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suffarustuffaru · 2 months

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Do you have any advice for writing in the second person pov as well as advice about writing reinhard? I’m trying to write a second person pov fic from his perspective and I’m a bit lost?

yes i can do my best to give you advice!! :o hah im really flattered you thought to ask me on this? but yes i absolutely love both writing in second person (i havent written a whole finished fic in second person, but ive dabbled in it a few times, ive also started writing poetry on the side) and also of course i love reinhard!! im super super interested in the fact that youre doing a SECOND PERSON POV REINHARD FIC like woaaahhh hes definitely a fun character to choose pov wise and combining it with second person is genius. i really like it and would love to read it if you ever wanna share it when youre done <3

and yes quick disclaimer that im no professional writer but yes ill give my two cents!! and another disclaimer is that creative writing is a very individualized thing i think. theres no like one way to do things, and of course you can take any advice or criticism that youd like if you think itd help <3

ill get into second person pov first then talk more specifically about reinhard 👍

yes anyway tips on second person!! i do kinda recommend to like look at various examples of second person pov being used in various written pieces if thats something youd like to do - poetry and song lyrics use second person a LOT. especially songs, bc once you see it you cant really unsee it, i think? of course writing a narrative story is different from poetry and songwriting but it could help you give a frame of reference, or inspiration, or decide what you want to do and what you dont want to do. most importantly you could also look at other second person fics or published stories that are written in second person!!

and alright so - in general, second person is a very personal pov to choose in a way thats different from first person and third person. in first person and third person, theres still a degree of separation between the reader and the character the story is following. second person almost kind of removes that barrier bc of the use of "you" - the reader is being directly put into the character's shoes. as in, "you're" doing this, "you're" thinking this, etc etc. bc its such a personal pov, different readers might have different feelings about this (second person pov in fics is a pet peeve for some people for one reason or another), and youve committed yourself to writing second pov, you might as well go all in!! as a reader, i would be directly in that character's skin, basically, and i think its good to lean into the character youre writing especially with second person. bc theres even less separation between reader and character!! its kind of like the general pov advice of - who is this character, whats their personality like, what are they thinking, why should i care, etc etc. whats their inner world like? what is this telling me about their character?

another thing - you can choose between writing past or present tense of course, and the choice is up to you there, but i think present tense may fit second person pov more. with second person, youre directly addressing the reader for the entire story. theres a difference in urgency between "You gritted your teeth and fought off the attack" and "You grit your teeth and fight off the attack", i think. youre already putting your reader in such a personal position with the pov character - i think present tense might aid in it a lot more. another disclaimer that this is my opinion of course - but yes, i think that it also may be harder for people to suspend their disbelief with second person pov in certain circumstances. if i read past tense second person i might stop for one second and go "no, i did not grit my teeth and fight off some random attack in my past". in present tense i might be more likely to go "huh, yeah ig im fighting off this attack now. oh snap, hows this gonna go?"

of course, this isnt to say that you cant do past tense second person. as a second person pov fan i would absolutely eat up any second person fic regardless of the tense or not so long as your choice of tense stays consistent throughout the entire story (unless of course you have a good reason to change tenses mid-story). but i think that a good amount of second person works are in present tense, maybe for this very reason, unless the second person is combined with first person in like a song or something (basically every time the narrator of a song addresses the "you", like for example something like this sentence: "you broke up with me last summer"). or maybe the character is thinking about something they did in the past, so in reinhard's case it could look like "Remember when you killed your own grandmother all those months ago?" or something like that.

yeah, so - second person pov is a bit of a bold choice. it's inherently very personal and intimate. and i think theres also like the general advice of like - imo, don't use "you" too much. i know that sounds counterintuitive given this is second person pov hah but its kind of similar with something like first person - don't use "I" too much. and that also combines with the general advice of "vary your sentences". it can be awkward if every sentence has the same length and starts off the same way with the same rhythm, like this - "You go to the grocery store. You open the door. You step inside. You walk into the store."

