Literary Point of View RSS FEED
Understanding Point of View in Literature
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“But the point of view is always the writer’s,” You say, “Isn’t it?” Yes, obviously the creative writer holds all the cards. The author creates the scenes which will serve his purpose best. The writer creates the dialog which comes out of each character’s mouth, which may drive the plot in a desired direction or start a theme. But the author/writer must also choose a voice through which to tell the tale to the reader. The voice that the story is to be told with is its literary point of view. This voice, once chosen, usually stays constant from the very beginning to the last word of the tale, no matter the length of the piece; flash fiction, short story or novel.
All kinds of elements of a story can change depending on who is telling the tale. Police experience this first hand when they interview multiple victims of a crime and they are told multiple versions of what happened. The whole tone of a story will change from one person’s point of view to another. Themes could even be different based on what one person emphasizes as being important compared to what another person thinks was important. The pace of the story changes and even the overall dramatic feel could be altered. The same incident being retold by a eight year old, boy child, a fourteen year old, coming of age, teenage girl and an adult male senior citizen will result in three very different interpretations of the same event. Therefore deciding on who will tell the story is a very important decision that a creative writer must make. Choosing the point of view will ultimately determine how the story will be told.
There are three styles of literary point of view that an author or creative writer can use to tell a new tale. The First Person Point of View can be recognized by the author’s constant reference to the word ‘I’. I smelt smoke. I heard a roaring crash. I raced out the door then across the lawn waving my hands and shouting, attempting to attract anyone’ and everyone’s attention. I didn’t believe a word the old coot said. In this case the narrator of the story is the author himself and he is telling us all about what happened to him. I fell in love. I was robbed. I learned a lot about myself that day. I was paralyzed with fear.
The second person point of view is when the author uses a technique that makes the story all about the reader. It can be recognized by the multiple references to the word ‘you’. You wake up with a throbbing headache in a bed and a room you’d never been in before and you couldn’t remember how you got there. You were thirsty, hungry and tired. You heard the door knob turning. You closed your eyes afraid to look.
The third person point of view is when the author tells someone else’s story through the use of words like ‘he, she or they’ They were an ornery bunch of Mississippi mountain yokels who were never taught to speak or write the proper King’s English but they knew how to handle knives, guns and anything one might encounter, while hiking through a thick forest. He cried real, heavy, uncontrollable tears for several minutes. She took her time applying her makeup. She was in no rush.
Each point of view has its advantages and special usage for a diligent creative writer to take advantage of. The first person, ‘I, me, my story’, allows the narrator to divulge his personal thoughts, inner feelings and interpretation of things directly to the reader. For example: To say, I was appalled would be an understatement. The second person point of view sometimes called the ‘You, your story’ draws the reader instantly into the tale, like no other point of view can, making the reader a participant in the story. Such as with: You were confused, scared but most of all you were mad! The third person point of view, characterized by the usage of ‘he, she, they, them’ allows the author the most leeway to expose multiple takes on what is happening if he chooses. Although, sometimes the nature and scope of the tale necessitates a third person ‘limited’ point of view in which the author chooses to reveal the story only through one, character’s thoughts, feelings and interpretations. The ‘he or she’ story allows the author to tell the story without participating in it thus the writer can stay more neutral and not reveal his own feelings outright, letting the reader come to his own conclusions.
The third person ‘Omniscient’ point of view is the most widely used point of view by writers due to, it allows the author the most options to change up the plot, to initiate themes, create conflicts and generally keep the action moving fast and interestingly. The Omniscient point of view is sometimes referred to as ‘the writer is God technique’ because it is the only point of view with which the author is allowed to tell us what any character is thinking at any given time. The third person ‘Omniscient point of view is popular because the author can go inside any character’s mind at will then reveal his or her hidden agendas, motives, emotions and plans. In contrast, there are many times when the very nature of the story may force the author to choose either, the first person, second person or third person limited point of view, instead of Omniscient ‘all knowing’ point of view.
Because, a single story teller has only limited knowledge, he can only know, for sure, what another character is thinking, if that character tells him. Likewise, the reader only knows for sure what the story teller tells him. Many tales would not have the same effect if the reader and the narrator both always have access to everything important everyone is thinking as is the case with the third person ‘Omniscient’ point of view. For example, there are many reasons the author needs to withhold certain info from the reader to be revealed later maybe even at the very end of the tale. If the narrator/story teller doesn’t know the info yet then the withholding of the info by the writer from the reader is natural and accepted by the reader. But, if the writer simply withholds important details that a character is thinking while all along he’s been letting us see everything going on inside that character’s head then we are going to feel cheated once the withheld details come into the light. Thus the writer would prefer to use a single story teller technique rather than the Omniscient. Depending on what info the author wishes to withhold from the reader will influence the decision of which single story teller mode he chooses to use for the point of view.
