Writing Style

[Buckaroo]

I’m asking for suggestions on writing styles.
My normal writing style is First Person, but there is much that has to written that the first person would not know or be aware of, such as commentary.
In one of my stories I used, brackets [ ] starting with [What I didn’t know, . . . ] to discuss commentary that I, "first person", would not be aware of.
Other writers have used perspective of the different characters. I’m not sure how regular commentary about situations would be covered in “perspective” writing style.

My concern is, there are times when I have a lot to say in commentary and I worry that the reader may forget or get mixed up if I use brackets [ ].
I suppose I could underline or italicize.

Anyone have a suggestion or preference?

[Dormouse]

Personally, I try to avoid first person narrative.

The Victorian style was the omniscient narrator, telling you what was going on. I'm sure we've all read The Mysteries of Udolpho by Mrs Radcliffe. There's a bit in there where the narrator suddenly switches from Spain to Italy for one short paragraph. Dickens is good for the omniscient narrator, but he experiments. Bleak House has some chapters with an omniscient narrator in the present tense, but others are a first person past tense by the character Esther Summerson. In Our Mutual Friend, there is suddenly a first person narrative by a character revealing he is a relative thought to have died.

Modern preference is for the limited viewpoint character. You know what they see and think, but you don't hear their voice, and you don't hear what other characters are thinking. I once heard a published author explain this, along with why first person narratives are not a good idea.

[Buckaroo]

Personally, I try to avoid first person narrative.

The Victorian style was the omniscient narrator, telling you what was going on. I'm sure we've all read The Mysteries of Udolpho by Mrs Radcliffe. There's a bit in there where the narrator suddenly switches from Spain to Italy for one short paragraph. Dickens is good for the omniscient narrator, but he experiments. Bleak House has some chapters with an omniscient narrator in the present tense, but others are a first person past tense by the character Esther Summerson. In Our Mutual Friend, there is suddenly a first person narrative by a character revealing he is a relative thought to have died.

Modern preference is for the limited viewpoint character. You know what they see and think, but you don't hear their voice, and you don't hear what other characters are thinking. I once heard a published author explain this, along with why first person narratives are not a good idea.

Thank you for the input, for my ENF stories they are not first person. I could not write my ENF stories in first person, but for my ENM stories, that is my only option.

[Dormouse]

Thank you for the input, for my ENF stories they are not first person. I could not write my ENF stories in first person, but for my ENM stories, that is my only option.

I'm not into ENM, and my stories tend to be more CNF and it's the (clothed) viewpoint character who is embarrassed.

[edithdick]

Write what comes naturally to you. You'll be at your best when you don't need to think about the style you are writing in. For me, some stories work best in first person and others in third/limited. What I try to avoid is using blatant exposition. Find a way to work it into the story organically, even if you need to cheat a bit.

In Janet's story, I had her start the story in a job interview so I could tell her past without injecting it into the story out of context. There are other ways to do it, like having a therapist or doctor that your character needs to explain the situation to. Or inject a reunion with an old friend and as they catch up you can reveal whatever is important to the story...

That's just my own pet peeve.

[Dormouse]

You have to watch out for infodumps, as the device is known describing science fiction stories. "As you know, professor,,," There's an author I read once, who, near the end of a novel. spends two pages explaining how to fight a space battle. And this was not even a character explaining it, it was definitely an omniscient narrator. And it totally held up the action.

[Buckaroo]

You have to watch out for infodumps, as the device is known describing science fiction stories. "As you know, professor,,," There's an author I read once, who, near the end of a novel. spends two pages explaining how to fight a space battle. And this was not even a character explaining it, it was definitely an omniscient narrator. And it totally held up the action.

Yes, I'm a big fan of Sci-Fi, and I notice the writers always seem to write into the story one character explaining to another character anything that the audience might not understand.

Two pages of explanation does seem a bit much.

[edithdick]

You have to watch out for infodumps, as the device is known describing science fiction stories. "As you know, professor,,," There's an author I read once, who, near the end of a novel. spends two pages explaining how to fight a space battle. And this was not even a character explaining it, it was definitely an omniscient narrator. And it totally held up the action.

Yes, I'm a big fan of Sci-Fi, and I notice the writers always seem to write into the story one character explaining to another character anything that the audience might not understand.

Two pages of explanation does seem a bit much.

Good point. I might be guilty of this myself.

Less is more in this situation. Don't be in a rush to tell all of the backstory all at once. Just give the audience what they need to understand the current context. If you need to explain more later, you can slip in a line of unsolicited exposition in the guise of a stray thought at the character ponders what they want to do next.

This also helps avoid locking you into a specific past event that you might need to ret-con later.

[Dormouse]

This also helps avoid locking you into a specific past event that you might need to ret-con later.

A good reason to write (and revise) a whole story before release.

[Buckaroo]

This also helps avoid locking you into a specific past event that you might need to ret-con later.

A good reason to write (and revise) a whole story before release.

Yes. I prefer to write the whole story before posting, but I have found that after writing several chapters I can start posting the first chapter and then each chapter I write, I post another chapter.

I like to keep 2 or 3 chapters ahead of what I post incase I realize I have to change something in the previous chapter.

I have several ENF stories that I haven't posted.