Point of view is a tricky thing to learn, but once you grasp it,
you’ll be able to pull the reader into your characters world. That’s
one attribute of a great storytelling.
Point of view is the perspective of the story. There are four
perspectives a story can be written in. Once the author chooses a
point of view perspective, the author must then decide if the story
will be written in past tense or present tense. Past tense reads like
is has already happened. Present tense reads like it is happening
right now. Most stories are written in first person past tense or
third person past tense. When you write a story, pick one point of
view, one tense, and stick with them.
1. Omniscient Point of View: This is like God is telling the story.
It’s mostly told from a third person perspective, but the God-
narrator knows all, sees all, and can communicate to the reader the
thoughts of every character in the book. One problem with omniscient
point of view is that it’s confusing. I recently read a YA story
called Magyk. It’s the first book in the Septimus Heap series. It was
a neat story with unusual characters, but jumping from one persons
head to another in the same paragraph made my head hurt. It took me
twice as long to read as it should have because I found myself
re-reading a lot of it to figure out who was talking.
Omniscient point of view also weakens the characters. If you want to
write an amazing story, the best way to do that is to create amazing
characters. That means taking the reader into their head to get to
know them. Omniscient POV bounces from head to head and therefore
loses that intimacy.
2. First person Point of View: This perspective uses `I’ as the point
of view character.
Example of first person past tense: I walked to the store to get some
ice cream. I was so hot that I couldn’t wait to feel that cool cream
melt in my mouth.
Example of first person present tense: I walk to the store to get
some ice cream. I’m so hot that I can’t wait to feel that cool cream
melt in my mouth.
First person is a great point of view to consider if you want to have
your reader identify with the main character. That may sound silly to
you. Shouldn’t every author want their reader to identify with their
main character? Yes, but first person point of view is often used for
coming of age stories, relationship stories, and stories with only
one point of view for the length of the novel. First person isn’t the
strongest POV for suspense, adventure, or fantasy novels.
3. Second person: This perspective uses `you’ as the point of view
character
Example of second person past tense: You walked to the store to get
some ice cream. You were so hot that you couldn’t wait to feel that
cool cream melt in your mouth.
Example of second person present tense: You walk to the store to get
some ice cream. You are so hot that you can’t wait to feel that cool
cream melt in your mouth.
Second person point of view is mostly used in non fiction. It was
also used in those popular Choose-You-Own-Adventure books that I read
as a child. It’s not a good idea to use second person point of view
for fiction.
4. Third person: This perspective uses `he or she or a name’ as the
point of view character.
Example of third person past tense: James walked to the store to get
some ice cream. He was so hot that he couldn’t wait to feel that cool
cream melt in his mouth.
Example of third person present tense: James walks to the store to
get some ice cream. He’s so hot that he can’t wait to feel that cool
cream melt in his mouth.
This is by far the most popular point of view that authors use. For
the reader, it’s like watching a film inside his or her mind. In this
form, the author also must decide whether to use a single point of
view, or multiple points of view. A single POV means that the author
must stick with one character for the whole story. Never does the
reader see the story from another perspective. In multiple points of
view, the story could be told from many perspectives, one being told
at a time. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants is a good example of
multiple points of view. There are four main characters and each has
their own point of view chapters.
How to write strong Point of View
To write strong point of view, only one character can tell the story
at a time. If every character in your book tries to tell the story at
once, the reader won’t be able to follow. They’ll be confused. As a
writer, have good manners and give one character the floor at a time.
Ha ha.
How do you do this?
Here are three rules to help you write strong point of view:
1. Don’t tell us anything the character doesn’t know.
Say you write, `Little did Shelley know, the monster was right behind
her.’
If Shelley doesn’t know that the monster is right behind her, then
the reader can’t know either. So not only does this sentence break
the point of view rule, but it is a nasty bit of `telling.’ You
spoiled the whole story by telling the reader about the monster! Try
instead, `Shelley’s gut tightened at the rank smell of rotten fish
that came in a humid gust at the back of her neck. The hairs on her
arms danced. Something was behind her!’
That’s Shelley’s point of view. She may sense that something is
behind her, and this way the readers experience what she is feeling,
hearing, seeing, tasting, and smelling. They experience her fear.
That writing is what immerses us in her point of view.
2. Don’t jump into someone else’s thoughts.
It doesn’t work in real life, and unless you’re writing about a
telepathic character, it doesn’t work in fiction. I refer to the
example from my first e-zine.
Kate glared at Edward. What a pain little
brothers were! Why did he get away with taking her stuff all the
time? Maybe she could ship him off to Australia media mail. That
would teach him.
If Kate wouldn’t always boss him, he’d behave
more. Edward really only wanted his sister to play with him. The
other kids in third grade didn’t have a big sister as cool as her,
but she always yelled at him. He almost cried the last time, which
was totally wimpy, but at least she was paying some attention to him,
even if it was yelling.
Mr. Jones always took his son’s side. How could
he not? Kate was careening through some bizarre teenage girl phase
beyond his understanding. She constantly tortured the family,
especially Edward. As a good father should, he stepped in, but Kate
always took it as a personal attack.
Readers want to follow one character at a time. They don’t want a new
one every two sentences. It’s hard for them to know which one to
invest in. Make sense?
3. One at a time, please.
If you want to write multiple points of view you can. Just do one at
a time. That is, one per scene, or one per chapter. With the example
above, I would rewrite this section to come from Kate’s point of
view. If I wanted the reader to know how Edward and Mr. Jones felt, I
could use dialogue to get it said. They could all have a big fight,
or Mr. Jones could come up to his daughter’s room and try to talk
some sense into her. A book with a teen girl character doesn’t really
need to have a separate point of view for her dad or her little
brother.
I hope that your understanding of point of view is a little clearer
now. If you have any questions, feel free to email me. Good luck!