Many new writers like to write in the first person simply because it is the style that is closest to an author’s natural speaking voice and thus one can create faster and more volume with less effort. The danger with using the first person point of view, especially for new writers, is one tends to grow too close to their subject matter. There will also come a time in the story when, for suspense or mystery purposes that you don’t want the reader to know what is going on inside your mind. Again it can become a very delicate matter to withhold info from your reader, suddenly, when all along you’ve been just spewing out your personal opinions about everything. Now all of a sudden you’ve taken away access to your thoughts right when the reader needs to know what you are thinking.
The most important thing to remember when picking your point of view from which you are going to tell your story is to always remain constant. Whatever point of view you choose to use, you must stay true to that point of view from beginning to end. The writer always has the ability and power to shape his story anyway he wishes. You can kill off characters at will and your reader will probably stick with you. But you must play fare. If in scene one you allow us privy to what a character is thinking then when that same character shows up in chapter four and nine we expect to know what he is thinking then too. For this reason, many writers forgo their right to be all knowing completely and choose a technique called the ‘Objective’ third person point of view.
The ‘Objective’ third person point of view is when the author steers clear of allowing his reader to know anything any character is thinking. The writer shows you the characters actions and you as the reader may deduce the reasons for those actions but you can never be sure. The characters themselves may help by stating their opinions out loud to other characters in dialog but there is absolutely no mind reading at all. And one must remember that fiction characters, just like real life people, sometimes lie in dialog. This ‘Objective’ third person point of view technique may seem like it would make fully developing ones characters hard without allowing us to see even a glimpse inside their heads. But, for certain stories, for example mysteries, the ‘Objective’ third person point of view, is necessary to conceal the killer until the end. Besides, there are many far, better, entertaining ways for a creative writer to revealing a character’s emotions, motives, fears and ambitions than through the static, often boring use of author narrative. Developing innovative and unique techniques of disclosing to your readers a character’s true inner soul is one of the greatest arts of literature. Creative writing tips and advice on how to build great characterization without the overt use of narrative can be found at Anewtale’s Characterization Blog Page.
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Point of View is Story Telling
by Stuart Leventhal
Point of view is the voice through which a story is told. Just like the saying ‘everyone has their own opinion,’ a reader can get an entirely different story depending on whose point of view the story is written from. Quips like, ‘there’s two sides to every story,’ are only part right. When it comes to creative writing there are multiple sides to every story.
Quality creative writers, especially fiction writers, need to know how to handle the telling of stories from every angle in order to portray a well-rounded tale. Yes, generally a story is written, all the way through, from only one person’s view point. Tales tend to be more organized, comprehendible and easier to follow along if the author isn’t jumping all over, trying to convey every character’s inner thoughts and interpretations of every little episode or event. But the author must still be able to view things through all his characters’ eyes in order to write believable action and dialog that fits the moment.
Many new creative writers take the learning of literary point of view and the usage of point of view for granted. They quickly choose one of the most popular points of view with which to tell their stories without putting much thought into it then they are off to the races. First person, stories told from the perception of ‘I did this or I did that,’ are very popular choices for new writers since they assume they will be easier since the author can write in the style that they talk. Example: I ran after the basketball as it bounced down the driveway then out into the busy street. BEEP! BEEP! I heard the car horns then skidded to a stop at the curb’s edge. POP! The Lincoln Continental ran over my older brother’s basketball dragging it about fifteen yards down our block. Oh my!...” I wondered. How am I going to tell Mark I lost his basketball, which I’d been told, many times, not to play with?”
At first, this style seems quite easy and the words flow easily but the first person point of view can limit where the author can take his tale since it’s hard to write about events that happen when the author’s voice character is not present. For a long or complicated story, it’s tough to make it appear believable that every time something significant happens the author’s voice character just happened to be present to witness it all. When you tell a story with a view point that allows you to utilize at least a few different characters’ opinions your readers can get a better, more thorough, well-rounded understanding of what actually happened.
The third person point of view is the next biggest choice for new writers and probably the most utilized point of view in literature altogether. This is frequently referred to as the ‘he said, she said or they said’ method of storytelling. He saw his older brother’s basketball bouncing down the driveway, heading towards the busy street. He turned then raced after it…Notice the ‘he’ is used now instead of the ‘I’ which we used with the first person point of view. Many new authors feel comfortable creating tales in this fashion because this is the style they are most familiar reading. If you use this style you should remember when ‘he’ is telling the story, ‘he’ can’t read the minds of your other characters in order to inform your readers what other characters present, during a scene, are really thinking. This puts a limit as to how detailed certain characters can be developed as well as cutting down on the list of themes that can be broached, especially complicated themes.
