C.A. Jacobs

theliteraryarchitect:

(You can
download a free, printable Point of View Cheatsheet to go along with this post in my Free Resource Library! If you are already a subscriber, check your inbox for the login information. Or just keep reading!)

Point of View: An Introduction

Simply stated, point of view is the vantage point from which a story is told.
But point of view is much more complicated than that. It encompasses
everything from who the narrator is (the author? a character?) to what
attitude they have about the story they’re telling.

When the point of view for a short story or novel has been
thoughtfully constructed, it acts nearly invisibly. But lose your
footing, even briefly, and the reader will immediately sense something
is off. Even subtle inconsistencies in a story’s point of view can pull
us out of the moment.

With the stakes so high, it’s important to make deliberate, thoughtful choices about point of view.
Yet all too often, this show-stopping element of fiction writing takes a
backseat to writers’ concerns about plot and character. But point of
view isn’t an easy gimmick or a frivolous choice to be taken lightly. Point of view, when used correctly, is the story.

Let me repeat that. Point of view IS the story.

Say your novel is about a woman who murdered her husband. You could
tell that story from the perspective of the woman, 20 years later,
looking back regretfully on what happened… or from the perspective of a
burned-out detective, during the investigation… or from the perspective
of her dead husband, from the afterlife, as he watches his wife suffer
in prison… or from the perspective of a deaf child who witnessed the
crime, and is now traumatized for life…

But those aren’t just “different spins” on the same story. They are all completely different stories.

The infinite subtleties and endless possibilities of point of view
are too much for a single blog post. But I’d like to share some point of
view basics with you as a jumping off point.

Here’s a list of the five most common points of view, and how to decide which is right for you. I also made a free, printable Point of View Cheatsheet that you can download in my Free Resource Library. 🙂

The Five Basic Points of View

The five basic points of view are first person, second person, third
person limited, third person omniscient, and multiple point view.
Choosing between them can seem overwhelming at first, but you can
simplify your decision by thinking of them as existing on a continuum
between perspective and intimacy.

Keep reading