Point-of-View by Shonell Bacon

Becoming a Lifelong Learner of the Craft of Writing

By author, editor, educator Shon Bacon aka ChickLitGurrl™

Point of View

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines point of view as “a position or perspective from which something is considered or evaluated.”  We can find that for writing to state point of view is the position or perspective from which a story is told.

Every story has a point of view, and it’s important to know what that POV is for two big reasons:

1)  To make sure that your story adheres to that POV

2)  To help your reader have a “smooth” read without blips, hiccups, and jarring moments because of awkward POV shifts 

What Are Commonly Used POVs?

Most novels are written in first or third person.

FIRST PERSON

First person always uses “I” or “we.”  The narrator of a first-person narrative is always a character within the story being told.  He/she does not have to be the main character of the story; however, many times, he/she is.  In first-person, we get intimacy with the one character, the narrator.  We see how he/she thinks, and we learn about him/her through the narrator’s style in storytelling.  One downside to first-person is readers are not able to see the views of other characters; they see what the narrator sees, experiences what the narrator experiences.  Because of this, readers of first-person need to read to understand who the narrator really is to determine what’s “really” going on within the story. 

THIRD PERSON

Third person, unlike first person, comes in many shapes and sizes.

Third-Person, Subjective

When a story is told using this POV, the reader either follows one character throughout the story, or he/she follows the thoughts and feelings of more than one character.  The latter may SOUND like Third-Person Omniscient, but the difference is here, it feels as if the character being focused on is narrating the story because we are so close to the character.

Third-Person Objective

We see this POV a lot in newspaper articles.  When a story is told using this POV, the reader learns nothing about the characters’ thoughts, opinions, or feelings.  Often called the “Fly on the Wall” POV, the third-person omniscient narrator states only what is seen and heard of the story’s characters; the narrator is neutral in regards to the plot.  With this type of story, the reader is a major participant because he/she must make his/her own interpretations of the story.

Third-Person Omniscient

Most commonly used — When a story is told using this POV, the storyteller/narrator plays no part in the story; however, he/she knows everything – characters’ thoughts, actions, feelings, opinions, etc.  The narrator may even have a personality, too, illustrating his/her opinion of the story being told.

Some people have made a distinction between third-person omniscient and third-person universal omniscient.  In universal omniscient, not only does the narrator know everything about all characters, but also he/she knows what the characters DON’T know.  This is often called the “Little Did He Know” POV.  A character does want to be mindful of using the universal omniscient POV, especially in mysteries and suspense works because too many “Little did he know he wouldn’t be alive tomorrow” may come across as hokey and “dunh dunh dunhhhhhh” – like in every scene ending of Murder, She Wrote (which I love, by the way).

Third-Person, Limited (or Close Third Person)

TPL most closely resembles first-person POV.  When a story is told using this POV, the reader experiences the story through ONE character that is almost always the main character.  Everything that is seen, heard, experienced comes through this one character – using he/she/etc.

 Can You Mix POVs?

I love stories that have different POVs.  Some new writers, however, attempt to use various POVs, but they begin new POVs in awkward places in the story.  I recently began reading a ‘script that started in a close-third person.  It followed, very closely, a male character’s thoughts and actions.  In the middle of a scene, I went from his POV to a woman’s POV, and I was confused.  I didn’t know why we needed the shift; as a result, the glitch paused my reading.  Later in my read, there was a scene break and the new scene began with a new character’s POV.  This POV shift was seamless and didn’t bother me at all.  The lesson behind this is it’s perfectly okay to have POV shifts in your work; however, you do want to try to place them at scene changes or new chapters.  Readers are expecting something new to occur with each scene or chapter, so changing POVs will go down more smoothly there than if you dropped one in the middle of a scene. 

Thanks for checking me out @ The Write Life for You.  Next month, I’ll be talking about DIALOGUE (and taglines).  

ChickLitGurrl ~ signing out 

Shon

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