Perspective

It would be curious to see a graph or some other set of numbers expressing the ratio of third and first person narratives over the last couple of centuries. Would it reflect how societies were over the years? In a world like the seventeenth century where the idea of an "inner voice" was not prevalent (if even existent), many stories were written in third person. There was no "internal" dialogue. There were soliloquies and monologues.

Today, what is the ratio of first person to third person perspective of the speaker? For example, The Hunger Games is first person--Katniss's point of view. However, other books, like Scott Lynch's The Gentleman Bastards series is third person. Does the chosen point of view give insight into the author? Or is it merely, and nothing else, a story-telling device? Arguably, it is both. (It is definitely a story-telling device whatever else it may be, of course.)

Do the points of view chosen in writing influence readers? Reading, according to various articles (some from HuffPost, some from Book Riot, some from other sources), have indicated that reading helps develop interpersonal skills such as empathy and moral understanding. Does it also influence how a reader understands his or her point of view? That is, does a person who reads more first-person P.o.V. stories focus largely on herself when thinking, wrapped up in a cocoon of thought tied directly to her person? Thoughts such as, "Oh goodness, does she dislike me for having said this phrase?" and "I must look silly, dancing here like this" and "Why must everyone be staring at me today? Have I done something, or is there something on my face, maybe?" As one who has those thoughts, this question is of import.

There is the need to get "outside" my head. By writing and reading stories from the first person perspective, do I immediately teach myself to not be as prone to see others' points of view? I'm unsure. Obviously, I will read books, regardless of how and in what perspective they are written, but it is a curious question worth pondering.  I worry my writing, my attempts to create meaningful, humanized, and relate-able characters outside my protagonist,  that it all suffers from my tendency to write in first person. I must work on building characters that are fully-fledged individuals in their own rights, not mere extras in the background of my protagonist's story...

Writer's Block 1

She had to question how she would handle it. Figure out the source. Eradicate it. Or work with it. Whichever. Either way, the block wasn't easing. She went to her favorite local shop. She went to the park. She sat at her desk and stared. She traveled through her favorite world, flipping the pages well-worn with love. Yet, the block held. An obstacle monstrous in its magnitude, ominous in its mass. What to do?

She snapped her laptop shut, palm flat on the lid, as she stared out the window. Her mind wandered as she worked to have a vision, an epiphany that would destroy the dam. The work merely solidified and fortified the obstacle. She needed a drink. Coffee? Rum? A pina colada! A mental beach break.... Now, she was just being silly. Her fingers drummed on her jaw bone as she continued to stare, chin in hand, absently petting the soft fur of her feline roommate. 

She drifted free from any sense perception. Her thoughts trundled through her head, a confused deluge of debris and madness. What was she going to write??