Oddbean new post about login | logout @6e9427cf @da5013b0 Taking my inspiration from light novels and JP lit. 80% of what I write is first person. I keep a little scorecard of the tells for each character. Another 10% is third-person limited. The characters I have the most trouble with are one's whoare terse.
@6e9427cf @da5013b0 I once did a story in 1st person omnipotent disguised as 3rd person and revealed my character as a sentient steampunk pirate ship halfway through. It was a far too ambitious experiment and in my opinion one of the worst things I ever put out in public. It was part of an Otherside Picnic pirate story challenge and I realized I had a disaster on my hands after the first two chapters were already out there.
@ae1a0ada @da5013b0 It was a far too ambitious experiment and in my opinion one of the worst things I ever put out in public. Bravery in writing will eventually serve you well. IMHO. Getting it out isn't necessarily bad, especially if you can make people understand through meta channels. I have a story that's a sequel to something well received, but all I've come up with is a very good first chapter. I really want to publish that first chapter because, tho open-ended, it also stands alone as letting the readers project where the story might have gone in I think a satisfying manner. Keep not pulling the trigger on publishing it though. Worried about how it would be received...
@6e9427cf @da5013b0 Sounds worth putting out there with a small forward and proper tagging so people know in advance what they are getting. As for my experiment, I learned, careful of how many characters you have and an understanding of why most stories only have 2 main characters. Also if I want to write action pulp, I need to do a lot of work on improving my ability to write fight scenes. Like I said too ambitious. That is three new things I was trying all at once.
@ae1a0ada @da5013b0 The characters I have the most trouble with are one's who['re] terse. Yeah. Especially if you rely heavily on dialog. In these two POV pieces, they two people see the same scene totally differently, and they could describe about them and what they thought of them with a different perspective. I had to watch their diction and humor didn't intersect. I'm not sure really about reusing "long story" for both. Not sure about making him a bit of a "bimbo" either (and I use that word very advisedly), but it makes the point of how he perceives himself in his society. It's fun to write, tho.