Point of View: Definitions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Point of View (or \u201cPOV\u201d) is the narrator\u2019s position in relation to the story<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are a few basic possibilities here, one of which is exceptionally rare. They are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Examples of first person narration<\/strong> are legion. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s an example of first person point of view in practice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCall me Ishmael. Some years ago\u2014never mind how long precisely\u2014having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation.\u201d Examples of second person perspective<\/strong> are extremely rare. Famous recent examples include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Examples of third person narration<\/strong> are also commonplace. For example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n And here\u2019s an example of third person narration in practice:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMy dear Mr. Bennet,\u201d said his lady to him one day, \u201chave you heard that Netherfield Park is let at last?\u201d Got that? OK. We\u2019ll skip on to the limited \/ omniscient distinction, then start figuring out how to apply point of view to your<\/em> novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n OK, the thing that probably most confuses newer writers is the distinction between third person limited and third person omniscient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Quite honestly, though, this isn\u2019t something to trouble with too much. If you want to write in third person, just do what\u2019s right for your characters and your story, and you should do just fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to know more, however, what you need to know is this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you use a limited form of third person narration, you stay very close to your character. So the narrator isn\u2019t telling the reader anything that the character in question wouldn\u2019t themselves know \/ see \/ hear \/ sense. Here\u2019s a beautiful example from Anne Tyler (in Breathing Lessons<\/a>):<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey planned to wake up at seven, but Maggie [the point of view character in this passage] must have set the alarm wrong and so they overslept. They had to dress in a hurry and rush through breakfast, making do with faucet coffee and cold cereal. Then Ira headed off for the store on foot to leave a note for his customers, and Maggie walked to the body shop. She was wearing her best dress \u2013 blue-and-white sprigged with cape sleeves \u2013 and crisp black pumps, on account of the funeral. The pumps were only medium-heeled, but slowed her down some anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll notice that nothing at all in that passage is something that Maggie doesn\u2019t know about. So even when the passage talks about Ira heading off to the store, that\u2019s done from Maggie\u2019s perspective. We know that he goes and what his purpose is there, but we know nothing at all about his walk itself \u2013 whereas we know exactly what Maggie\u2019s wearing, and why, and why her shoes slowed her down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is third person limited (because it\u2019s so closely limited to Maggie\u2019s perspective) and as you can see it delivers a kind of intimacy \u2013 even a homeliness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n The omniscient version of third person is, as you\u2019d expect, able to tell the reader things that aren\u2019t directly knowable by any of the characters in the tale. The most famous example of this narrative voice in literature is surely this passage from Charles Dickens\u2019s Tale of Two Cities<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, As you can see, this isn\u2019t told from any<\/em> character\u2019s viewpoint. It\u2019s almost as though a lordly, all-seeing Charles Dickens is hovering over London (or England? or the world?) and giving his kingly overview of the situation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This type of writing has become rather less common in fiction, so you\u2019ll tend to stick with broadly limited<\/em> narration, interspersed (perhaps) by something a little more omniscient in flavour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First-person narration shares action as seen through the eyes of your narrator. A narrator can therefore only narrate scenes in which he or she is present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coming-of-age novels \u2013 Dodie Smith\u2019s I Capture the Castle<\/em>, Stephen Chbosky\u2019s The Perks of Being a Wallflower<\/em> \u2013 work exceptionally well in first-person narration. A lot of YA books are written in first person, because their intimate, emotional narration chimes with their teenaged readership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Romances (with their emotional focus) are also often first person. So are ghost stories with a sense of claustrophobia like Susan Hill\u2019s The Woman in Black<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In particular, however, it\u2019s worth thinking about Jonathan Franzen\u2019s dictum<\/a> that, \u201cWrite in third person unless a really distinctive first-person voice offers itself irresistibly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words: (A) do you feel you have to write in that first person voice, and (B) does that first person voice really sound and feel distinctive, personal and indvidual. I\u2019ve mostly written third person, but my recent detective novels are first person \u2013 essentially for the reasons Franzen hints at. Here\u2019s an example from my book, The Deepest Grave<\/a>. (I\u2019ve made some short edits for length, but mostly this is as it appears in the finished book.