Post by Awapuhi on May 13, 2006 13:36:20 GMT -5
Welcome to Course Two, Writing in Third Person!
In English, there are three forms of grammatical person.
First person refers to the form that uses the personal pronouns I, me, mine, us, we, and ours. An example of this grammatical person is used in the following scene.
“I left my pack at the door and continued onwards, taking nothing but my cowhogskin clothes. We had spent many days together at the house under the mountain, but now it was time for us to part and take separate paths. I began my journey to the mountaintop smiling. I knew that ours was an everlasting love.”
This form is generally not used in role play and is not allowed on the DH forums. Many RPers find first person RPing to be irritating because the emotions and actions of the character using it are so inverted that others have trouble responding. This form of RP could be described in the harshest terms as selfish, but for most RPers it is frowned upon because it interrupts the flow of an otherwise uniform third person role play.
Second person refers to the form that uses the personal pronouns you, your, and yours. This form is typically used in letters and Choose Your Own Adventure books. An example is below.
“You come upon a girl with hazel eyes, brown hair, and a violin in her hands. She smiles at you and tucks the instrument beneath her chin, starting up a melancholy tune. As she moves in time with the music, you find yourself entranced by her ability to goad life from such a simple song. You look at your own hands and wish they were like hers – not the calloused hands of a laboring peasant, but peachspring hands of a traveling musician.”
This form is never used in role play. Say that player one controls the girl in this situation, and player two controls the laboring peasant. Player one took control of player two’s character and first made him notice the girl, then made him entranced, then made him wish that he was like her. Player two could have wanted their character to respond in a completely different manner. Taking control of another person’s character in any way, shape, or form is considered Power Play. Second person is impossible to use without Power Playing, and so this form of grammatical person is avoided like the plague.
Third person refers to the form of grammatical person that uses he, she, his, hers, they, them, their, it, and its. This form is used in novels and plays, and is familiar to almost everybody. An example would be,
“Lee took the piece of string and wrapped it in circles around his finger, tying the ends with a sloppy bow. He looked to Ji and offered her the second piece, hoping that she would seal the promise by tying this string on her own finger. Memories of their childhood games flashed through his mind as he timidly watched her eyes. She had changed so much since those innocent days, and even though they could still laugh with each other, Ji’s decision to join the army terrified Lee. His heart sank at the thought. Once again he wished that he had been the one born as an Earth bender instead of her. It pained him to think of her in harm’s way, faced daily with death and killing, and some of this was conveyed in the way he stared at her with sadness and worry on his face.”
Third person is the only form allowed on the DH forums, and it is the clearest and most widely-used form of RP. Third person allows for non-Power Playing interaction, gives the RP the same feel as a novel, and allows a character’s thoughts, feelings, and actions to be communicated easily to the other players. This is the form that we will be using in this tutorial, and it is really the form that you should use for all of your RPing career.
The other tutors may now post if there is something that has been forgotten. If there’s nothing to add, or once Bard Child and Godhunter have responded, then we’ll begin Profiles tomorrow, Sunday the 14th. Please post here or PM one of us if you have further questions on RPing in third person.
Everyone have a nice day. ^.^
In English, there are three forms of grammatical person.
First person refers to the form that uses the personal pronouns I, me, mine, us, we, and ours. An example of this grammatical person is used in the following scene.
“I left my pack at the door and continued onwards, taking nothing but my cowhogskin clothes. We had spent many days together at the house under the mountain, but now it was time for us to part and take separate paths. I began my journey to the mountaintop smiling. I knew that ours was an everlasting love.”
This form is generally not used in role play and is not allowed on the DH forums. Many RPers find first person RPing to be irritating because the emotions and actions of the character using it are so inverted that others have trouble responding. This form of RP could be described in the harshest terms as selfish, but for most RPers it is frowned upon because it interrupts the flow of an otherwise uniform third person role play.
Second person refers to the form that uses the personal pronouns you, your, and yours. This form is typically used in letters and Choose Your Own Adventure books. An example is below.
“You come upon a girl with hazel eyes, brown hair, and a violin in her hands. She smiles at you and tucks the instrument beneath her chin, starting up a melancholy tune. As she moves in time with the music, you find yourself entranced by her ability to goad life from such a simple song. You look at your own hands and wish they were like hers – not the calloused hands of a laboring peasant, but peachspring hands of a traveling musician.”
This form is never used in role play. Say that player one controls the girl in this situation, and player two controls the laboring peasant. Player one took control of player two’s character and first made him notice the girl, then made him entranced, then made him wish that he was like her. Player two could have wanted their character to respond in a completely different manner. Taking control of another person’s character in any way, shape, or form is considered Power Play. Second person is impossible to use without Power Playing, and so this form of grammatical person is avoided like the plague.
Third person refers to the form of grammatical person that uses he, she, his, hers, they, them, their, it, and its. This form is used in novels and plays, and is familiar to almost everybody. An example would be,
“Lee took the piece of string and wrapped it in circles around his finger, tying the ends with a sloppy bow. He looked to Ji and offered her the second piece, hoping that she would seal the promise by tying this string on her own finger. Memories of their childhood games flashed through his mind as he timidly watched her eyes. She had changed so much since those innocent days, and even though they could still laugh with each other, Ji’s decision to join the army terrified Lee. His heart sank at the thought. Once again he wished that he had been the one born as an Earth bender instead of her. It pained him to think of her in harm’s way, faced daily with death and killing, and some of this was conveyed in the way he stared at her with sadness and worry on his face.”
Third person is the only form allowed on the DH forums, and it is the clearest and most widely-used form of RP. Third person allows for non-Power Playing interaction, gives the RP the same feel as a novel, and allows a character’s thoughts, feelings, and actions to be communicated easily to the other players. This is the form that we will be using in this tutorial, and it is really the form that you should use for all of your RPing career.
The other tutors may now post if there is something that has been forgotten. If there’s nothing to add, or once Bard Child and Godhunter have responded, then we’ll begin Profiles tomorrow, Sunday the 14th. Please post here or PM one of us if you have further questions on RPing in third person.
Everyone have a nice day. ^.^