(and quick disclaimer that if youre intending to go for that kind of monotonous sound for a part of/a lot of your story for various reasons, definitely go for it if its on purpose! i myself have done it a bit before to show a character kind of going through the motions, so to speak)

and with second person, absolutely utilize sentences or phrases or what have you that dont use "you" at all!! i think its called "implied" second person - stuff like "Look at that wall" or "Hand over that paper". so you can absolutely highlight second person pov without even using the word "you" at all and its also good to switch things up when youre writing to add a more "dynamic" quality to your work (and itll probably be fun for you to do if thats something youre into!!). so while narrative pronouns like this wont usually grate on your reader (bc we gotta use pronouns all the time for a reason, so using it a lot isnt a problem whatsoever and i highly doubt anyones gonna notice how much theyre used), definitely keep in mind not to overdo it at every turn, if that makes sense. its like the word "said" or "says" - hardly anyone is gonna notice it unless youre using it for Every Single Dialogue Line In A Row, but otherwise use it as much as you want.

getting creative with your sentence structure and the way you tell the story is important of course regardless of the pov youve chosen - and also hah sorry if that sounds really obvious but i do think its really important to remember!! :o second person may be different and less commonly used in narrative stories compared to first or third person, but some of the same rules are still gonna apply in a sense -

i think getting creative with sentences and description is even more important in second person. with first person and third person you can still have all these varying degrees of separation, especially with third person - there's like a "distant" third person that doesn't really go as far into the character's heads as much as "close" third person, where the entire third person narration can vaguely mimic the character's inner thoughts and feelings and worldviews.

second person, i think, from the get go, can mimic thoughts even more sometimes, if thats an angle you want to take - i mean have you ever like, had thoughts that were directed towards yourself or have you ever talked to yourself? or seen others do this? im talking about stuff like telling yourself "good job" or going "look what you did" at yourself in disappointment? theres also the "instructional" angle - a lot of instructions are written in second person, and a second person narrative can sound kinda like that just bc youre directly addressing your reader so much. it could definitely be fun to lean into all of this if you wanted - especially since youre writing reinhard (whos unfortunately brainwashed and conditioned to hell and back in every area of his life :<).

and second person is such a specific pov that i think you have to keep in mind why youre using second person. what is your intent in using this specific pov for this specific story? how is the story aided by your choice of pov? and i think its an extremely interesting choice for reinhard, who, as i said and as you definitely know - dudes got issues surrounding being controlled by the literal government and being pushed around!! hes a dog on a leash!! hes spent almost his whole life being ordered around everywhere, and on like, a human level maybe, hes one of the hardest people to understand.

bc yknow - reinhards dps of course give him this really unique perspective of the world. as we know, hes the FURTHEST thing for normal bc of his powers and they affect everything about his life - his relationships with other people of course but also how he perceives the world. hes perfect at Everything, he can do a whole long list of things that almost no one else can, he gets new powers every time he needs one for a given situation, he cant even fuck up telling salt from sugar, he cant lose any board game, etc etc dudes just powerless in Every Other Area of his life except for the long list of powers.

and yknow, bc of this and also trauma hes detached from others no matter how hard he tries to bridge that gap between him and other people. its why he wants to be normal so bad!! he wants friends and he likely wants freedom (why follow FELT of all royal candidates… he's 100% staked his family's redemption on her especially when you remember rom and the astrea's connection to the demihuman war, heinkel being rumored to kidnap a royal family member, reid, etc) but yknow. he cant get freedom so easily :(

which im sure you already knew all of this hah, tumblr user whygodwhy (amazing url btw) (im also saying this bc you seem like a big astrea fan as well and youve been around on rz tumblr from what i can see <3), but definitely great to keep in mind for your writing purposes bc a second person fic with (one of) THE most “inhuman” (heavy emphasis on the quotation marks here) character in rezero??? thats absolutely DIABOLICAL (complimentary) i love it. its an absolutely genius idea - we're really being pushed into understanding reinhard's perspective of having powers that make you kind of like a god. and then it makes everyone around you think youre a monster :(((

but yes like - reinhards character sets up the perfect foundation for a second person pov fic. like you can really get creative with how he experiences the world in ALL SORTS of extremely extremely off putting ways and therefore how we the reader experience REINHARD'S experiences. its super cool!!!

and i definitely think that its up to you on how you want to interpret reinhard - i think that generally even with fic authors who try to stick as closely to canon characterization as possible theres still a bit of variance you know? :o which i think is really fascinating!! especially when you take into account writing styles and all that, and especially when you take into account reinhard as a character.

atm he hasnt had a moment in rezero canon where we actually read from his pov and iirc its bc tappei said that reinhard just kinda knows Spoilery stuff? correct me if im wrong on that of course. and also iirc tappei also said that reinhard is Generally honest about what he says, so the way i see people (including myself...) write reinhard's pov matches pretty similarly with his outward self most of the time? but apart from that yknow interpret reinhard how youd like and if youre writing some sort of au or having him develop in a certain way (that isnt seen in canon), definitely go for it!! theres of course a fine balance between developing a character vs changing them to the point where it doesnt feel like the same character, but once you get to know that Base Characterization you can figure out how to go about developing them while still making them feel like themselves if thats something youre interested in!!