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The narrator is Fiona Griffiths, my detective protagonist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m a little earlier than I said, but it\u2019s not long before I hear the sound of approaching feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Katie appears. Sees me up here on my bank. I raise a hand and smile welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She approaches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Impressively torn black jeans. Black cowboy boots, well-used. Dark vest-top worn under an almost military kahki shirt. A chunky necklace. One of those broad-brimmed Aussie-style hats with a leather band. [\u2026]<\/p>\n\n\n\n The look has attitude and personality and toughness, without quite dipping into angry hippy counterculture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also: she walks with a ski-stick, a mobility aid not a fashion statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She comes up the bank towards me. Sits beside me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I say, \u2018You hurt your ankle?\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll notice that it\u2019s not just that the observations<\/em> are made by Fiona. (eg: \u201cnot long before I hear the sound of approaching feet\u201d). It\u2019s also that the character of those observations is shaped 100% by Fiona herself. So yes, the list of clothes that Katie is wearing is a fairly neutral list (though the very short sentences and lack of any verbs \u2013 that\u2019s all Fiona). But that summary comment about the overall effect (\u201cthe look has attitude . . .without quite dipping into angry hippy counterculture\u201d) is what Fiona<\/em> thinks about Katie\u2019s look. I can\u2019t comment myself, because this is Fiona\u2019s narration. She\u2019s in charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the same reason, if there were, let\u2019s say, a lion in the undergrowth about to spring out on Fiona, the book couldn\u2019t say anything about the lion, until Fiona herself had seen \/ heard \/ smelled \/ witnessed it in some way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Does that sound claustrophobic? Needlessly restrictive?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, maybe. But I\u2019m now halfway into writing novel #7 in that series, and when that book\u2019s complete I\u2019ll be close to 1,000,000 words published in the series. And every single one of those words, without exception, comes from Fiona\u2019s voice. There is no other perspective anywhere in the series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In other words, the restriction of first person is real, but you can still write at length, and successfully in that style.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is quite easy, really! The pro is the opposite of the con and vice versa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pro<\/strong>: First person narration gives you intense, personal familiarity with the narrator. The reader can\u2019t \u2013 short of putting the book down \u2013 separate from the narrator\u2019s voice, their thoughts, their commentary, their feelings etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Con<\/strong>: You lose flexibility. If there\u2019s a lion in the undergrowth, you can\u2019t say so, until your narrator has seen the damn thing. If a key thing happens in your plot without your narrator in the room, then tough. He or she can only talk about it when they encounter the consequences down the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My comment<\/strong>: Third person narration uses \u201che\u201d or \u201cshe\u201d, where a first person narrator would say, \u201cI\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s an example taken from (and this is a blast from the past for me!) my first novel, The Money Makers<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n They spoke of other things until it was late. They damped down the fire, cleared away the dishes, and walked upstairs. Fiona went right on into the one usable bedroom. Matthew stopped at the door, where his bag lay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Fiona,\u2019 he said. \u2018You remember you said you would never ever lie for me again?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Yes.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Any chance of your lying for me right now?\u2019 He looked at the inviting double bed, heaped high with clean linen and feather quilts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She smiled. Once again, ambiguity flickered in frightened eyes, but her answer was clear. She walked right up to Matthew and stopped a few inches from him. Her long dark hair fell around her shoulders, and her face was only inches from his.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n This scene (and the whole chapter) is written from Matthew\u2019s perspective. So, yes, much of the factual data here (\u201cthey spoke of other things until it was late\u201d) was available to both Fiona and Matthew in this scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, when they step up close and get intimate, it\u2019s Matthew we\u2019re with, not Fiona. (How do we know this? Because when we get to \u201cambiguity flickered in frightened eyes\u201d, it\u2019s Matthew that sees this, not Fiona. If that little bit had been written from Fiona\u2019s perspective, it would have had to say, \u201cshe felt ambivalent and frightened\u201d, or something like that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My advice to newer writers is mostly to forget about this distinction. As a rule, you should stick close to your character \u2013 and that means adopting a generally limited point of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n How come?