Quality creative authors pick the view point from which to write a tale based on what they are trying to accomplish. Experienced authors realize they have many options and frequently exercise their right to utilize any point of view to get their message across. An accomplished male author will be comfortable telling a tale through the eyes of a woman if it fits his purpose and vice a versa for women authors. Authors need to be comfortable writing stories using a totally different voice from their own even if they are working on a story, told from the point of view of a person who is a different age, race or religion than they are.
Yes, I know you’ve all been told to. “Write what you know! Write what you know!” time and time again, by your literature professors and creative writing mentors. But, consider Charles Dickens and his tales of poor orphan children or Shakespeare’s works about kings and nobility falling. Think how these great authors’ stories would have been hindered if they could only write about characters who’s roll in life they themselves actually played and had personal experience and definite knowledge of. Our experienced creative writers realize their readers wish to hear stories, enjoy stories and find stories much more interesting when they are told via the voices of people from all different walks of life, the more unique and unusual the better.
The same story takes on a whole new tone when told through an old experienced man’s eyes compared to the perspective of his, just coming of age, teenage nephew. Women will normally interpret happenings different than men, opening the door to explore other themes. People of different religions will put more emphasis on things that are important to their particular faith and beliefs when telling a tale. Choosing nontraditional points of view from which to tell your story also opens up the doors to different forms of drama, humor and many more directions a story can develop. The point of view effects everything; plot, theme, conflict, dialog etc. Still, a smart, skilled, experienced creative writer will take point of view even further than just picking the person who is going to tell the story.
Even more plots and themes can be developed by analyzing who the story is being told to. This has nothing to do with who picks up and reads the story. It is more about further developing more complicated styles of creating your story and crafting it. One easy example for teaching this concept of controlling who the listener of the tale is, would be to look at the ‘letter type story’. Consider, why a writer would choose to tell his entire story via letters; which a young soldier, stationed abroad, fighting in a war, wrote to his fiancé, who is waiting for him back in his hometown?
By choosing to tell the whole tale through letters, historical events of the war can be moved along fast. Happenings between the times the letters are sent can be summarized quickly. Many aspects of the war can be skipped since the letters would deal with more personal feelings of the soldier; how he misses his fiancé and can’t wait to hold her in his arms again. The soldier may naturally choose to try to protect his loved one from the true horrors of war in his letters but the reader, as well as his beloved, probably, know better by reading between the lines. Themes of love, loneliness, faith, longing, fears of death and being wounded can be easily developed and explored more thoroughly by using this style compared to the traditional war tale which focuses more on the adventure aspect of battle and story lines like the soldier quickly coming of age on the front lines.
The best way to learn about and master writing from different points of view is to experiment with writing a few scenes or short stories using different cultural voices. The more you challenge yourself to write and tell stories the way people, different from yourself, would have seen things and would tell things, the better you will become at it. Switch up the gender and ages of your story tellers. Start writing and see where these new perspectives take you. Take note of how the focus of the story changes as you tell it from a different point of view. Now try writing a story from the perspective of a character from a different time zone, like a space traveler. Next take a make believe character like a wizard and tell a story through his eyes. Remember, every story has to be told by someone and people with different personalities tell stories differently. Also different people have different motives for telling a story.
The creative writer, who realizes he has many choices from which his tales can be told, can choose very carefully which point of view will be most believable, which will make his story more dramatic, which will give the story more meaning or make it more endearing or more entertaining. Building one’s knowledge and understanding of points of view allows the creative writer to become a much better story teller. After all, aren’t different points of view what story telling is all about?
EDITING QUOTES ARE FREE!
Quality creative writers, especially fiction writers, need to know how to handle the telling of stories from every angle in order to portray a well-rounded tale. Yes, generally a story is written, all the way through, from only one person’s view point. Tales tend to be more organized, comprehendible and easier to follow along if the author isn’t jumping all over, trying to convey every character’s inner thoughts and interpretations of every little episode or event. But the author must still be able to view things through all his characters’ eyes in order to write believable action and dialog that fits the moment.
Many new creative writers take the learning of literary point of view and the usage of point of view for granted. They quickly choose one of the most popular points of view with which to tell their stories without putting much thought into it then they are off to the races. First person, stories told from the perception of ‘I did this or I did that,’ are very popular choices for new writers since they assume they will be easier since the author can write in the style that they talk. Example: I ran after the basketball as it bounced down the driveway then out into the busy street. BEEP! BEEP! I heard the car horns then skidded to a stop at the curb’s edge. POP! The Lincoln Continental ran over my older brother’s basketball dragging it about fifteen yards down our block. Oh my!...” I wondered. How am I going to tell Mark I lost his basketball, which I’d been told, many times, not to play with?”
