Hello all! I've switched gears from writing mid-school fantasy to YA dystopian. I'm about 10K words in, but I'm beginning to wonder if I've chosen the right tense (3rd person ). Does anyone have insight as to which PoV works best for dystopian/post-apocalyptic novels? I only ask because I've noticed that many contemporary dystopian novels (The Hunger Games, Divergent, Ready Player One, etc) are either 1st person past or 1st person present. It wouldn't be a difficult change so I thought I'd pose the question before I get too far along. Thanks!
I'm not knowledgeable about this stuff like a lot of people in here but my gut instinct is that first person, either past or present, would personalize the dystopian aspects. 3rd person is objective, and tends to put the reader at a comfortable distance, but I think if you want a dystopia to feel really powerful you want to drag them through it subjectively, make them experience it themselves. 3rd person is how we experience other people's lives, 1st is how we experience our own. I see 2nd as just a convention for when you're talking to somebody. You refer to them in 2nd person, but you still see them from outside. It's only yourself you see from inside.
"...I think if you want a dystopia to feel really powerful you want to drag them through it subjectively, make them experience it themselves." Perfect answer! Thank you. When reading over my manuscript, I felt a certain disconnect with my MC and his surroundings. I think going 1st person past will help fill that void.
I don't think it matter much. If you're going with trends in YA, first person present tense seems to be popular. I disagree that third person has to be more objective. It certainly can be, if you're using a distant third person POV. If you use a close (or, as some call it, "deep") third person POV it can be just as subjective and 'in the head' of the character as first person.
You may be right. Must ponder this. My first thought though is that simply using he or she puts the character at a bit of a remove, since this is how we think about other people, never ourselves. I suspect it's the difference between hearing a story about somebody else, even with privileged access into their thoughts, and something actually happening to you. Second thought: if third person can be just as subjective, then what is the actual difference? Third thought: I suppose even using first person would be like someone else telling you about something they experienced, so not necessarily subjective. Still, to me using first person comes as close as possible to putting the reader into the actual experience themselves. Maybe present tense would help even more, but that tends to come off as gimmicky and pulls them out of the story. I need to find some examples of good first and third person stories and compare with this in mind. Edit: Here's what makes me feel this way. using I for the POV character and he /she/they for all the rest duplicates the subjective experience of living life in your own body. You see out through your eyes, but everyone else you see from the outside only.
