Recently I've decided to delve into the method of first-person point of view in present-tense style. It's difficult to keep to it at times, especially since I'm usually in third-person past-tense style, but I'm slowly getting the hang of it and keeping it right. But those little slips really throw off the reading style you get into when you're rereading your work, and while it might be small, it's still a glaring oversight I'm glad to catch when I do.

Here's a sample of the work I'm doing:

I see... nothing. Am I doomed forever to float among that black abyss, like a universe without stars? I lived a well enough life, I'm sure. I got good grades. I didn't tell but white lies every now and then. I've never been in a relationship... Never did drugs... I've never even touched alcohol! I could have been a saint, a monk.

I should feel as though I'm floating, shouldn't I? That's the point of an endless abyss: You float, suspended, in nothing. But I'm not moving in any way. Whatever's beneath me is cold. Something like brick...

"Calvin. Calvin!"

My name. I can't be in an abyss if someone's calling my name. I never really expected Limbo to be so dark, either... And the voice isn't familiar.

"Calvin, if you open your eyes, you might be able to see."

All the patient tolerance of a father speaking to his son. It's like I'm a child again, closing my eyes in fear of something I shouldn't be afraid of and trying to run away. You can't run away with your eyes closed. It takes a moment, but I manage to both understand what he's saying and put those words into action. I raise my eyelids, heavy though they are, and for a moment, I can't concentrate. Monochromatic colors blur with one another, making it impossible to tell shadow from highlight, or near from far.

Unaware of thinking about the action, I feel my eyes squint, trying to focus through this heavy fog that's settled on my vision. I can slowly make out a few large shapes, like walls lined up behind a carousel at my right, and to my left, another wall, this one facing away from me and ending somewhere toward whatever I'm leaning against. But in front of me... Two slender shapes, which I follow upward to where they bloom a bit.

Lifting my arms take a bit of willpower, considering they feel like they've been weighted down with a wet towel. But I do, and rub the groggy pain out of my face, shaking off the initial cover of confusion.

The two slender forms in front of me happen to be legs. That's obvious now. They're attached to a relatively well-built man, covered from neck to foot in a suit that reminds me of a funeral home. Quite appropriate, in my opinion. He doesn't look terribly old, but I can see a few lines in his square-jawed face. No doubt his buzzed hair would have a few sprigs of gray poking out here and there. "That's better, 'innit, Calvin?" He asks with a bright grin, offering a hand. Thoroughly confused, I accept, quite unprepared for the jolt of being wrenched up so quickly. I stumble a bit as my knees almost give out under me, though I'm steadied by the stranger.

"What... happen...?" I could use better English, seeing as it's my first language. But after recovering from... a dream, I guess you could call it, you're not entirely within grasp of forming coherent sentences.

I hadn't had the character thoroughly thought out, but I do know he's a family-oriented type who's a lover of literature, making it simple for him to describe most sights and scenes very elaborately, even while he's describing them with his inner monologue. For a while I shied away from first-person, and never even considered doing present-tense style, but now that I'm working on it a bit at a time, I'm finding it rather easy and quite fun.

Is there a style of writing you like, but you find it difficult? Practice does make perfect, after all, but sometimes it's just hard to grab that writing formation quite right.

What is a writing style?
Is Poem a writing style?

Poetry is a style of writing, of course. Some people write solely in poetry because it's their best creative outlet. Of course that doesn't mean it's always the easiest for them.

If so, I have problem in writing Poem/lyric style. XD
I don't really appreciate poem either... sad.

I am fine with first and third person, but I do not like first person as preference.
When I chose a story to read, I would immediately drop the book if it is in first person. Currently there are only a few exceptions I made of first person story I read, comedy and mystery novels. But even when I read, I will automatically replace the 'I' into the name of the narrator. XD

I find it hard to write poems, I tend to start forcing rhymes, even though I know poems don't have to rhyme. Also, not sure if this is part of the style, more of the genre, but I cannot write anything other than fantasy or romance/drama or comedy. Try as I might, I just can't write anything else.