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, quite simply, readers want to experience story through the eyes and ears of its characters, and that means time away from the limited perspective is time spent away from that precious character-experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That said, if now and again, you want to dive into something a little more godlike (or omniscient), you absolutely can. Just:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The golden rule to remember here is that readers want character \u2013 and they only get that experience from the limited perspective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The main limitation we found with the first person narrative approach was its restrictiveness. My and my Fiona Griffiths books, with every one of those 1,000,000 words locked into one voice, one point of view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So most writers adopting the third person approach will use multiple perspectives. George Eliot\u2019s Middlemarch<\/em> is one famous example. The same goes for much of nineteenth century fiction, especially of the more epic variety: Dickens, War and Peace<\/em>, Vanity Fair<\/em>, Henry James, you name it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What you get from those many perspectives is the ability to see into many hearts, many minds, many souls. That multi-viewpoint narration gives your novel:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also notice this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are types of suspense you just can\u2019t deliver in a first person novel. So Hitchcock famously distinguished between surprise and suspense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If two people are sitting in a cafe, when a bomb detonates \u2013 that\u2019s a surprise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But let\u2019s restructure that same episode with multiple viewpoints, and you get something completely different. So we might see (Point of View #1) a terrorist planting a bomb in the cafe, then switch perspectives to (Point of View #2) the innocent couple drinking coffee right by the ticking bomb. In that case, the simple scene of two people drinking coffee becomes laden with suspense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reader knows the bomb is there. The couple don\u2019t. What\u2019s going to happen . . .?<\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s a type of suspense that we first-personeers (or single perspective third personeers) just can\u2019t deliver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consequently, third person \/ multiple viewpoint novels are particularly common with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most third person novels are written with multiple perspectives, even if (as in Harry Potter<\/em>) the point of view stays mostly with a single central character.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Advantages and disadvantages? Well, essentially you get the opposite of the first person pros and cons. So third person \/ multi-viewpoint narration:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We said above that the main risk of multiple viewpoints is that you break the reader\u2019s bond with your main character and as a result you end up losing the reader completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bad outcome, right? A book killer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fiction is about inner worlds and inner journeys, and you need to respect that. So here are the rules:<\/p>\n\n\n\n GOLDEN RULE #1 I\u2019d suggest that, for almost any new novelist, you should not go above three. My first book was a story about three sons, although the sister too had a significant secondary viewpoint. I\u2019d say that count of three-and-a-half viewpoints represents the upper limit for any first novel by all but the most gifted novelists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can go higher than that. I think of books that run to dozens of viewpoints. But as a place to start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nope, that kind of thing is too dangerous for 99.9% of you. (And the 0.1% are talented enough, that I don\u2019t really know why they\u2019re reading this!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your next rule follows from the first:<\/p>\n\n\n\n GOLDEN RULE #2 We\u2019ve all watched movies where the leading couple is so incredibly strong that the movie starts to die as soon as one of them is off-screen. Or take that great first series of Homeland<\/em>, where Carrie (Claire Danes) and Nicholas Brody (Damian Green) had a mesmeric quality together. You could have scenes with both of them in (great!). Or scenes with just one of them in (very good!). But scenes with neither? They flagged very quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And sure: you need some<\/em> filler scenes just to make sense of the story. But if you stay away from your main characters for too long, the book dies. And just because I said \u201c3-4 pages\u201d in the rule above doesn\u2019t mean that you have that much space every time you take a break. You don\u2019t. You need to keep those non-protagonist scenes as short and tight as possible. Three pages is better than four. Two pages is better than three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And our next rule follows from the first two \u2013 and from absolutely everything we know about why stories work as they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n GOLDEN RULE #3 If you use any Point of view repeatedly, the character<\/a> needs a fully developed inner life, a fully developed arc, a full set of challenges, encounters and personal change \u2013 and relevance, too. Is this person relevant to your collective story material?