech:

He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. "And just what pleasure have I found, since I came into this world?" he asked.

Reported or normal indirect speech:

He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. He asked himself what pleasure he had found since he came into the world.

Free indirect speech:
He laid down his bundle and thought of his misfortune. And just what pleasure had he found, since he came into this world?

From those three examples, I can I've see a lot of the third, and even more of all three mixed together.

[Jamie]

I'm reading Hunting and Gathering at the mo. Very strongly of the ilk.

[Dwayne, Head of Lettuce]

In that other, now closed thread, BB wrote:

This is my writing technique:



That's exactly how I do it, too!

[Quantum]

that other thread shouldn't have been closed. what was referred to as "deep POV" in that thread was quite different than "indirect free style".

[Quoleena]

Alex G wrote: "that other thread shouldn't have been closed. what was referred to as "deep POV" in that thread was quite different than "indirect free style"."

Both are about POV. Since this was started first, it won by default.

[Christina]

It was closed because we do not need more than one discussion on POV. All POVs may be discussed here.

[Quantum]

Christina wrote: "It was closed because we do not need more than one discussion on POV. All POVs may be discussed here."

POV is way too general. the thread can get too long?

the thread title is incorrect also or at best unclear.

[Quantum]

V.M. wrote: "I've changed the title of this thread to make it more open to other POVs.."

excellent! thx!

discoverability has been enhanced. ; )

[K.P.]

Lolz i like writing male characters GG. They're fun and i like throwing wrenches into things to make it different. Only had a few complaints about some of my male characters being too emo but i shrug it off because i met some dudes who were - not all men are macho alpha types.

I have a few stories where there's a female protagonist but always got complaints how she doesnt have the 'right' reactions to situations. I really don't get it ... I never could figure out what readers meant and it was never really explained so i shrug it off as to i write atypical characters.

I had a discussion recently with my writer friends where we talked about our styles and what we're comfortable with. I primarly do third (omniscent, limited and deep) and i enjoy reading those (now it seems rare as first is more prelavent and i can't stand it because the ones i've read suffered heavily from author voice). I would like to read a well written first person story and i came across some that are decent (dopplegangster and the dresden files series).
Write what you're comfortable with but don't be afraid to venture out tbat comfort zone. I want to tackle second one of these days and might write in first again one day but not anytime soon lolz

[Quantum]

K.P. wrote: " first is more prelavent and i can't stand it because the ones i've read suffered heavily from author voice... came across some that are decent (dopplegangster and the dresden files series.

this one? Dopplegangster.

how can an author's voice be bad in first person? isn't the narrator the MC? <:) or is it that the author is not in tune w/the MC? like they don't have the mannerisms and dialogue down or are not consistent in their application? Or they slip out of 1st person into omniscient 3rd or something like that?

[R.]

My take on this is that you can either go into distant or conventional third person if you want the reader to see the whole room, but it is best to leave out unspoken thoughts, or you can be in close third, hear that character's thoughts but only see what they can see, or as a third alternative switch into first and move the verbs up by one tense to get even closer.

For example:

Jim went head first through the door to the kitchen, rolled over on the greasy tiles, pulled out his gun and fired at his pursuers.

Jim went head first through the door, landing on greasy tiles in what proved to be the kitchen. Then the comforting weight of his gun was in his hand and, as he fired, he realised that he had a chance.

Jim dived through the door, landing face down on greasy tiles. Pulling out his gun he opened fire. Fred, today you die.

Note that in the first one the reader knows that the room is the kitchen before the character does, in the second and third the reader only finds out that it's the kitchen when the character tells them. In the third example the two participles describe simultaneous actions, which is faster and closer than one action after another. The action is in the past tense, but the unspoken thought is present, reporting what the character thought at the time.

That's the way I was taught to do it. There may be others.

[Owen]

Good advice, R. I find some predetermined vantage point to go a long way towards helping a reader grasp where they stand in the story. Additionally, you don't have to spell out every character's thoughts to your readers. Using action, dialogue, and one character's perception of another gives your reader a clue to what's going on in that other character's head, but also keeps them unsure if their guess is right or not, which gives them another reason to keep reading.

[R.]

Owen wrote: "Good advice, R. I find some predetermined vantage point to go a long way towards helping a reader grasp where they stand in the story. Additionally, you don't have to spell out every character's th..."

Thanks. One other trick, and I do this quite a lot in the Jane novels, is that when Jane has just had one of her outrageous ideas for outwitting the bad guys I step back into distant third, so that her unspoken thoughts vanish, and the reader is left knowing that she is planning something extreme, but guessing as to exactly what she is about to do.

[Jamie]

Jim went head first through the kitchen door and landed hard on the greasy tiled floor. Shit. He rolled on to his back, pulled out his gun and fired. Blindly. Recklessly.