After venting about werewolves and love interests for months, I'm really excited to talk about !

I'm going to start by asking you to close your eyes and imagine.

Okay, wait, don't close your eyes yet. Because I realise that stops you from reading the rest.

With Halloween soon coming up, I want you to imagine the classic tale of Little Red Riding Hood. I want you to imagine it as it normally is told -- from an outsider's perspective. Sometimes it's satirical, chiding Red Riding Hood for her naivety. Sometimes, it's just matter-of-fact -- the story is told with a lesson at the end, simply like how your mother would tell you not to leave the fridge open.

Now, imagine you want to do a retelling. What sort of things do you do?

Do you tell it from Hood's perspective, so we can feel her confusion and fear, her optimism and hope? Do you want us to feel her grow in courage?

Do you want to tell it from the wolf's perspective, so we understand his intentions and motivations? So that we see a vengeance arc unfold before our eyes?

Do you want to tell it from the grandmother's perspective? Maybe we see more to the story -- she has history with the wolf? Maybe we see her sitting inside a wolf's belly, if you're into that sort of thing? (I can't even judge. I just wrote a short story about someone sitting inside his dad's stomach.)

Or maybe we see the axe guy? Lumberjack?

Perhaps Hood's mother, and her badass detective story arc as she snatches the axe from the lumberjack and does the hard work for him to save her daughter?

Maybe we tell the story from the perspective of the fruit basket, who was evil all along and plotted for the wolf to eat all the humans so that fruits would never be eaten by another human again?

The opportunities are endless!

So let's talk about it!

are a super powerful tool in your writing. There are three distinct types that we are taught: first person, second person, and third person.

So, what is each one?

This is when we use the pronouns: I, we, me, my. It's like the narrator is directly telling us something that happened to them. For example:

I was so screwed.

I had launched my missile towards the wolf's mouth, but somehow, it had ended up in New England instead. This was worse than that time I tried to grow zombies, or went snowboarding with a watermelon.

This was bad.

Because now, I was face to face with the Big Bad Wolf's Eternally Bad Breath.

As you can see, by the bolded letters, we have a lot of and . That is first person.

In general, the advantage about this sort of perspective is that it's more intimate. It's like you're in a room with the character, and they're telling you about their adventure.

Now, in most instances, when first person is used, it's told from the protagonist's perspective.

However! You don't have to do that. I've seen books told in first person, but it's told from the perspective of a minor side character. In fact, this has been done quite a bit. Sometimes it's someone from the future, recapping the story of the past. Sometimes, it's simply a side character who is also in the story, but is keeping their identity as the narrator a mystery (see: Nevernight by Jay Kristoff).

I will say, be careful when introducing multiple perspectives. Does anyone remember the third book of Divergent, when everyone freaked out because a second perspective had been introduced and we all knew what that meant and it lowkey spoiled the ending?

You do, also, need to be more careful if you decide to switch perspectives from character to character in first person -- you're going to need to make sure those voices sound different.

First Person is a lot more common in writing these days, especially in YA. However, some distinct features that are worth noting:

- Generally, it gives us more of an idea of what the character is seeing/feeling (I say general, because this is also very capable in third person and second person).

- Generally, it gives the reader a more direct and immediate journey throughout the story.

- Generally, if you want to make your narrator's voice quirky, full of snark, or have a very distinct and bubbly tone of voice, this is the way to go.

- Generally, if you want to play around with the idea of an unreliable narrator, this could make it easier.

Now, instead of talking in I, my, me, we talk in you and your. It's almost like you're telling the reader what happened to the reader themselves. As I once described to someone, second person is literally you gaslighting the reader and telling them what they did.

You were so screwed.

You had launched your missile towards the wolf's mouth, but somehow, it had ended up in New England instead. This was worse than that time you tried to grow zombies, or went snowboarding with a watermelon.

This was bad.

Because now, you were face to face with the Big Bad Wolf's Eternally Bad Breath.

Now, that must have been quite uncomfortable to read. It's quite simply because it's a really rare perspective to write and read from. I just finished writing a novella for someone in second person, and I constantly found myself wondering... is this too far? Is this too much? It felt so unnatural.

This can, however, be quite effective, as you are literally bringing the reader into the story. They are basically the protagonist. They have no choice but to be immersed.

There are very specific situations where this tense is used. Most include "Choose Your Own Adventure" stories, where the reader chooses which direction the story goes.

A few notes:

- Generally, this is used to make sure the reader feels like they are the one living in the story.

- Generally, you have to be extra careful -- especially when other characters interact with them. You have to avoid giving the protagonist a name, pronouns, and appearance, because it all depends on who the reader is.