It's all difficult to me - I just enjoy the challenges presented by some styles more than others, so motivation is my biggest problem.

I'm going to have to go with anything that involves the first person. In order for me to do it, I really need to like the character, or, at the very least, sympathize with it. Otherwise, I tend to start playing the role of an overly wrathful God.

"Golly-gee, this guy's a buttface. He should suffer!"

Though, I must admit to doing that in the third person as well, though it's easier to keep from it because my narrator and I are different beings and somehow, I've always had a sense of that. So, even if I cannot empathize, the narrator can or at least, it can remain cool and uncaring. Either the third person exists simply to report the happenings or to be almost another character entirely.

Actually now that I think of it, I make characters suffer regardless of how good a person they are. It's just more unrealistically spontaneous if I cannot stand the character and no outside narrator acts as a barrier between us.

I also have trouble with the honesty of my characters. Personally, I rather love the unreliable narrator - like the classic Montresor. But, in accordance to what is all the rage among my peers at the moment, it's something few ever expect and so, we all go in merrily expecting the lad or lassie telling us their story to be entirely honest. This often gets me in trouble with the first person, because all of the sudden inconsistencies become obvious - not every character is a good liar. Were I a better writer, these inconsistencies would probably be better interpreted as dishonesty on the part of the one telling the story (who, in first person, I always try my hardest to stay distant from) rather than glaring flaws unintentionally left in by the author.

Though, I suppose that is all tied back to choosing the correct narrator for the story. Unfortunately, I find overly flawed characters all too amusing.

So, while I do enjoy it on my own for the sake of character development and whatnot, no one ever sees first person coming from me, unless, of course, I'm talking about myself specifically.

Just on a side note, I once tried to make a character just like myself the star of a story. After about two pages, I was at the edge of my seat tempted to beg my favorite writing chum to kill it with fire. Of course, she wouldn't, so I did on page three. Thank some deity that I never have to have conversations with myself.

I have trouble with comedy. It's not so much that I'm not funny, I just can't come up with enough funny stuff to make it a significant part of my story. Like, I don't really write stuff that would fall under the genre of "comedy," though I am trying to get better at it, since I do like the genre. I think I like drama too much, haha ^.^'

I'm also awful at fighting scenes, but I have to get better at those, they're pretty important in a lot of stories I have planned out >.<

Also, @SirGollyGumDrop, " I make characters suffer regardless of how good a person they are. It's just more unrealistically spontaneous if I cannot stand the character and no outside narrator acts as a barrier between us." Same, I beat the shit out of my characters. xD

I also have trouble with 1st person, though my most successful short story is written in 1st because I knew from the concept stage that it was exactly what that story needed. Part of the problem is that I rather hate to read in 1st so its not easy to write. Whenever I run across a fanfic written in first person, I leave. Lol. I also struggle with present tense. I don't think I even want to try with it though many of my peer writers in class are quite good with it. I understand the merits of that style and I don't mind reading it. 3rd person past tense is my natural though.

I think it really helps to keep something from being difficult by reading a lot of it, even more so than practice. I hear over and over from my teachers that you can't be a writer if you don't read.

My most difficult writing style is short story. I always end up turning it into a Novel because I just end up getting all these plot bunnies and I just can't stop because I end up wanting an intro, beginning, and a full ending. Also conflict and resolution between all that. I wrote short stories as my final projects for the two years in my high school's creative writing class (it was either that, a script, poetry, or a comic).

Zim: I used to struggle a lot with short stories and keeping them short, but I'm required to write them in class so I've gotten very good at them. Normally my way to turn a story short is to not bother with the happy ending though. I would have a nice resolution and a larger world in a novel...but with the short story, I kill it before it can go that far. Either by killing the character or otherwise inserting creepy alternative to continuing the journey. Seems my tragic short stories are more successful than my novels amoung my peer critiquers..... ^^'