True, but not every experiment has to go under the nose of a reader.The problem with these experiments, is 99 times out of 100 they are no fun for the reader. They are just annoying.

I suspect it would be hard work to read.
Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Café Life is the Colony's main hangout, watering hole and meeting point.
This is a place where you'll meet and make writing friends, and indulge in stratospherically-elevated wit or barometrically low humour.
Some Colonists pop in religiously every day before or after work. Others we see here less regularly, but all are equally welcome. Two important grounds rules…
We now allow political discussion, but strongly suggest it takes place in the Steam Room, which is a private sub-forum within Café Life. It’s only accessible to Full Members.
You can dismiss this notice by clicking the "x" box
True, but not every experiment has to go under the nose of a reader.The problem with these experiments, is 99 times out of 100 they are no fun for the reader. They are just annoying.
The problem with these experiments, is 99 times out of 100 they are no fun for the reader. They are just annoying.
It might help find a voice for dialogue. A 'you' narration is kind of like a dialogue.
The Great Gatsby along with the Sherlock Holmes books utilise a trick where you combine 1st & 3rd person, so that your narrator is there in first and they describe the actions of the titular protagonist in third.
If you've got loads of viewpoint characters you want the reader to spend time with then first becomes quite difficult. The reader's going to have to be constantly checking who's head they're in if it's in 1st and that will frustrate your reader. If you've only got 1 or 2 characters then 1st is more acceptable, but then if you are doing 1st with more than one character, each character needs to have a very distinctive voice. The same applies to 3rd limited with multiple characters, but distinctive voice is vital in 1st if you have more than one viewpoint character.
The Great Gatsby is a book that probably demands a particular viewpoint. Other books can have any viewpoint and still retain the same essence.
Number of Viewpoint Characters
How intimate/personal is the story?
Lies & Misinformation
I feel that intimate/personal stories should be 1st or 3rd limited to that character only. Omniscient is suicide in personal stories; you're too far away to develop empathy with the protagonist and therefore the reader cares less about their plight.
Stories with an epic scale are more suited to omniscient or 3rd limited with multiple viewpoints. In these stories it's the plight of the world that usually matters more to the reader than the intricate feelings of each character.
I don't think present or past tense matters that much. Present is more immediate and probably better for 1st person narratives, but apparently readers stop noticing what tense a story is in quite quickly.
One of these days, I'm going to explore second, present tense. I can't wait to disover the pitfalls (I haven't fully caught up with all the contributions on this thread here yet, so it might be covered above). I suspect it can't be maintained over an entire novel, or can it? Any thoughts?
It might work better in past tense; like a re-telling of Ravenna's story to her child perhaps.
Depending on the the story question and on who the 'you' is, some of it could be used to establish a relationship between the 'you' and the protaginist i.e. 'I'm doing this for you, then that. And I'm about to xyz because of...' It could be accusatory, show regrets ect.
It might work in a ghost story, or a story where the protagonist narrates it for someone who died.
Not sure I'm making sense.
I wrote the first draft of my current WIP in 3rd person past tense, then changed to 1st person, past tense. I'd been experimenting with 1st person, present tense, and am almost finished a rewrite in 1st, present tense, which is by far the most enjoyable (for me!).
Also, I feel I've "seen" it from several angles which is really interesting.
I'm really enjoying these conversations @Carol Rose (when do you sleep?!) and I'm learning loads![]()