- You also have to be careful that you're not gaslighting the reader too much. Like, it might be fine to say, "your heart started pounding" if you want them introduced to the Big Bad Wolf, but you don't want to say something like, "you got so scared when saw that blade of grass that you started doing backward cartwheels across the field" -- the reader may find that amusing, but they also may be a bit turned off if you accuse them of getting scared of literal pieces of grass. Or assuming they can do cartwheels despite it not being mentioned in the story previously.

Okay, the thing about third person is that I could possibly split this into three parts. In general, though, this is what it would look like:

The Apple in the basket was so screwed.

She had launched her missile towards the wolf's mouth, but somehow, it had ended up in New England instead. This was worse than that time she tried to grow zombies, or went snowboarding with a watermelon.

This was bad.

Because now, she was face to face with the Big Bad Wolf's Eternally Bad Breath.

In this case, I just assumed that The Apple (the protagonist for this excerpt) identified as she/her. These pronouns could have been replaced by he/him or they/them.

Now, there are three main types of third person:

It's almost like first person, but framed with third person pronouns. We only really see the perspective of the main character, and we only get the information, feelings and thoughts that they are experiencing. It can, however, be a bit more objective than first person.

Chapter 45:

Apple watched as her friends decided what to do with the wolf.

Banana had chosen to give him the death penalty. So did Lychee. And Mandarin.

Peach had opted for him to serve in prison, instead. Pear and Orange had agreed.

It all came down to Mango, who looked about as... well, as pale as a very pale mango.

Apple felt her heart sink.

This was going to be very bad.

It's the same as third person limited, but instead of being confined to a single character, it can jump perspectives from character to character. This is similar to Sarah J Maas' writing in the Throne of Glass series. There is usually a new chapter when the perspective is shifted, or some sort of break in the writing to indicate this switch.

Chapter 45:

Apple watched as her friends decided what to do with the wolf.

Banana had chosen to give him the death penalty. So did Lychee. And Mandarin.

Peach had opted for him to serve in prison, instead. Pear and Orange had agreed.

It all came down to Mango, who looked about as... well, as pale as a very pale mango.

Apple felt her heart sink.

This was going to be very bad.

Chapter 46:

Mango felt like puking.

Everyone was staring at him. Every. Single. Fruit. His decision was the only one that mattered, and yet, his own seed of a brain couldn't work out what was right.

If he chose the death penalty, knowing that his own raised hand was the one to snatch away the creature's life, how would he live? Would he be able to sleep at night, knowing he had murdered any chance of redemption for the wolf? Would that make him a killer, as well?

Everything hurt. His stem, his leaves, his skin.

"Mango. You have thirty minutes to make your decision."

Apple's voice was calm, yet firm. Mango sighed.

"I vote for..."

There are no confines. We can basically read the thoughts, opinions and feelings of any character, as the narrator is all-knowing.

Chapter 45:

Apple watched as her friends decided what to do with the wolf.

Banana had chosen to give him the death penalty -- he had been thirsty for blood since the day of his ripening. Lychee and Mandarin, too timid to go against their ringleader, had backed him up.

Peach, who hated the idea of death more than she hated people constantly comparing her to a human's buttocks, had opted for him to serve in prison, instead. Pear and Orange had agreed, only because they had been bribed in secret by the wolf.

It all came down to Mango, who looked about as... well, as pale as a very pale mango. After all, every cell of his body screamed with fear.

Apple felt her heart sink as she glanced around the basket.

This was going to be very bad.

Hopefully, the differences are clear! I tried very hard to make them obvious.

A few notes about third person:

- In third person limited, your readers, similar to first person, will only see things at a face value.

- In third person multiple, you have more freedom to tell the story from multiple perspectives, while giving each a very authentic and descriptive insight to each character individually.

- In third person omniscient, you have freedom to show a variety of thoughts/feelings of all characters, and you can explore these in a single scene rather than breaking up the story to do so. It can also be done in a fun, sneaky fashion to reveal things to the reader that the protagonist doesn't know yet.

I've listed a few hints throughout the chapter already, regarding when each type of perspective is more effective and what it allows you to do. However, honestly, I recommend experimenting!

If you're writing a long novel, or even a short story, and you're unsure which perspective to write from, I recommend rewriting the story in multiple perspectives until you see one that clicks. Otherwise, if you're short on time, consider these:

- Which feels most natural for the story you're telling? If you're doing a series of diary entries, it would be absurd to not do first person, for example.

- Are there any perspectives that are important to your plot? (The unreliable narrator, for example?)

And most importantly:

- Which one feels most comfortable for you?

Because, at the end of the day, while you should be trying to step out of your comfort zone, do not force yourself into dreading the writing process because it feels too uncomfortable and agonising.

It felt nice doing one of these chapters again! I hope you found it beneficial and helpful if you were a little bit confused about perspectives and when/how to use them!

Any questions? Requests? Let me know!

Next time, I believe I will be talking about book covers on Wattpad! So, I have questions for you:

- Do you judge books by their covers?

- What makes you like a cover?

- What makes you dislike a cover?