Feed My Thoughts

Edition 4 - Part 3: Character - Spawn Me a Character

3rd person limited allows the audience to feel empathy for the character without being immersed beyond comfortable levels into the story. It also allows the author to address other viewpoints occasionally. If you want to generate empathy, but have limited experience in the issues you are addressing in your narrative, consider using 3rd person limited. ’Harry Potter’ by J. K. Rowling is a brilliant example of 3rd person limited, where Harry is the protagonist and salient feature.

Personally, 3rd person limited is my favourite writing style.

3rd person omniscient

“Today, Amber went to the shop where she saw her arch nemesis, Bella Swan. In another shopping centre, Edward Cullen nervously lubricated his body with glittery unicorn faeces, anxious to look hot for his date with Jacob Black.”

Unlike 3rd person limited, 3rd person omniscient is where the narrator focuses on multiple characters. This sort of writing style has diminished in popularity since the 20th century. However, 3rd person omniscient allows for multiple changes in POV and allows the writer to portray multiple main characters. An example of 3rd person omniscient narrative mode is J. R. R. Tolkien's ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘Pretty Little Liars’ by Sara Shepard.

POV changes

Point of view change is equally annoying as a melted ice-cream in the middle of summer; it kills the mood. For me, there should be around 1-5 POV changes per book. Yes; book. Otherwise, you may want to consider writing in 3rd person omniscient. Also, if you are changing POV, it is because the current POV will be exceedingly bland for quite a while, rather than you want to convey how much your male lover-boy is whipped for the protagonist.

Do not rewrite scenes from a new perspective. Yes, we’ve already read it. Yes, we know what they were both thinking, and now yes, in case we were ever wondering what the other character was thinking, it has been dragged through cow shit on repeat.

Do not write from a POV that you have no empathy/understanding for. This applies to all you girls who write from the POV of a guy. I am currently working on a story from the POV of a guy, and he does not glitter/spend his life as a... I don’t even know what to call them. His thoughts are not nearly as feminine as the rest of the questionable ‘male’ personas on Wattpad.

In general, avoid POV changes as it subtracts severely from your work unless you are a prodigious writer. POV changes will absolutely destroy any semblance of good writing if it is done ineffectively.

Personality? You ain’t sayin’ I got no personality?

Everyone is different. As a human being, you should really know this by now. However, this doesn't stop characters’ personalities on Wattpad being cloned and monotonous. Each character is different and will react differently to different situations. For example, on the Wattpad Clubs, writers will ask questions as different people will give different answers. Funny that.

At the moment on Wattpad, there are two types of personalities — what I like to call the "A"-word and the "Bella Swan" personalities. Both types have unyielding stigma for being exceedingly annoying. Both types are also considered forms of Writer's Suicides and will crucify your character.

"A"-word

"A"-word personalities are generally accredited to jocks, populars, vampires, angsty teen rebels (Goths, emos, abuse victims – whatever you want to call it). And what is this dreaded word, you may ask. Arrogance. Egotism. Cockiness. Attitude. Use any of these words in your story (in particular, "arrogant") and you will have unleashed a toxic poison onto your story. "A"-word personalitiess are classic examples of the idealistic Mary-Sue who is confident enough to say the things that the writer would never say in real life. Unfortunately they also have a tendency to say the things that no one would ever say in real life, thus making them excruciatingly unrealistic.