When You Open Up a Fic...

When You Open Up a Fic…

atlasisfontaine:

That you’ve heard is beautifully written, has amazingly fluffy moments, tells a brilliant story, and has been recommended by everyone in the fandom, and you find out that it’s in first person and you’re just like

gpoy

first person fics

they slaughter me

AWWW GUYS! This makes me sad. I hear this so often and it always makes me sad because first person can be SO GOOOOD! And yes, by jove yes it can be bad—but that’s just how powerful narratives work! It’s like with certain foods. Pizza is awesome, right, and delicious, but bad pizza is also still kind of good and good pizza is better but not THAT much better. Now soufflés, right, when they fail, GROSS, get that shit outta mah kitchen!, but when they’re done right? NOOOOMNOMNOMNONM. And yes ok you can still say you’ll take pizza over soufflé any day but that’s not the point! The point is that I am hungry and I’ve made myself sad because I don’t have any sweets at home. But also that with a certain amount of ~*skill*~ and ~*precision*~ you can create something really amazing that, okay, not for all the time or every day, but really can be noms and out of the ordinary. A good narrative voice done in first person? MY FAVOURITE KIND OF WRITING EVER. And I don’t know how many of you guys dipped your toes into the pov pool, but if you haven’t—dudes, you have to give it a try. Pick the character that you like the least, the most annoying one, and try writing something from their point of view. HI-LA-RI-OUS. …Okay maybe I have too much fun writing in silly voices sometimes but still, I’m SO SURE it can be fun! You don’t have to post it or do anything with it, but just giving it a chance, I promise it’ll change the way you look at this form of narrative if only just a teeensy tiny bit.

Having said that, I started writing fic when I was fifteen. The filth that I have produced in the first person was truly an atrocious battlefield of a sight. But I have learned since then, things like ‘musn’t identity every piece of clothing by its particular shade of color’ or how to spell ‘purpose’ and ‘queue’ and ‘you’re’, and I still think it’s the people who took the time to flame the ever living hell out of my HP/OC/Fairies “DUMBLEDORE IS A HIPPIE NOW!!!” fic who got me where I am today. And where I am today is in bed, eating pineapple out of tin can and considering entering a game show to win money to pay for classes. LIVIN’ LA VIDA LOCA.

TL;DR, I like first-person focalisation and pineapples! And I’m regretting not having bought sweets today :(

(via warp69)