I've got an idea for a horror fic swimming around in my head, and while I marathon MLP to catch up with everyone else and do homework, I figured I'd post a thread here as well.

What's everyone's opinions on the use of First person in horror fics as opposed to Third person? Which tends to be easier? Which has more impact? I'm asking since I plan to write this idea in First person, but I've never done such a thing in my life, while at the same time seeing first person be pulled off with very mixed results.

So, I turn to you lot. And be sure to reply to this comment, please, so that I might see what you all say!

864535 First person fics aren't that good imo. I suggest sticking to third person, unless you're the villain. That would make for a good and read.

864539

I would like to write a fic like that where the hero turns out to be the villain, but it'd be pretty hard for me to pull off.

I'll give it some thought though.

There are advantages and disadvantages to each.

First person allows the reader to feel the horror the character is feeling while third person allows for greater commentary on the part of the narrator

864535

I prefer to write in the first person.

Third person makes you feel so distant from the action.

How else can you describe every heart palpitation? How else can you encompass a character's needs, wants and thoughts?

Go for it!

864535
Honestly, I'd say no particular point of view is better than the other, it all boils down to how you want to present the information and what you prefer to write. If you want to write it as if the character was telling the story about what happened to someone else, use First Person. If you want it to be as if it was happening in real time, like we were there, do third person.
Of course, that's rather simple, and I'm fairly sure you already know that.

I'd say first person would have more of an impact because when you write in the mind of the character, it feels as though we are that character... sorta. I may be way off but that's just me.

864541 Nah I've seen those. They're not that good. Everyone always see it coming! Let's say you're the villain. You can describe so much and take up lots of space, while at the same time, keeping things interesting.

Think about it. Just don't think yourself out of it.

864543 864547

True on both.

The way I've been writing so far has been third person, with the narrator following a character around. With that, my perspective is going to be constantly fixed to a single character (Princess Twilight in this case, and no, it's not some 'oh God my friends are all dead crynow' fic). It's just the decision on which will have the bigger impact.

I've written a Silent Hill-type fic in the past, and my writing's been complimented as being really good with psychological horror (making people think, and through that, they get paranoid) rather than atmospheric or 'real' horror (like feeling something's breath creep down your neck.)

So yeah. Hard choice to make here, so I'm trying to gather up some pros and cons, maybe get an example or two.

864550

Mmmm. Wish there was a clear-cut winner, though. Well, it all depends on how I present the information... now I just have to think of how to create a horror atmosphere.

Research is not gonna be fun concerning this...

Pfft. Neither of these even phases me....
Unless you talk about ponification by CB style...

Join the herd they said!
I rather shove a porcupine up my spine!

Each has its merit, but I'd say first person, because when the audience is in their head and entranced, it can be that much more devastating. Caveat: Be sure your vocabulary is up to it, because that makes or breaks the empathy. One wrong word, and that's it, they've been jarred loose.

First person has gotten kind of a bad rap because a lot of people just don't know how to do it well. Third narrators focus on the characters, while a first narrator focuses on the world. If an author can't flip that mental switch, the story can become a laundry list of 'I did this' and 'I said that', and the voice falls flat. If first doesn't seem to be working, try switching over to third and use a lot of personal pronouns; this tends to cut the distance between character and reader.

I've got one, but it's a bit mediocre

Other than that, I say go with 3rd person; you get more detail and explanations instead of constantly repeating yourself, "I saw this, I thought of that, I did this..." etc.

Plus, you can use more sophisticated words and sound smarter

I think either has its advantages. In a 1st-person view, you'll be able to send a much more dramatic message through your character's literally claustrophobic views of what's happening to and around them. In 3rd-person, however, you're much more free to build the world in detail since you aren't limited to what your character can see, hear, touch, smell and taste.

I'd say that first person is better at conveying horror than third, third alienates the reader from the scenario and puts them in a safe little bubble protected from influence. Due to this nothing horrible is really conveyed, although the reader might sympathise with the character and what is being done to him/her. First person gives a more direct approach to the scenario, putting the reader literally in the main characters boots and becoming an active participant of the horrifying occurrence, leading to greater emotional reaction. whilst third person does give the advantage of greater detail and background, the limitation of this in first can actually be an advantage, not knowing clearly about things leads the reader to imagine things infinitely worse than what the writer can convey, making the horror aspect more horrifying.

Then again, I could be biased as my own work is in first person, but this is a general observation I find more applicable to horror stories.

864535

I find third person to be a lot better for horror. The objective of horror is to scare the reader; in first person, you have to convey how the character feels, which gets in the way of that. With third person you can focus on terrifying the reader instead of terrifying the character.

864535
I love you. You posted a thread in The Writer's Group that's actually about writing.

In any case, I think the big question you have to ask is which are you comfortable with?

Some people, like myself, aren't massively enthused about writing in the first person. So the whole point is moot. I'll be able to tell a far better story in third person limited than first person, regardless of which one might have a slight lead in approachability. For others, the situation might be reversed.

The rest of the points in the thread more or less address the actual issue of which is 'better'. On either side of the argument. One might conclude they're each better for different goals. And one would be right. If you want to focus on generating reader sympathy, and the how the character handles the horror, then first person is probably better. If you actually want to creep out the reader, you might have an edge with third. But either side can still do both things well enough.

tl;dr: Use the perspective you'd write better with. It'll have far more of an effect than any other consideration.

Horror works best when you don't know what's coming. The first person perspective works well for this, because the audience's view is necessarily limited by what the protagonist is aware of. The monster can creep up behind you and YOU WON'T KNOW. But first person perspective is challenging to write, especially for the fanfiction writer. You have to quite literally get into a character's head, and write the way they are thinking. Not many pull this off correctly, and when it's done poorly it ruins the entire fiction.

Third person perspective gives the audience a wider view of the action. It works especially well when there is a lot of movement and action in a scene, because you're not tied down to one character. It also feels the most natural to write when it comes to fanfiction, since our view of all the characters stems from us watching them interact without the influence of a narrator. But it's hard to tell a good horror story when you can see everything. If you make sure to control the audience's view, pull the camera in for a close-up, so to speak, then you can probably get away with it.

865930 866245

Third person tends to be my most comfortable area of writing, and limiting information... the story itself would just be following Twilight, and describing environments, probably hinting at things using Twilight.

I've never written horror before, so I'm not totally sure where to go on it. Hell, I'm starting to question whether my original idea is horror to begin with, considering how IC I wanna keep everyone. Maybe I'll find a way to bend the rules a bit.

The goal of the story is to creep out the reader though, so I guess third person would do that job. Now I just have to think of a proper path of logic...

Much obliged for the comments, though! I'll be sure to drop another thread about writing here sometime in the future. I know you guys like that.

866245

I wouldn't say that's true. Some of the most tense and dramatic moments in a horror movie are when the audience knows what's coming, but the character doesn't. The camera pulls back from a woman taking a bath to reveal a dark silhouette on the wall, a boy is walking through the woods with glowing eyes peering out at him in the darkness that disappear when he turns around. The tension that can be built by having a character do something that the audience knows is bad, but the character has no way of knowing, can be exploited to an enormous degree.

At the end of the day, remember this: Third person limited can emulate all the characteristics of first person. It can get inside the character's head, show their perspective, and ignore what's going on elsewhere almost as well as first person can. But first-person cannot emulate the characteristics of third person. Writing in third person is giving yourself room to expand the narration to whatever is necessary, while first person necessarily restricts you.