Fictive Dream, your ideas please?

[Pharosian]

Certainly there are many errors an author can make, particularly with regards to grammar, spelling and the story's logic – all with the potential to destroy the fictive dream. But POV – no; this will always be a reader's preference and nothing the author will have any control over, ever. (IMO)

Wellllll... that's not strictly true. For one thing, even within a given POV (first person, say), the author can make mistakes that will trip up even those readers who ADORE first person tales. For another thing, while it's true that there are "all kinds" of readers out there--and your statement that universal appeal is unattainable is generally true--there are still many more readers who are comfortable with third person past tense than those who are comfortable with second person present tense.

So even though an author can't control the fact that some people think present tense lends a sense of immediacy and others who think it's totally unrealistic from a storytelling perspective, the author CAN play the numbers game and write in a style that both suits the story and is likely to be palatable to the largest number of readers.

[Woody]

mustn't have my stuff here, ed keeps it.