<\/p>\n\n\n\n So take my first book, The Money Makers, with its three (and a bit) protagonists. Every single one of those three needed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n In effect, to write a three-handed story, you have to write three stories, each perfectly structured in their own right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Phew!<\/p>\n\n\n\n That sounds like a scary undertaking, and yes, I guess it is. But because a book can be only so long, if you write from three points of view, each one of the stories you are telling can afford to be quite simple \u2013 the kind of thing that would seem a bit flat if told on its own. (If you\u2019re a bit worried about fitting it all in then you\u2019ll probably find this blog on\u00a0chapter lengths<\/a>\u00a0and this one on\u00a0word count<\/a>\u00a0really useful.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n As it happens, I love third person \/ multiple viewpoint narration almost as much as I love first person. There isn\u2019t a right or a wrong in the choice; it\u2019s only a question of how you<\/em> want to write and how your story<\/em> wants to be written.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Points of View in Fiction Writing (with Plenty of Examples) What is first person writing in fiction? What\u2019s third person narrative? What\u2019s all this about limited vs omniscient\u2026? How you narrate a story \u2013 or what points of view you choose when writing fiction \u2013 can make all the difference to its appeal. What\u2019s more,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[28894],"class_list":["post-264529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-novel-writing","tag-how-to-plot-masterclass1"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
In this instance the narrator speaks in the first person, (\u201cI did this, I said that, I thought the other.\u201d) The narrator and the novel\u2019s protagonist are essentially one and the same.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
Here the narrator speaks in the third person (\u201cYou did this\u201d, and so on.) It\u2019s exceptionally rare as a technique and is definitely not advisable for beginners.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
In this instance, the narrator speaks in the third person, (\u201cShe did this, he did that, they did the other.\u201d) The narrator is basically an invisible storyteller, telling the reader what happens to the novel\u2019s protagonists. Third person narration comes in two basic flavours: limited third person<\/strong> and the extremely grand-sounding omniscient third person<\/strong>. We\u2019ll get more into the detail of those two in a moment, but the basic difference is that a limited 3rd person narrator stays very close to the character whose viewpoint is being used. An omniscient one is more inclined to wander free from the character and give a broader view of things. (Not sure you\u2019ve got the distinction? No worries. We\u2019ll get to more details in a moment.)<\/li>\n\n\n\n
If a novel combines passages told from the first person point of view with passages told from the third person point of view, it has mixed narration \u2013 or mixed first and third person point of view, if you really want to spell it out.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\nPoint of View: Examples<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\u2014Moby Dick<\/em>, by Herman Melville<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n
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\u2014Pride and Prejudice<\/em>, by Jane Austen<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nThird Person POV: Limited vs Omniscient<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Third Person Limited: Definition & Example<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Third Person Omniscient: Definition And Example<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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it was the winter of despair, \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\nPoint of View: Which One Should You Write In?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
First Person Point of View<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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First Person Point of View, Pros And Cons<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve written books both ways. There\u2019s no right or wrong here. I love both. One good tip is to use first person narration mostly when you have a distinctive narrator with a strong voice. Most thrillers are written third person (so they can flip between different points of view (eg: investigator \/ victim \/ perpetrator), but there\u2019s no absolute rule. I write mine first person. Likewise, a lot of romance stories are written first person . . . but you can go either way there too.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"person-reading-and-researching-point-of-view-writing\"](\"https:\/\/jerichowriters.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/point-of-view-writing.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThird Person Point of View<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Limited vs Omniscient<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Third Person Point of View: Pros And Cons<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Third Person Point of View: Summary<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Third Person Narration: The Golden Rules<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Multiple Points of View: Three Golden Rules<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Limit your number of primary characters<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Never go more than 3-4 pages<\/strong> before returning to your primary characters.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Every main character (every protagonist) needs their own fully developed story arc.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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