The point of view(POV) of a story is the way that it is told. Whose eyes you see the action from, whose head you are inside of, and whose feelings you are experiencing? Deciding which POV to tell your story from is one of the more important decisions you will have to make as an author. Every aspect of your story must originate from a point of view.
If you select a POV that is not the best fit, it will affect your story negatively. Your POV dictates what you can and cannot tell your readers. The narrator must be present in most of the important scenes and at the climax of the story. Before you select a point of view, you need to decide who will make the most interesting narrative voice for your story’s events.
The First-Person
The first-person perspective is when a main character is telling the story. It is very immediate; you learn the story as it happens with the narrator. It is also very intimate, as it brings readers remarkably close to the narrator of the story. This is because everything is filtered through the narrator’s eyes, making a reader more sympathetic towards this main character.
You can, therefore, see why a first-person point of view is popular. However, it does have its shortcomings. For example, a first-person narrator cannot be everywhere or know everything. So, a first-person narrator can only tell their story. Due to bias, a first-person narrator might not tell the entire story.
A first-person point of view is ideal for an unreliable narrator. If you want a narrator who does not have a good relationship with the truth, then a first-person narrator is a good option.
The Second-Person
The second-person POV is one of the primary perspectives in storytelling. However, it is not an exceedingly popular point of view as it is complex, and most writers tend to shy away from it. In the second person POV, the narrator relates their experience to you (the reader), who becomes another character in the story (or the protagonist if you will).
The Third Person Limited
With the third person POV, the narrator is not present in the story. There are several third-person POVs. The more common one is the third-person limited (or closed) POV. In this point of view, the narrator only shows the thoughts and experiences of one or a small number of characters.
Though the third-person perspective puts some distance between the reader and the main character, the third-person limited POV allows readers to closely identify with a protagonist.
The Third Person Omniscient
The third-person omniscient POV relays the thoughts, feelings, and experiences of all the characters in a novel. The third-person omniscient point of view usually narrates the story in the past tense, which allows readers to be confident that the narrator knows what is happening and can interpret it correctly.
However, a narrator telling a story in the present tense, as it is with the first person perspective is also useful, as it can add tension to your story.
A disadvantage of the third-person omniscient is that a reader might not engage with or root for any specific character. This is problematic because most readers need to connect with your characters to like your story.
Final Thoughts
There is no best POV. However, there is a point of view that will suit a particular story better than another, and there are POVs that are easier to write from. Therefore, it is good to experiment. Try writing the same scene in different POVs and see which one sounds better to you.
Some solid POV advice is to avoid entering the thoughts of too many characters in your story. If you are writing from a specific character’s POV, do not include information that they cannot know or see. Also, do not switch from one POV to another in the middle of a scene, and only switch POV for a good reason.
It is important to understand that a narrative voice is not necessarily the writer’s voice. However, in some instances (like an autobiography) the writer’s voice and the narrative voice are the same.
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