So far in this series, we’ve looked at how to create characters and developing a good setting for your story.
This week, let’s take a look at the power of a much less well-considered element of fiction writing: point of view.
Few people, in my experience, give a lot of thought to point of view as a significant facet of storytelling. Whether a book is written in first- or third-person is generally thought to be a matter of preference in most cases. Certainly, this can be the case—there are stories that really could be told very much the same way regardless of the point of view from which they are written. But I would argue that some of the very best stories use their point of view as integrally as setting or symbol.
First, let’s define our term and then we'll take a quick look at the different points of view available to you as a writer.
Definition
Narrative point of view is the position of the narrator of the events relative to the events being described.
The Points of View
1) First-person: The narrator is in the story and is relating their perspective directly to the reader.
2) Second-person: Uncommon in fiction writing (the best example I can think of is Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go), second-person is when the narrator is relating the story to the reader, who is the focus of the story. This is challenging to do well, to say the least.
3) Third-person: The narrator is outside the story and is relating the events as an independent observer.
Setting aside second-person narrative as somewhat of a novelty, I want to dig in a bit more to the other two.
Third-person narrative
By far the most common point of view in popular fiction, third-person is also probably the easiest to write. Everything from 1984 to Harry Potter uses it. Strengths of this point of view include the ability to follow multiple characters and the ability to broaden or narrow focus throughout the story.
If you're writing in the third person, make sure not to over-explain your characters. Readers are likely only willing or able to follow the deeper internal motivations of a small number of characters--providing too much depth for too many characters can make your story muddled and frustrating to read.
First-person narrative
The first-person point of view is much more intimate for the reader than third-person. Here, the reader is present inside the head of the narrator and knowing (generally) only what they know. This allows you to reveal things to your audience as they are revealed to your character. It also allows readers to feel that they really know the inner workings of the narrator. And, of course, any narrator will have some degree of unreliability and you will get to decide how much!
Consistency is king
It is generally best to choose one point of view and stick with it throughout your story. Switching back and forth can create a great deal of confusion for the reader and is rarely necessary. While it's not absolutely taboo (The Martian is one example of multiple points of view being done well), put some serious thought in before you choose to try writing multiple points of view.
Finally, as an exercise, try writing a short story in third-person and then go back and choose one character from whose perspective to rewrite it in first-person. Have fun with it!
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