and for example, i think you could get creative with how using his powers looks like from his pov!! (some of which he just. doesnt think about in the sense that it just Happens - like that one dp he has where he just Knows where the exits of the building hes in are or that other dp where things thrown at him just automatically misses him.) or you know depending on what the plot for your fic is - how do you think he sees people like heinkel, wilhelm, subaru, etc, based on how he outwardly acts towards them? bc we havent seen reinhards exact pov yet in canon its kind of free real estate rn HAH and even then its fanfic, you can do what you want.

but yknow if you want to stick closer to canon, theres def the high probability that reinhard is usually honest about what he says (so his thoughts on things likely match up with what he says out loud about that exact thing). and in general if youre willing to and havent done so already i think you could check out more reinhards side stories and reinhards qnas from tappei. of course stuff like qnas you might have to take with a grain of salt (since its word of god and not always in the text yet) but you may see details that youd like to keep in mind or even use in your fic!!

and i think its good in general to make your own interpretation and know how you want to write reinhard based on that interpretation. i also recommend if you want to to maybe check out other reinhard pov fics to maybe find some inspiration or note how youd also want to interpret reinhards pov. you could note stuff like "hey, i like how this author describes how reinhards dp of empathy works" or "i like how matter of fact reinhards internal dialogue sounds here" - that sort of thing. but i definitely do think that if you want to be in character, definitely try to come to your own conclusions as well based on canon!!

as for other general advice, rereading or rewatching reinhard scenes may help you as well. i definitely recommend taking mental or physical (whether youre typing it up or writing it down physically) notes or something if that would help you. something that personally helps me (and you can do this if you want) is that every time im trying to learn a characters dialogue and how they usually speak is that i go to reread/rewatch a scene theyre in. i usually choose english dub if i can since im writing in english and then i just note down stuff like what kind of words they use, what reoccurring words or phrases do they use a lot, etc etc. so if youre struggling with dialogue or something, this is something you could try!!

reinhard does speak a little professionally/formally, with a little emotional distance, if that makes sense (i think the most obvious example is him Sounding too composed after dying and coming back in arc 5?). like the dude sounds like hes in customer service mode Near Constantly, if that also makes sense (....well he IS the sword saint HAH), even if hes actually upset about something. i think one of the biggest cracks in his customer service facade though is when hes either quietly depressed in front of his family or when he gets upset about the arc 3 julisuba duel (like he actually RAISES HIS VOICE A BIT and is obviously upset when talking to subaru after the duel. literally insane). also ofc when hes in serious "damn i guess you gotta die" mode :(

but yes i think that reinhard speaks formally but he tries to be way more casual about it yknow? julius is the one whos more flowery, that pretentious prick!!! (affectionate) (read this line in a subaru voice). reinhard will be like "hello, it's nice to meet you :) oh, please, call me reinhard :)))) no need for honorifics, we are friends here :)))) (pls treat me like a normal person ahahahah im begging you) (we're friends right? pls be my friend. pretty pls. im begging -)" and julius will be like "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance." bc hes flowery <33 a slight purple prose thats as purple as his hair (affectionate)

and yep as for internal dialogue, again, you can interpret how reinhard would think in a lot of different ways and its up to you on how you want to explore him and what we know of him from canon so far!!

and you know, a lot of writing is just a lot of practice, and i guarantee you that the more you write a character the more comfortable youll get!! speaking as someone who has done so much writing in private to get comfortable with writing dialogue for people like otto or reinhard or subaru (and even then i still try really hard to adjust if i feel theyre getting out of character hah, theyre still hard to write fr :<). so yeah i def recommend to you know just give your best go at it and have fun while you do!! you can always go back and edit and if you need a betareader or smth you can def ask around. i would be down if you needed one!!

also i did write a small little blurb if you want an example of combining how to write second pov and how to write reinhard :O !! i do think that every writer is different of course but i just wanted to leave an example just in case itd help you!! i Think this is well written enough for example purposes hah:

Remember when you killed your grandmother all those months ago? Fist through her chest, familial blood splattering all over your only family. As her body falls limp, Grandfather catches her right when she’s gasping out her last words and turning to dust like the ash left in the wake of when you first killed her years ago.

The only difference is that it was a necessary evil this time.

yep so - in conclusion, fuck around (research various things if you need to) and find out (practice and have fun) <333 i hope this helps and feel free to reach out if you ever wanna ask more stuff :o !!

#rezero #re:zero #ahhh yes i hope this all makes sense - ty for sending me this ask and best of luck on ur fic!!! again feel free to share if youd like #id really love to see it and im sure other people would enjoy it too <3 #reinhard van astrea #ask

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