At first, this style seems quite easy and the words flow easily but the first person point of view can limit where the author can take his tale since it’s hard to write about events that happen when the author’s voice character is not present. For a long or complicated story, it’s tough to make it appear believable that every time something significant happens the author’s voice character just happened to be present to witness it all. When you tell a story with a view point that allows you to utilize at least a few different characters’ opinions your readers can get a better, more thorough, well-rounded understanding of what actually happened.
The third person point of view is the next biggest choice for new writers and probably the most utilized point of view in literature altogether. This is frequently referred to as the ‘he said, she said or they said’ method of storytelling. He saw his older brother’s basketball bouncing down the driveway, heading towards the busy street. He turned then raced after it…Notice the ‘he’ is used now instead of the ‘I’ which we used with the first person point of view. Many new authors feel comfortable creating tales in this fashion because this is the style they are most familiar reading. If you use this style you should remember when ‘he’ is telling the story, ‘he’ can’t read the minds of your other characters in order to inform your readers what other characters present, during a scene, are really thinking. This puts a limit as to how detailed certain characters can be developed as well as cutting down on the list of themes that can be broached, especially complicated themes.
Quality creative authors pick the view point from which to write a tale based on what they are trying to accomplish. Experienced authors realize they have many options and frequently exercise their right to utilize any point of view to get their message across. An accomplished male author will be comfortable telling a tale through the eyes of a woman if it fits his purpose and vice a versa for women authors. Authors need to be comfortable writing stories using a totally different voice from their own even if they are working on a story, told from the point of view of a person who is a different age, race or religion than they are.
Yes, I know you’ve all been told to. “Write what you know! Write what you know!” time and time again, by your literature professors and creative writing mentors. But, consider Charles Dickens and his tales of poor orphan children or Shakespeare’s works about kings and nobility falling. Think how these great authors’ stories would have been hindered if they could only write about characters who’s roll in life they themselves actually played and had personal experience and definite knowledge of. Our experienced creative writers realize their readers wish to hear stories, enjoy stories and find stories much more interesting when they are told via the voices of people from all different walks of life, the more unique and unusual the better.
The same story takes on a whole new tone when told through an old experienced man’s eyes compared to the perspective of his, just coming of age, teenage nephew. Women will normally interpret happenings different than men, opening the door to explore other themes. People of different religions will put more emphasis on things that are important to their particular faith and beliefs when telling a tale. Choosing nontraditional points of view from which to tell your story also opens up the doors to different forms of drama, humor and many more directions a story can develop. The point of view effects everything; plot, theme, conflict, dialog etc. Still, a smart, skilled, experienced creative writer will take point of view even further than just picking the person who is going to tell the story.
Even more plots and themes can be developed by analyzing who the story is being told to. This has nothing to do with who picks up and reads the story. It is more about further developing more complicated styles of creating your story and crafting it. One easy example for teaching this concept of controlling who the listener of the tale is, would be to look at the ‘letter type story’. Consider, why a writer would choose to tell his entire story via letters; which a young soldier, stationed abroad, fighting in a war, wrote to his fiancé, who is waiting for him back in his hometown?
By choosing to tell the whole tale through letters, historical events of the war can be moved along fast. Happenings between the times the letters are sent can be summarized quickly. Many aspects of the war can be skipped since the letters would deal with more personal feelings of the soldier; how he misses his fiancé and can’t wait to hold her in his arms again. The soldier may naturally choose to try to protect his loved one from the true horrors of war in his letters but the reader, as well as his beloved, probably, know better by reading between the lines. Themes of love, loneliness, faith, longing, fears of death and being wounded can be easily developed and explored more thoroughly by using this style compared to the traditional war tale which focuses more on the adventure aspect of battle and story lines like the soldier quickly coming of age on the front lines.
The best way to learn about and master writing from different points of view is to experiment with writing a few scenes or short stories using different cultural voices. The more you challenge yourself to write and tell stories the way people, different from yourself, would have seen things and would tell things, the better you will become at it. Switch up the gender and ages of your story tellers. Start writing and see where these new perspectives take you. Take note of how the focus of the story changes as you tell it from a different point of view. Now try writing a story from the perspective of a character from a different time zone, like a space traveler. Next take a make believe character like a wizard and tell a story through his eyes. Remember, every story has to be told by someone and people with different personalities tell stories differently. Also different people have different motives for telling a story.
The creative writer, who realizes he has many choices from which his tales can be told, can choose very carefully which point of view will be most believable, which will make his story more dramatic, which will give the story more meaning or make it more endearing or more entertaining. Building one’s knowledge and understanding of points of view allows the creative writer to become a much better story teller. After all, aren’t different points of view what story telling is all about?
EDITING QUOTES ARE FREE!
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