Ahahaha! I worked a little bit yesterday on a Firefly fic that I can't finish because I can't think of any way for it NOT to shift from Simon's POV to Inara's.
I agree that 2nd person almost always comes across as an annoying gimmick; in fact, even a really good 2nd person fic would probably make me look at the next one as "Hey, that's been done! It's OVER!"
Usually, as befits someone who occasionally uses "Little Trollope" as a nick, I'm all about the omniscience. I don't see what's wrong with changes in POV as long as it's clearly indicated whose head the reader is in at any given moment. Sort of like Muslim men being allowed to have up to 4 wives, but not more than they can take care of. However, no matter what I think I'm doing, I end up getting in touch with my Inner Playwright--I usually write nearly all dialogue. In which case, of course I try to make everybody talk like themselves, because they are, indeed, talking.
I'm actually kind of pleased with the infodump in my ill-fated tenyearsofbuffy fic, because the characters genuinely do not know the info to be dumped, and they get to snark at each other at the same time.
I once wrote a fic in tight third instead of first person (the "Kiss of the Spider Woman B7 fic)--originally, I wanted to make it first person but I needed it not to be first person because of the last line, which the character wouldn't have known or thought of.
I am much more likely to write first person for a voluble character than a tight-lipped one--I wrote almost no first-person Avon in more than five years of active B7 ficcing, because, Jesus, he hasn't put HIMSELF on the distribution list for most of that stuff, so why would he tell you?
FWIW I find that I'm more likely to be 3rd person omniscient in Firefly than in B7 because I'm trying to go wider in handling the whole ensemble, and it's hard enough looking at nine of 'em from the *outside*.
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I agree that 2nd person almost always comes across as an annoying gimmick; in fact, even a really good 2nd person fic would probably make me look at the next one as "Hey, that's been done! It's OVER!"
Usually, as befits someone who occasionally uses "Little Trollope" as a nick, I'm all about the omniscience. I don't see what's wrong with changes in POV as long as it's clearly indicated whose head the reader is in at any given moment. Sort of like Muslim men being allowed to have up to 4 wives, but not more than they can take care of. However, no matter what I think I'm doing, I end up getting in touch with my Inner Playwright--I usually write nearly all dialogue. In which case, of course I try to make everybody talk like themselves, because they are, indeed, talking.
I'm actually kind of pleased with the infodump in my ill-fated tenyearsofbuffy fic, because the characters genuinely do not know the info to be dumped, and they get to snark at each other at the same time.
I once wrote a fic in tight third instead of first person (the "Kiss of the Spider Woman B7 fic)--originally, I wanted to make it first person but I needed it not to be first person because of the last line, which the character wouldn't have known or thought of.
I am much more likely to write first person for a voluble character than a tight-lipped one--I wrote almost no first-person Avon in more than five years of active B7 ficcing, because, Jesus, he hasn't put HIMSELF on the distribution list for most of that stuff, so why would he tell you?
FWIW I find that I'm more likely to be 3rd person omniscient in Firefly than in B7 because I'm trying to go wider in handling the whole ensemble, and it's hard enough looking at nine of 'em from the *outside*.